Eastwood was recruited into the UK’s leading car manufacturer’s junior driver program in 2018 and signed a works contract to drive a Vantage AMR at the end of the following year.
The 28-year-old from Belfast will make nearly 60 appearances for the Banbury-based team in track-based series including the British GT Championship, Asian Le Mans Series and Intercontinental GT Challenge.
Eastwood has achieved 10 pole position starts, 31 podium finishes and 11 class wins at some of the world’s most historic competitions, including the 24 Hours of Spa in Belgium and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. did.
But he says he would be happier than anything to win the 8 Hours of Bahrain, which starts at 11am UK time. If that happens, it would also deny this year’s champion Corvette Racing the chance to break the season point total currently held by Astron Martin (198 points).
The No. 33 Corvette C8.R co-driven by Ben Keating, Nicholas Vallone, and Nicky Catsburg currently has 164 points, so all you have to do to break the record is get the highest score around the 3.36-mile circuit. It will be broken.
It will also be the last time Eastwood and his Oman Racing by TF Sport teammates Ahmad Al Hersi and Michael Dinan will compete in the phasing out LMGTE AM support series. .
The LMGT3 rules will come into effect from 2024, and Aston Martin will enter LMGT3 with an evolved version of the Vantage, while Ford has already lifted the lid on its Mustang Challenger and McLaren on its 720S supercar.
“Winning the last GTE race in the World Endurance Championship would definitely go down in history and it would be a special result as it would be my last race for Aston,” Eastwood told the Belfast Telegraph. told Sports.
“The Corvette has been very strong all year, but we know that we are struggling with tire wear in Bahrain, so this is our chance. , we’ve had an eventful season, so we’d like to end the year with a win or a podium with Ahmad and Michael, but that’s definitely possible, once we put it all together.”
Reflecting on his time at Aston Martin in preparation for his next venture, which is due to be announced soon, Eastwood added:
“They signed me early in my career and to be able to finish on the podium in half of the races I started with them is special. It’s an honor to be a part of this program. , winning Spa and Le Mans, two of the biggest 24-hour races, was a dream come true.
“I would like to sincerely thank everyone at Aston Martin for believing in me so early in my career, because not many people compete in their first endurance race in mid-2018 and sign a factory contract in the first half of 2019.
“It was and still is incredible that Aston had so much faith in me, even though I had only competed in five endurance races and still had so much to learn. Thing.”