[FIA GT] GT4 - The future...?

[dj4monie]

Originally Posted by fasteric

As a part time competitor in the grand am conti series here in the US i've looked at competing in europe in GT4..over the years it started out being a good series with mustangs and bmw z4 and such and competing at great tracks..now it seems its high end cars, other than ginettas, at low profile tracks..also its gone with two drivers in an endurance format (2 hr races)to share the costs. Maybe GT open would look to add a conti like series to their weekend?

International GT Open (Spanish GT) has two classes already (GT2 and GT3-ish).

Average entry looks like 30-35 cars. Its also a spec tire series as well (Dunlop)

GT4 would work much better if it looked like the Conti Challenge and was its own stand alone series. Keep it in Continental Europe and run to a 2-3 hour format. Run it as a support series to GT3 or GP3 when possible but run a couple of races as a headliner to other spec series. Running it as a Round of the other GT4 series in Europe would give you automatic entries as a replacement for teams that don't have the budget to travel say to Netherlands or Germany.

Adding a Touring or Hot Hatch class would bolster grids and you can use off the shelf race cars at a reduced cost to teams.

[GT-Eins]

Has anyone some more news about the 2012 FIA-GT4-calender?
I know DSC posted it in their subscribers section but I haven´t found anything else - even on the official site.

[FIRE]

GT4 European Cup 2012

20-22 April BEL Zolder
08-10 June BEL Francorchamps
22-24 June ITA Franciacorta
17-19 August SVN Slovakiaring
31-02 September FRA Albi**
12-14 October Zandvoort NLD

[alexkiller8]

Originally Posted by FIRE

GT4 European Cup 2012

20-22 April BEL Zolder
08-10 June BEL Francorchamps
22-24 June ITA Franciacorta
17-19 August SVN Slovakiaring
31-02 September FRA Albi**
12-14 October Zandvoort NLD

WHAT? world GT can't run in spa and this champ does?

[GT-Eins]

Thanks, Fire

Hmpf - still no british and no german round - despite a bunch of british and german teams running and manufacturers building such machines.

From a "European Cup" I would expect a more clever marketing approach.

(But maybe not from the current organisators)

[RickP:Clio51]

3 Benelux rounds then 3 rounds that are a 2 day camel trek from civilisation on tracks that the sponsors aren't going to be able to find... hmm, wonder if they are getting those circuits for free (aka Adria, see above).
I've raced all over Europe over the past 10 years, and there's 2 tracks of the 6 I've never even HEARD of!
But is nice to see Spa on there, and Zandvoort is a great track.

Astonishingly though, they've announced our 350Z is eligible for the Blancpain revival thing, which offers a generous, 20min test, 30min qual and 30 min race for Euro 1800 or summink.... which not only isn't worth driving all the way to Monza for, but also means (I think) that our Homologation for GT4 has expired.

Oh well (sigh)!

[RickP:Clio51]

Don't forget of course that 2011's "European" GT4 Championship had 5 of it's 6 rounds in Benelux... so it's a sort of improvement...

[GT-Eins]

Yes - at least for the frensh, italian and slovakian GT4-scene
How many frensh and italian GT4-Teams are out there?
As Manufacturers from that countrys I just know Maserati - correct?

[Speed-King]

Well, Guidici has a bunch of Lotuses, if I remember correctly and there are some more cars in the Italian GT-championship (4-5 Ginettas, 1 Boxster?) - so with the sorry state of GT4 overall, Italy is almost something of a hotbed... :P

As for France - there are a few in VdeV, I think and wasn't the black M3 that ran in the Spa 24 also fielded by a French team?

But then, that is of course all rather pointless, because none of them will necessarily enter any races outside their home championship.

[RickP:Clio51]

Can't see the Italians bothering with 3 trips to Benelux!

Am afraid all the time there are more GT4's racing in the AMOC series in the UK than in Brit GT's or even occasional FIA GT4 then we can conculsively say that the SRO have destroyed both series.

For us, the final straw was going to Silverstone and HAVING to buy 3 sets of tyres at exactly twice the price Michelin had been charging for the EXACT same tyre the week before at the VLN. Instant Euro3k "tax" for their sponsorship of the series. Very painful on top of an already expensive entry fee etc.

[FIRE]

I think D'Aste raced in most of the races this year.

[GT-Eins]

Correct - I forgot the italian Cayman-Cup - where the cars are accepted as GT4 in the European Cup also.

Despite the poor marketing (no cooperations/JV-Events with Aston-/Cayman-/KTM-Cups) also the race Format is i.m.o. more than poor regarding a FIA-Top-series for a european-sportscar-class. 20 minute races will not encourage europe-wide trips for the teams. A similar format than the GT3 (2 50 or 60-Minute-races) would be more satifying - or what do you think?

