On the back of the story last week by Marshall Pruett of the increasing likelihood of a 2016 Ford GTE race programme for their forthcoming Ford GT replacement comes a debate over the GTE/ GTLM class in the wake of the collapse of GT convergence talks earlier this year.

Conversations are continuing between the manufacturers around the potential for evolution of GT regulations with regular get-togethers at key race meetings, and informal contact beyond that, all pushing towards a sustainable future for the factory programmes in international racing.

The future of the GTE class though is not entirely in the ACO, or for that matter the FIA’s, hands.

With the IMSA sanctioned Tudor United Sportscar Championship featuring more factory blessed GTE teams than any other Series (at least until this week’s announced pullout of the SRT Viper effort) it seems certain that a critical decider in the future of the class will be the direction that IMSA take with their future regulations.

With full GT3 cars now confirmed in TUSCC’s GTC class for 2016 and a move to introduce an GTLM Am sub category already mooted the long-term picture is far from clear.

So what are the prospects for continued involvement in GTE/ GTLM from the current, and potentially some additional, manufacturers in both North American, and more global competition?

Current GTE/ GTLM Players

Aston Martin:

Were among the players who were very content with some aspects of the proposed convergence, their single platform approach with the Vantage put them in a good position.

They were though one of those players unhappy with a move to adopt electronic rather than sonic restrictor control on engine power for GTE, their current V8 powerplant for the GTE version of the Vantage continues to produce results.

Aston Martin Racing once again fielded a quartet of car in the 2014 FIA WEC and look set to continue their campaigns as long as the commercial backing to support them is available.

AMR are currently confident of “4-5” cars in the 2015 WEC and planning towards the future with a new Vantage road car (new chassis and powerplant) due c.2018. It remains to be seen however whether the new CEO of Aston Martin Lagonda, ex Nissan man Andy Palmer, will have thoughts on the brands motorsport direction?

BMW:

Look set to replace their current Z4 GT platform with a 6 Series Coupe racer. A GT3 version will come first, likely to appear during 2015, But there’s no confirmation that BMW intend to develop a GTE version and sources suggest that the current Z4 GTE is only guaranteed a further year in North America.

Neither is there even a hint of the GTE/ GTM programme being extended beyond its current USA only status, the current TUSCC Z4 GTE has only ever raced in the USA.

Corvette:

One of the icons of GT racing, Corvette Racing is the banner sportscar manufacturer programme of General Motors, and arguably of the whole of TUSCC.

It’s clear that Corvette Racing are less than happy about their lot. Officiating, and more particularly Balance of Performance (despite a run of four straight wins in 2014) have been near season long bones of contention for the C7.R programme.

There was a one-off toe in the WEC water at COTA, but no budget is currently available to convert that to a season effort in 2015, despite plenty of love in the room for such a move.

As for the TUSCC effort that should continue unless anything short of a boardroom meltdown intervenes, but expect pressure to continue to improve the package offered for their marketing megabucks.

Ferrari:

Understood to be a far less aligned manufacturer on future GT regulations than most.

The WEC/ LM24 campaigns have proved very successful for Maranello and AF Corse but irritation has been growing with the ever-shifting sands of regulatory waivers and Balance of Performance.

Insiders have made it clear that there is dissatisfaction with moves to equalise stint lengths across the marques via fuel flow and fuel load, despite major steps forward from Ferrari in fuel efficiency.

There is a healthy customer market for the Michelotto built 458 Italia GTE but there are few indications that the GTE market is one that Ferrari would fight for.

Porsche:

The key player in the current debate over the future of the GTE/ GTLM class.

The arrival at the head of the Porsche GT programme of Dr Frank-Steffen Walliser, who took up his post officially last week, marks the start of a major, root and branch, review of the sport’s longest lasting player in the GT marketplace.

That will include both the GT3 and GTE programmes, the current, and potential future cars and everything else besides.

Sources suggest that the GT programme as a whole is regarded as expensive and capable of improvement in both fiscal and performance terms.

Insiders say too that there has been much discussion of the future platform for Porsche’s GT offering, and that the 911 is far from secure in its position as the favoured basis for the future racers.

SRT/ Dodge:

Whilst the Viper programme was not without success, fiscal realities eventually bit with Viper road car sales at disappointingly low levels.

The mid season switch from SRT to Dodge branding, this after the team pulled out from their initial Le Mans entries, was an early sign that a review of some sort was underway.

The immediate post season cancellation of the programme is not entirely unexpected, but will be a disappointment to fans, and is a major blow to TUSCC, and to the GTLM class.

And those with potential or rumoured future programmes:

Alpine-Renault:

The proposed joint venture between Caterham and a rejuvenated Alpine-Renault was announced as developing a new road car, with a likely motorsport programme too. That road car project has foundered, and with it any immediate prospect of an Alpine (or indeed a Caterham) GT project too.

The newly announced Renault RS01 single make racer (below) is an interesting project, with a platform certainly capable of being developed in other directions, but there has been no suggestion that this will find its way into road going production, a prerequisite for a GTE (or indeed a GT3) car.

Audi:

Have made it clear that they see no need to add a GTE programme to their current motorsport programmes with a successful customer GT3 programme bolstered by selected factory blessed outings for partner teams.

Bentley:

The GT3 programme is gathering pace with most major races for which the Continental GT3 is eligible seeing at least one car entered in 2014/ 2015, VLN, Nurburgring 24 Hours, Bathurst 12 Hours and the Macao Festival all recent additions to a growing portfolio.

Sources suggest that the car could be adapted relatively easily to GTE, but DSC’s recent interview with Wolfgang Durheimer produced a blunt rebuff to any prospect of Bentley competing “for class wins”. There are no immediate plans to expand the GT3 effort into GTE.

Honda:

An interesting prospect. Sources have repeatedly offered the view that Honda are interested in a GT programme in addition to their current (rather troubled) Super GT GT500 and hybrid GT300.

The chosen weapon would be the future NSX road car, but the major stumbling block is the proposed hybrid drivetrain for that car, something which is not allowed under current regulations, and which would likely be resisted by some existing manufacturers. With the growing ‘electrification’ of road cars though the question is how much longer can GT racing regulations ignore it?

Jaguar:

Rumours of a Jaguar racing programme continue to circulate, fuelled by periodic utterances from senior figures within the company that show clearly that programmes are, or have been actively considered. Certainly a recharging of the marques’ sporting dna would be timely with the F-Type gaining ground in the marketplace and a replacement for the larger XK coupe on the way.

If the plans are real, and involve a GT rather than LMP direction, the smart money is on an GT3 version of the V8 engined F-Type, Jaguar a classic example of a marque whose potential programmes were dealt a blow by the end of the GT convergence movement.

A GTE programme is certainly not impossible, but Jaguar will surely first take the route well trodden by other ‘boutique’ manufacturers and get a factory blessed customer programme underway first?

Lexus:

Told Sam Collins from Racecar Engineering back in March, before the collapse of the GT convergence moves, that they would develop a ‘Le Mans’ version of their new RCF GT3 car. There is no information on current intentions.

McLaren:

Were all set to launch a GTE programme when the initial GT convergence drive was unveiled. That put paid to the car then under development with a development chassis, engine programme and aero work all shelved. Some limited development work on the GTE project has continued but McLaren GT are awaiting clarity on a future set of regulations before committing major resource.

Nissan:

Counted out a GTE programme in the short-term as they focus on their forthcoming factory LMP1-H effort.

GG