The GT series of FIA and SRO were traveling at Spa this weekend driving the ALMS at Mid-Ohio and the Grand-Am at Watkins Glen. But more important at the moment is the big picture: what happens in the next few years with the sports car, especially with the GT-racing?
Correction: Ironically, in the Speedweek quote me I mistyped: BMS (ie, the winning team at Spa Porsche) is said to have interest in the GT2 European Championship, not BMW!
To mark the occasion, I would like today before the race analysis (I've also, unfortunately, almost nothing can be seen from the spa) and ALMS preview first discuss the question of where actually steers the sports car racing at the moment. Because of the dispute between the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO), which organized has always been the 24 Hours of Le Mans and in recent years, the corresponding series, and Stéphane Ratels SRO Motorsports Group, the distinguished FIA and national GT series are responsible, will be deepened with the new GT2 series of SRO 2011. On both sides there is a different view of what they look like sports car race, should it come according to a stubborn attitude of self-determined will.
Also would like in a time of experiencing a boom of GT racing, anyone who organizes races in this area, abhaben as much of the pie. Everyone wants to establish its own rules, as many vehicles in their own list of participants and have been shipped through a successful marketing of many viewers and a corresponding amount of money with it.
The GT1 class has been "switched sides": once a strong and popular, but expensive class at the 24h of Le Mans, where mitfuhr in the 90 years to total victory, these vehicles were now banned in 2011 by the Sarthe while (or because!) from the FIA GT Championship GT1 World Championship emerged from SRO and FIA is enjoying a very good first year. It has a full grid with six different companies, has built up privately with the Alpina-BMW for next year already announced increase.
The rules are a matter of taste. With "Gran Tourismo" in the literal sense, the one-hour races have nothing in common, due to balance of performance and success weights egalitarianism prevails in a category whose strength is actually just the diversity. On the plus side you get so TV-capable and exciting races and a championship scarce.
Next year will be the struggle to expand on the GT2. Stephane Ratel has the edge on the 24h of Spa announced as the European Championship is to look into this class, which had actually been scheduled to take place this year. We have asked the manufacturers how to imagine such a series would be and came to this conclusion: the new series will comprise approximately four to five races, which are arranged around the Belgian classic 24-round and be based on the format: GT2, GT3, GT4 and GTN vehicles will be together on the track, the race length will be about three hours, it would be so much more emphasis on the endurance of thought than in the GT1 World Championship.
The big question then will be how many of the cars currently in the LMS and ALMS GT2 team driving the jump in the new series or trying to participate in both series. While the ACO GT2 regulations have recently been more open to attract more manufacturers, the FIA GT classes at their previously pushed for a clearly defined list of homologated vehicles which are used by private teams. This in turn pushes from the ACO in 2011 to separate the "Am GT" class, which will not please the privateers as well. Should it come to two different rule sets, will be awaited to decide which teams for which series and who has enough capacity to use in both vehicles.
According to the latest print Speedweek "Teams like BMS or CRS [...] already rumored interest [in the GT2 series of SRO]" is - whether on an exchange, or on an additional commitment, however, remains unclear. And teams like Prospeed, which were driven by the SRO this year by the defective design and subsequent cancellation of the GT2 European Championship in the LMS or other series, this decision will have to make.
One of the differences: the International Automobile Federation would like as soon as possible hybrid systems seen in the GT2, while in the opinion of the French, this should only be permitted if they have come up strongly in the series since the GT2 finally supposed to be a production-based sports car class. There is also potential conflict within the ACO series, because the ALMS, the self-proclaimed would "Global Leader of Green Racing" are hybrid cars in the GT class is very zupass.
Hybrids should be actually allowed the FIA GT2, is likely to be for manufacturers such as BMW and Porsche are of great interest. Even Ferrari is working for the F430-F458 successor to provide such a drive concept.
Ratel could also notice the jab that could fight in his series, the GT2 teams for the overall victory and not to be outdone by the other would not help. And so he makes really a sore point for the Le Mans Series: Although the prototype participation beyond the 24 Hours of Le Mans in numbers weaken, the main focus of television and other media, but often more on this than on the more occupied GT classes what the manufacturers are understandably unhappy committed there.
As an example, the ALMS: basically you have in the prototype class, only one team in which both drivers are professionals, that Highcroft Racing. For Dyson, Drayson, Intersport and Autocon each case also the best semi-pro team owner behind the wheel of their cars. Although the races are usually worth it, so it is the top category of the ALMS is missing but on class. The occupied with international top riders GT2 factory cars are still mostly known only in second place. And show the weak starting fields in Portimao and Budapest, that the LMS is not much better off.
The ALMS has in this "war" but a different opponent than the European sister-series: the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series with her as a top-class. And also, there are now thinking about their future direction : this has been very close, because to be modernized and slightly loosened, the Daytona Prototypes and clumsy to be visually attractive and cost saving opportunities focused, technical regulations. Regardless of potential changes in regulations, Dyson Racing will start from the next race after break of several years back in the DP series aboard , they stressed, however, that the ALMS was used remains a priority.
Modernization and loosening regulations should also refer to the GT class, so should not attract more international manufacturers. You want to attract the GT3 cars from Audi, Mercedes and Co, after determining current Mazda, Nissan and Pontiac, the face of the class. A collaboration with the FIA is not inconceivable, after Jean Todt was indeed the beginning of July at Daytona already, as there next to the NASCAR Grand-Am went.
And then there's still this is not yet unspecified cooperation between DTM and Grand-Am and the question of what is now the rules of the DTM in 2012 will look like. May this be involved in future also in GT? The ITR would like to publish within the next few weeks, the regulations, then we'll see where this road leads.
