Earlier this year, Aston Martin showed off a fully, road-legal one-off roadster version of the Vantage GT12 that was tailor made by Q – Aston Martin’s customization division. That car was shown off at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and has since been delivered to its rightful and very lucky owner. That being the case, it came as quite a shock to everyone here in the office when we received a round of spy shots of what appears to be a Vantage GT12 Roadster. The car is being put through the paces on the roads around the Nürburgring and was spotted with the top up and down throughout the session.

The fact that the car is being tested with the top up and down tells us that Aston is seriously testing the car, but the question is for what. The GT12 Roadster was a one-off, so it is a bit surprising to see another one of these wild roadsters being put through the paces. Preliminary investigations have yielded little information, but we suspect that Aston Martin has decided to do a limited run of the GT12 Roadster. It only makes sense, really. The one-off shown earlier this year saw a lot of positive attention and surely, the owner of that one isn’t the only person who has aspired to have a roadster version of the GT12.

At this point, we suspect that this mule is rocking the same 6.0-liter V-12 as the Vantage Coupe. It should deliver 600 horsepower and 461 pound-feet of torque through a seven-speed transmission. That said, it should have a 60-mph sprint of around 3.6 seconds with a top speed in the 200-mph range. It is probably sporting an updated suspension system to help make up for the lack of body stability without a metal roof and could have other chassis refinements as well. Handling of the roadster is probably quite similar to that of the coupe it is based on, but it probably experiences a little extra body flex. Either way, we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open and will bring you additional information about this model as it becomes available.

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Why it matters

Comparing the car in the spy shots we have here to that one-off roadster from earlier this year, there is almost no difference between the two. In fact, I only spotted two differences. First, the hood on this test mule has a different vent layout than that of the one-off model. And, at the rear, the corners of the rear fascia have been toned down just a little bit. The built-in “flics” are just a little smaller. Outside of these couple things, the car is identical through and through.

It looks like the car is pretty far ahead as far as development goes, so I suspect we’ll be hearing more about it and seeing an official review in the near future – auto show season really isn’t that far away. Until then, you can check out our full gallery of spy shots by clicking the “Photos” tab just below the title at the top of the page. Stay tuned for updates.

2016 Aston Martin Vantage GT12 Roadster

Read our full review on the 2016 Aston Martin Vantage GT12 Roadster here.