OFFICIAL: The first images and details of the new Spyker C8 Aileron GT race car have just been unveiled by the company. The Spyker C8 Aileron GT, which is designed to the GTE specifications, will enter the competition circuit from 2012 after it will be developed at Spyker's Zeewolde headquarters. The Spyker C8 Aileron GT will be sold to various racing teams, with which the manufacturer is already in discussions. Unfortunately, we won't see the Spyker C8 Aileron GT at this year's Geneva auto show, even though we would have very much like it.
At this point, the company did not release any actual technical specs of the Spyker C8 Aileron GT, but we're sure they will do so in the near future.
The Spyker C8 Aileron GT race car will replace the Squadron's C8 Laviolette GT2R racer, which had some great finishes in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Spyker Press Release:
SPYKER DEVELOPING ALL-NEW GT RACER FOR 2012
Spyker Squadron dedicates resources to developing 2012 racer
C8 Aileron GT racing car will be designed to new GTE regulations
Discussions underway to supply race cars to customer teams
Zeewolde, The Netherlands, 1 March 2011 – Spyker Squadron, the factory racing division of luxury supercar manufacturer, Spyker, will focus its resources this year on the development of a next generation GT race car for 2012.
Based on Spyker’s new flagship C8 Aileron luxury supercar, the new GT racer will be designed and
developed to the ACO’s new GTE specifications and will be ready for the start of the 2012 motorsport season. Development activities will be undertaken by Spyker Squadron’s expanded engineering team at its Zeewolde headquarters in conjunction with its long-standing technical partners.
Greater attention will also be paid to the commercial arm of the Spyker Squadron division, specifically through the sale of its new C8 Aileron GT car to customer teams.
Squadron is already in discussions with a number of potential purchasers for the supply of cars and of full customer racing support packages.
Spyker Squadron Managing Director, Peter Van Erp, said: “We are taking a racing sabbatical this year to concentrate our resources on developing a new GT racer based on Spyker’s new
C8 Aileron supercar, instead of continuing to spend money on a car at the end of its development cycle. For the long term future of Spyker Squadron, and for its role in the promotion and technical development of Spyker road cars, it’s a positive and strategically important step.
“We will develop the car for the new GTE class,
although after its first season we will assess whether there is sufficient demand to develop a variant to FIA GT3 specifications. This would be relatively straightforward and would increase the potential customer base for the car and associated race support package. We are already attracting customer race teams wishing to buy an off-the-shelf car, with enquiries arriving from Europe and the Far East,” continues Van Erp.
“Ultimately, our fans can look forward to a very exciting long term future following Spyker in top-flight endurance racing, with both the Spyker Squadron and customer racing teams fielding C8 Aileron GT cars. And as a result, Spyker will become an even more prominent and successful name in endurance motorsport around the world in 2012 and beyond.
”The Spyker C8 Aileron GT racing car will take over from Squadron’s C8 Laviolette GT2R racer, with which Spyker’s race division enjoyed three years of competitive European GT endurance racing. In 2009, the C8 Laviolette GT2R delivered Squadron’s most successful season, claiming two second-place GT2 class finishes in the Le Mans Series, and scoring an incredible fifth place in the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans.