Even the Blancpain offers a more attractive format but 3 hour races are a lot more demanding to material (and costs) and also the GT4 are the 4th fiddle in the orchestra and almost invisible, regarding PR-wise.

[pez]

so GT4 in Asia is all but dead....
A promising 1st season in 2010 with 10 cars on the grid and some v good racing.
2011 saw 3 cars.....
2012 i would say nada....

A number of reasons but certainly the lack of support from the organiser in terms of growth and development (who only really cared for GT3) and the costs for GT4 which are no different to GT3.

Seems to be a common global theme for the GT4 class.

[Speed-King]

The GT4 field at the Dubai 24hours is actually pretty decent with 14 cars... hopefully that will translate to greater participation in the Blancpain Series and the Spa 24hours...

It's actually the various touring car classes that are really underrepresented this year at Dubai with none of them getting more than half a dozen entries.

[andy97]

I actually think that one of the problems with GT4 is that Porsche (a traditional customer race car producer) failed to produce a customer GT4 Cayman (because it didn't want the Cayman to outdo the 911). I think that if they had done that then, along with the Aston N24/ GT4, there may have been a good number of customer prepared to shell out for robust cars that ahd proven factory support.

One of the other problems with GT4 was the fact that non road cars such as the Ginetta G50 were allowed in.

[GT-Eins]

So we are 3 months further - but what has happened?
Blancpain ES has scrubbed off the GT4 because they were oversubscribed with GT3. So which is now the european top endurance series for GT4? VLN? Or VdeV?
FIA-GT4 seems to be in doubt - the belgium organisators have more than one construction area and GT4 is not the most important one - is the series in danger ? If yes where does this leave GT4?
Jota issued the Mazda MX5 GT4 for british GT - Hats off for that! Where to find more of this project?

[Speed-King]

IMHO we can kiss the idea of a unified GT4 class in Europe goodbye... with the breakdown of the Eurocup, each national federation is on its own and will make up their own rules as they go. That also means less manufacturer backed customer programs and more homebuilts - GT4 as a class is dead, but the cars will continue to be the backbone of many national series secondary classes.

Dutch GT4 will probably soldier on for a couple of years, but in other series there will probably be an influx of non-GT4 cars and a runwhatyoubrung-mentality over the next few seasons in the former GT4 divisions.

The Mazda is already a symptom of this shift. GT4 is suppossed to be close to stock, but a close to stock MX5 could of course never hope to challenge Vantages and 911s.

[werner]

European GT4 is cancelled this year. The complete Belgian motorsportsworld is fighting in courts rather than on the track; the main promotor of the national championship is sued, and the RACB bans everybody who will race in an event organised by promoter Speedworld.
Therefore, the Belgian race in the championship won't be held. To classifie as a champiosnhip, it must consist of at least 6 races. Since a reserve-event is not found (and is not searched for anymore) it's game over.

[werner]

The Dutch championship however is still going relatively strong. 15-20 cars will do 7 events. There are a few interesting teams.
The Nissan-importer will field 2 370Z's, with as drivers proffesional experienced drivers. One car will be driven by Tim Coronel, the twin-brother of the WTCC-driver, and Sandor van Es, who has won multiple national championships in his career.
Other cars that will start are Lotus Evora's, Porsche 911's, a pair of Camaro's, Corvette's and a few M3's

[GT-Eins]

Is there any confirmed written statement of the cancelled Championship available in the web?
FIA-GT4-Homepage-infos stop after the BOP-tests

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by GT-Eins

Is there any confirmed written statement of the cancelled Championship available in the web?
FIA-GT4-Homepage-infos stop after the BOP-tests

http://www.autosport.nl/klasse/dutch..._dutch_gt.html

[RickP:Clio51]

I hope someone writes down this history of how to c*ck up a good idea... the SRO should be taken out and shot.
GT4 has been totally mismanaged since Day 1 and this was the inevitable ending.
RIP GT4.

[Deleted]

So in a timeframe of three years FIA/SRO has managed to lost GT1, GT2 and GT4... marvelous

[GT-Eins]

Originally Posted by RickP:Clio51

I hope someone writes down this history of how to c*ck up a good idea... the SRO should be taken out and shot.
GT4 has been totally mismanaged since Day 1 and this was the inevitable ending.
RIP GT4.

It was an error to outsource the organisation - would SRO have done that themselfes there would not have been that confusion.
Although I understand that GT4 is suspended for this year - not finally buried.

@FIRE: thanks very much for the link!

[RickP:Clio51]

SRO killed GT4 long before they farmed out the organisation... you just can't charge clients/customers/racers twice the price for tyres and them NOT go home thinking they've been stuffed... and as any business will tell u, if u alienate the customers, you won't be in business for long.