Been the final step
to any privateer team in the LMGTE
scene, the LMGTE-Am never saw its future to be so uncertain as it is
for the next years, much of it due to the regaining popularity of the
LMGTE-Pro class in the FIA World
Endurance Championship.
Last Sunday (16) we
saw the Pro-Am based class ending the FIA
WEC opener 6
Hours of Silverstone in incredible
fashion as newcomers from Clearwater
Racing snatched a last lap win from
Spirit of Race and Aston Martin Racing, but even good races may not
save the class if the Pro ranks receive an increased number of
competitors.
This week
Sportscar365
reported that FIA WEC supremo Gerard Neveu said that the LMGTE-Pro
success may be factor if all the rumored entries join the
competition. At the moment the Pro class counts with 8 entries from
four different manufacturers while the Am side has five entries, and
LMGTE-Pro will see BMW joining the battle next year while Lamborghini
evaluates building a Huracán GTE model, and add to that rumors of
McLaren joining the class, leveraged during the GT convergence
discussions some years ago. The World Championship status given last
year to the top GT class add allure for these manufacturers to get in
and face the existing competition.
Add to the case the
fact that LMGTE-Am
had a decline in grid numbers and big names of the class moved to
other classes, as the cases of Julien Canal, David Heinemeier-Hansson
and François Perrodo, and others have even left the championship, as
the examples of Khaled Al Qubaisi, Larbre Competition and KCMG.
Neveu explained that once
the time when GTE-Pro grid get around 15 entries they will start
pondering if it's worth to maintain GTE-Am around, as the main
concern is specially in the total entry numbers as they want to keep
the maximum of 32 cars, which should keep good the aspects of
logistics and costs.
Although this fact would
raise the attention of the current competitors, Neveu said that the
GTE rearrangement would not come into effect immediately.
PHOTO: FIA WEC
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