At this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, more than 50 Aston Martin Racing cars will take part in a 45-minute support race and British driver Tom Onslow-Cole and his regular team-mate Paul White have entered their Bilstein-liveried V12 Vantage GT3 with RAM Racing.

The race, that takes place on the same day as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will boast an LMP1, a GT1, a few GT2s, a whole field of GT3s and as many GT4s, with several cars, drivers and liveries that are rarely seen but are widely adored.

“Aston Martin Racing has built some of the top GT and prototype cars of the past decade and to be in a race dedicated to all of them is something really special,” OC explained.

The Strata 21 Bilstein-liveried Vantage GT3 is arguably the most famous example of the car, as it was the works team entry in the Nürburgring 24 Hours in 2013 and 2014, finishing in the top five and top ten, respectively.

“It’s cool to be driving a car that has played such an important role in Aston Martin Racing’s history,” added the Milltek Sport-sponsored driver. “Paul and I have had a great 2015 season so far with podiums in Dubai 24 Hours, the 12 Hours of Italy, Silverstone 24 Hours and the 12 Hours of Zandvoort, so we’ll be looking for an overall podium next weekend, too.”

The festival race takes place on the morning of the 24-hour race and more than 250,000 fans are expected to be spectating.

“With five 24-hour races already in my calendar this year, it would have been good to add the main event here at Le Mans but I guess you can’t do it all! Being here and learning the track certainly gets me a step closer, though,” OC concluded.

The Aston Martin Festival of Le Mans race starts at 11.15hrs on Saturday 13 June.