GT Open 2021

[Wilter Will]

Lechner Racing returns with full-season program and Porsche 911 GT3 R. Drivers: Al Faisal Al Zubair (double Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East champion) and well-known Andy Soucek, which joins Austrian team after Bentley factory program closing.

The grid becomes more diverse.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Wilter Will

Lechner Racing returns with full-season program and Porsche 911 GT3 R. Drivers: Al Faisal Al Zubair (double Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East champion) and well-known Andy Soucek, which joins Austrian team after Bentley factory program closing.

The grid becomes more diverse.

It's certainly taking shape nicely, 12 cars confirmed so far, PRO-AM as ever looks to be the biggest category, hopefully, we see 6+ cars fighting in full PRO at least.

Based on the below and how it compared to this time last year, I think its safe to see we will see a nice 20+ car grid again.


GT Open 2021 - 12 Cars

PRO - 4 Cars
AKM Motorsport - Mercedes AMG GT3 - TBC / TBC
Reno Racing - Honda NSX GT3 - Jens Moller / Reece Barr
Team Lazarus - Bentley Continental GT3 - TBC / TBC
Team Lazarus - Bentley Continental GT3 - TBC / TBC

PRO AM - 8 Cars
AKM Motorsport - Mercedes AMG GT3 - TBC / TBC
Equipe Vitesse - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Dominik Schraml / Mario Hirsch
Lechner Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 R - Andy Soucek / Al Faisal Al Zubair
Optimum Motorsport - Mclaren 720s GT3 - TBC / TBC
Optimum Motorsport - Mclaren 720s GT3 - TBC / TBC
Vincenzo Sospiri Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Michele Beretta / Frederik
Vincenzo Sospiri Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Baptiste Moulin / TBC
Winward Racing - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Markus Sattler / Nico Bastian

[Wilter Will]

Balde Motorsport - Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Shaun Balfe and Adam Carroll

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Wilter Will

Balde Motorsport - Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Shaun Balfe and Adam Carroll

Balfe...

And a shame for diversity in GT3 that everyone is gradually shifting to Audi or Mercedes.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Balfe...

And a shame for diversity in GT3 that everyone is gradually shifting to Audi or Mercedes.

Not so much for GT-Open which has traditionally been very light on Audis.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Not so much for GT-Open which has traditionally been very light on Audis.

Very true... The Audi/VAG/AMG whitewash must be getting strong if it is impacting GT Open... ha!

[Wilter Will]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Balfe...

And a shame for diversity in GT3 that everyone is gradually shifting to Audi or Mercedes.

It's a typo. In recent years, Audi has been a rare guest in the GT Open: Optimum and Olimp. By the way, this Polish team is building its program in a strange way. They have two Mercedes and one Audi, but they are not in a hurry to enter the GT Open: they constantly tests in Silesia.

[tux]

It seems to me that Olimp Racing have a different car everytime they race, just like ARC Bratislava

Im looking forward to see how Adam Carroll goes in the R8, it should suit him perfectly.

[Wilter Will]

It seems that this year there will be no famous Teo Martin Motorsport team. They still haven't confirmed the 2021 GT3 program, and the team missed the pre-season tests. One of their McLarens participated in the Endurance Brasil last weekend with Allam Khodair and Marcelo Hahn, who have had a significant sponsorship impact on the team in recent years. The money of gentleman-drivers is the fundamental point of their operations.

[Bcarr6]

Teo has previously said they will be running a pair of 720s GT3's, both in GTWC which never materialised, and usually, Teo is quite prompt at announcing their programmes so it doesn't look great. Remains to be seen

[Bcarr6]

Nick Moss and Joe Osborne back in the first confirmed Optimum Motorsport entry of what will be a two-car entry.

I think it's safe to say at this point, Teo Martin are now looking more and more like they won't be running their Mclarens

Looks like we are set for around 17-20 cars in GT Open this year.

[Bcarr6]

Millroy / Iribe in the other car, busy boys

[Bcarr6]

16 cars for this weekends Paul Ricard races, no Teo Martin, only a single Lazarus Bentley.

Seems like this series has taken a pretty big hit from being 20+ cars last year.

PRO - 4 Cars
Lechner Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 R - Andy Soucek / Al Faisal Al Zubair
Team Lazarus - Bentley Continental GT3 - Jordan Pepper / Ivan Peklin
Vincenzo Sospiri Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Baptiste Moulin / Yuki Nemoto
Vincenzo Sospiri Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Michele Beretta / Frederik Schandorff

PRO AM - 9 Cars
AKM Motorsport - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Loris Spinelli / Alexander Moiseev
Balfe Motorsport - Audi R8 LMS GT3 - Shaun Balfe / Adam Carroll
HP Racing International - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Coach McKansy / Jan Seyffert
JP Motorsport - Mclaren 720s GT3 - Christian Klein / Patryk Krupinski
Optimum Motorsport - Mclaren 720s GT3 - Nick Moss / Joe Osborne
Optimum Motorsport - Mclaren 720s GT3 - Ollie Millroy / Brendan Iribe
Reno Racing - Honda NSX GT3 - Jens Moller / Marcus Paverud
Twin Busch by Equipe Vitesse - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Dominik Schraml / Mario Hirsch
Winward Racing - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Markus Sattler / Nico Bastian