It is sad to see any case that there are all these differences in the GT classes. The idea behind the new GT2 championship is certainly not bad: it bridges the gap between the one-hour sprint race in the previous GT3 series and the GT Open and the endurance race in the LMS, the problems with their TV marketing has. The dispute between the two participants will hurt but both series. This could be the potential for the GT2 be so great if we could agree on a set of regulations and an approach ...
Review: GT2/3/4 - 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps
BMW had the fastest car, but it was not enough for victory. As the battle between Audi and Peugeot at Le Mans, also decided in the Ardennes reliability: Just 40 minutes before crossing the finish line was the leader and at the time already "in the security mode" propelled Dirk Werner for an unspecified technical defect in the second part of the Fagnes S-curve of the track from lost and so after about ten minutes the pit stop certain victory.
The gasping, Romain Dumas, Jörg Bergmeister, Martin Ragginger and Wolf Henzler in the BMS Scuderia Italia Porsche before the first of the two IMSA Performance Matmut Porsche (Narac / Long / Pilet / Lietz) and finally the BMW Werner / Müller / Adorf, The so-gained the GTN class, but this can not compensate for the lost overall victory. The second BMW (Müller / Lamy / salting) followed with six laps distance.
At rank 5 is a fairly big surprise: the # 1 AF Corse Ferrari with Nicola Cadei, Marco Cioci and NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip and his Sprint Cup team co-owner Robert Kauffman. Waltrip Quote: "I'm supposed to be in Poceno where there are only three turns, y'all got like 20th So I spent most of my time trying to orientate myself with what to expect. But I did learn something very valuable, and that's when it rains, you're supposed to stay off line, and I've spent most of my career offline, rain so I was very comfortable in the. "
It has been raining that is also more or less as usual for Spa. Perhaps the location and weather knowledge also helped to settled in the neighborhood Mühler team that import with Haring / Konstantinou / Peyroles / Vannelet on overall rank 6 victory in the GT3 class, before the Belgian MarcVDS Ford GT (Leinders / Martin / Duez) and the two best Audi R8. Surprisingly, however, belonged not to the strong Phoenix team, but the American United Auto Sports, with its three former F1 drivers: Blundell / Brown / Dean / Cheever did manage a podium finish, Johannson / Li / Patterson / Assentato ranked fourth
In occupied with only four cars GT4-class team won the Jota with Dolan, Hancock, Wills and Twyman.
Review: GT1 World Championship - Spa-Francorchamps
Again, there was a duster victory, and indeed for Reiter Engineering, which were fast but not really fast enough for P1. In the qualifying race winning Mad Croc Corvette of Maassen / Menten, at the start of the main race, lost the lead, but they soon got back, had a puncture in the Eau Rouge is no longer good chance for a result.
And the second tab-Lamborghini of Kox / Haase, who were actually faster than Kechele / Zonta in the sister car to the pit stop window led, had to retire due to a technical problem, so this Dreierpakat that offered in the first half of the race a lot of tension, only Kechele and Zonta were left unchallenged and won. For Kechele good weekend probably means further appearances in the GT1 World Championship.
Second were Heger / Mueller in the best Maserati the second podium in a row, third party, the newly formed Matech duo Mutsch / Westbrook, and Enge / Turner brought with number 6, the Young Driver Aston Martin team in the Paderborn local sports part of the Westphalian sheet, only behind the championship leader came Bartolini / Bartels to finish, but that after an early failure in the qualifying race and the start of the back is a great success.
These six points needed to obtain the two also led, where now lies 83 points ahead of Thomas Mutsch (77). Romain Grosejan is for a points-free weekend with 62 meters to P4, behind already, Frank Kechele (46 points), the distance, although some larger, but the performance even more remarkable when you consider that he only drove in three of the five race weekends.
Preview: ALMS - Mid-Ohio
Big surprise here: a new participant in the LMP class, even if only one more chance privateers loose team. Ian Dawson, who tried unsuccessfuly in the past, enter the ECO Racing team in the series tried it under the name "Libra Racing" with a Radical chassis IES / Nissan engine and drivers Chris Buncombe and Andrew Prendeville .
Favorite is, as always, Highcroft Racing, which only Dyson, Cytosport and with luck maybe Drayson spit in the soup can. The narrow, winding road from Mid-Ohio, Lime Rock are expected as well as the LMP2 cars better.
In the GT class supports this time Patrick Pilet Flying Lizard team, along with Seth Neiman, he controls the second Porsche 911 Even Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella are once again one of the party and have the risk-Ferrari podium chances. All the top teams (Corvette, BMW, Risi and Flying Lizard) drive way with cellulosic E85 ethanol fuel is in the tight battle for the GT crown that is not decided by the lower consumption due to a lower ethanol content, the E10- teams possess.
The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course near Lexington can best be compared to the Hungaroring: many ambitious medium-speed corners and only one long straight. On rounding maneuvers are thus again a similarly important role in Lime Rock. The course is exciting because of the curves and the small but important differences in height among drivers very popular, as this video shows:
The 2:45 race on Saturday night is not transmitted from SpeedTV, it is live in an official stream to see the one in the run log must. Who done it for 6 hours at Laguna Seca has consumption, for the service not to register again. And even those who live for Look no time can be registered, because you can race there also streamed on demand to look retrospectively.
Related posts:
Thanks for the great summary of the political situation in the sports car. The GTs have recently discovered a long time for me again when I came across the official website GT1 to the database with the videos of all races. All in all respects watchable than the DTM. And since this article was just right!
It has ever been a time in which the ACO and FIA GT regulations of (SRO) were different. When the GT1 class was then adjusted and the car could be used in both series have actually benefited all of them. Above all the teams that let their GTs and thus start without extensive modification to the vehicles in both the LMS and in the SRO or the GT Open series, each with different drivers can.
The question is whether the manufacturer to play there, or in the background represent their own interests.