LMP and GT salaries

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by GT6

to b e honest i would rather not think about how much drivers are paid i just want to see top drivers driving top cars but thinking about thr amount they can be paid does not always make me support them I am afraid envy creeps in

It's probably not as great as people think. Many have built up debts to get up the ladder and if they do end up with a nice salary, there are plenty of expenses with travel, physical training, licences, race gear, etc. Also job security is about nil, with a driver being lucky to have a solid contract for a year, not to mention 2-3 years. In addition many of them have at most a 4-5 year period of big earnings where they might be the hot property.

It's a job like any other, except motorsport is extremely cutthroat and ruthless compared to other industries I have seen. There are some nice ethical people out there but also some that would gladly stab you in the back relentlessly to get your drive.

And eventually few drivers can get paid drives till they are 60, so at some point you've got to get a "real job".

[matte22]

So GT's (E and 3) have been on the up the last few years.
New manufacturers returning, continuous evolution, and retalk about GT convergence.

Just curious, but what's the word on wages and salaries for factory (/semi-factory drivers?) for 2018?

Has anyone come across any details about how much one can make from driving multiple GT cars in a calendar year?

[JorritVD]

In GTD and GT3 it is really a mix of getting salary or bring in sponsorship.

If you look at the pro GT3 factory teams, then yes, the manufacturer pays everything. Though those drivers can earn some extra money with their personal sponsorships and sometimes also have their own company (for example Darren Turner with Base Performance). Their travel costs are paid and they have a big company car.

Though a lot of guys (like Jeroen Bleekemolen) choose to not race for a manufacturer, but drive in GTD for example with a gentlemen driver who hires them. I thought Jeroen Bleekemolen was sometimes travel 40 weekens a year for racing around the world. With some personal sponsors, I think he could earn around 200k a year.

Though it is really difficult to say how much everyone earns, especially how GT3, LMP2 and GTE-Am has developed. One silver driver gets paid by a manufacturer (Kelvin van der Linde), while an other silver driver needs to bring sponsorship (DHH), while a gold driver could have issues to get a drive.

Though I think the salaries for most of the drivers are between 20k and 200k, depending on brining sponsorship, having personal sponsors, need to do promotional activities, also be driving instructor, etc. Ofcourse depending on your legendary status like TK and McNish, it could go up to million(s)

[canaglia]

As far I know only drivers hired directly by manufacturers get a big money salary.
There's even a difference between manufacturer's driver and work driver.
A manufacturer's driver like still is Di Grassi for VW or like was Lotterer until last year get the richest salary; while other drivers like Fassler or Jarvis were work drivers hired by Audi Sport and had less benefits. Guess none in toyota has signed a contract directly with toyota motors (only nakajima maybe).

Other P/G drivers like Albuquerque, Bruno Senna etc.... sign contracts with teams and are paid race by race or get a salary for the whole program/championship.
In this scenario salaries are lower.