AM - 3 Cars
AKM Motorsport - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Florian Scholze / Jens Liebhauser
Boutsen Ginion - Lamborghini Gallardo Reiter R-EX GT3 - Francois Grimm
Torcello / Il Barone Rampante - - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Giuseppe Cipriani

[Wilter Will]

It is a pity that Teo Martin's team is not expected this season, as I have always associated this Spanish team with the GT Open. I think, the second Bentley of the Tancredi Pagiaro team became the source of spare parts for the first car. Anyone who watched the races last season remembers how often Stefano Coletti was involved in accidents: that car never scored points.

[Speed-King]

They're doing the right thing by combining grids with GT Open Cup at least for one race, though.

That's another fourteen cars, and actually a pretty interesting field with one make cars from Porsche and Lamborghini, GT4s from McLaren, Mercedes and Aston and even a TA2 Mustang all racing in the same class. In a way, introducing such a class is what I wished IMSA would have done for next year instead of simply splitting GTD into Pro and Am.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

They're doing the right thing by combining grids with GT Open Cup at least for one race, though.

That's another fourteen cars, and actually a pretty interesting field with one make cars from Porsche and Lamborghini, GT4s from McLaren, Mercedes and Aston and even a TA2 Mustang all racing in the same class. In a way, introducing such a class is what I wished IMSA would have done for next year instead of simply splitting GTD into Pro and Am.

Don’t know if you watched Italian GT the past couple of weekends ago, but they do GT3, GT CUP, and GT4 all together, amounting to a 35-36 car grid.

I think that structure really works, in terms of pace difference, ability difference, and number of cars on track.

I’d rather see GT Cup joining GT Open for both races, creating 2 races total, instead of watching 4 races with half full grids.

GT Open travels to Barcelona, Paul Ricard etc, a lot of big wide open tracks where small grid counts are noticeable.

Not to mention, with only 4 cars in pro this year, some traffic could well spice up the on screen action

[Wilter Will]

The first half of the race was a safety car race after the terrible crash of Christian Klien and Dominic Shraml in T3, and then the incident with the car of François Grimm. Nevertheless, the second half of the race was like a tightening spring. First, the leading Jordan Pepper lost his position due to an early pit stop, which was returned by Ivan Peklin, who made his debut behind the wheel of a GT3 car today. Fighting and overtaking took place actively in the middle group, where the unyielding VSR drivers Nemoto and Beretta gave many beautiful moments with the participation of Soucek, Carroll, Millroy and Moss. Ivan Peklin and Jordan Pepper from Team Lazarus celebrate the victory, for the team this is the second triumph with Bentley. Tomorrow, the GT Cup Open cars will join the GT Open peloton, which has definitely decreased after today's accidents.

[Juntos]

What was the stewards decision on Christian Klien - Dominic Shraml crash?

[Racing Harz]

Dominik Schraml is sure pretty amused about your Notation.

[Juntos]

Originally Posted by Racing Harz

Dominik Schraml is sure pretty amused about your Notation.

He is a Driving Instructor after all.

[Wilter Will]

There are 16x GT3 cars to hit the track at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. The entry list includes two additional part-time entrants made by TF Sport Aston Martin (Michael Dinan/Robby Foley) and FF Corse Ferrari (Laurent de Meeus/Jamie Stanley). But grid lost Winward's Mercedes because of amateur driver decision.

It seems like GT Cup cars to join the GT3 in both race to complete 27-car grid.

[WyldStallion]

Originally Posted by Wilter Will

There are 16x GT3 cars to hit the track at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend. The entry list includes two additional part-time entrants made by TF Sport Aston Martin (Michael Dinan/Robby Foley) and FF Corse Ferrari (Laurent de Meeus/Jamie Stanley). But grid lost Winward's Mercedes because of amateur driver decision.

It seems like GT Cup cars to join the GT3 in both race to complete 27-car grid.

Are these influx of GT cup Open entires the Porsche Carrera cup 992 type cars? I noticed some of the Porsches have the rear wing with the hooks going over it.

[Wilter Will]

Originally Posted by WyldStallion

Are these influx of GT cup Open entires the Porsche Carrera cup 992 type cars? I noticed some of the Porsches have the rear wing with the hooks going over it.

All GT4 cars can participate in the GT Cup, as well as cars for the one-make series of the latest generations. Unfortunately, the races in Spa were with GT3 and Porsche Cup grid.

[Wilter Will]

Robby Foley and Michael Dinan switch from TF Sport Aston to Kessel Racing Ferrari to stay on the grid at Hungaroring

[Wilter Will]

It was very difficult to watch the races in Imola with such a small grid. But such a number of additional entries pleases the eye, even if they are only for one round.