WEC: BMW to Compete in 2018 Endurance Championship

[Andrew Harper]

I think this just highlights how messy the whole GT rules backdrop has become. GTE, GT3, GTLM. The cars have such a massive crossover in terms of reach and the talent pool they garner, why they could not see sense and just combine / consolidate the rulesets is beyond me.

I understand what you mean but as a motorsport fan (ok..nutcase) I love GT racing as it is at the moment. The breadth of manufacturers and teams is awesome (we still have new models joining next year as well) Even in the heady days of the BPR series you didn't have as many cars (and quality) However for someone who maybe doesn't follow Motorsport all the time it would be simpler to have GTE, GT3, GT4 across the board (which I guess is what you are asking for) I do think that IMSA having their own acronyms does confuse things a little. I do approve though of AM, PRO-AM and PRO in the Blancpain series at least. If you have the money and your good enough then good for you. The current GT classes though do allow teams of different budgets to enter professional racing at the level they can afford.

 

[Ben Lee]

I understand and I agree. I think sportscars is experiencing the biggest boom since probably 2003-2005.

I just think that we might have even more manufacturers involved if they knew they could just produce one car and have it race in every GT event. I'm not talking GT4 here, just GT3 and GTE since they are so similar in terms of pace.

 

[Grand Tourist]

Division Example Car
LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron / Porsche
LMP2 Zytec-Nissan
LMPC Oreca LM09
LMGTP Pagani Zonda R / Ferrari 599FXX /new Ford GT
LMGTE = GT1+GT2+ single entries
GT1 Lamborghini Aventador SV / Pagani Zonda F / Ferrari F12
GT2 Ferrari 458/488 / Audi R8
GT3 BMW M6 / Bentley Speed
GT4 Maserati MC / Ginetta G55
GT5 Toyota GT86 / Peugeot RCZ
That is my vision. pure fiction of course. Well apart from what is correct with current reality

 

[Andrew Harper]

Division Example Car
LMP1 Audi R18 e-tron / Porsche
LMP2 Zytec-Nissan
LMPC Oreca LM09
LMGTP Pagani Zonda R / Ferrari 599FXX /new Ford GT
LMGTE = GT1+GT2+ single entries
GT1 Lamborghini Aventador SV / Pagani Zonda F / Ferrari F12
GT2 Ferrari 458/488 / Audi R8
GT3 BMW M6 / Bentley Speed
GT4 Maserati MC / Ginetta G55
GT5 Toyota GT86 / Peugeot RCZ
That is my vision. pure fiction of course. Well apart from what is correct with current reality

Nice list

I wouldn't want GT1 back again though. Yes I loved them and they were amazing in their time but the costs spiralled out of control and the ACO and FIA couldn't agree what constitutes a GT1 car which messed things up badly.

We are very lucky as motorsport fans that GT3 is such a massive category at the moment and I would like to keep it separate from GTE. GTE is aimed more at the factory teams and that's how I would prefer it to stay. Keep GT3 for the customer teams The racing in Blancpain (both sprint and endurance cup) has been great this year.