2018 Blancpain GT Series

[tux]

I cant wait to see how they are going to police this. "A ban on private testing will be implemented from the start until the end of the season."

[rich07]

Originally Posted by tux

I cant wait to see how they are going to police this. "A ban on private testing will be implemented from the start until the end of the season."

Indeed. Teams (manufacturers) will find ways around it. Is it a money saving thing-because I don't see it saving much in that case. In season testing at a teams discretion helps them on a number of fronts.

[Akrapovic]

I like that GT Sprint, Asia and PWC are now all the equivalent of each other. That's nicely brought in line. I like that the Endurance Series still stands on its own as the king. It'd be nice to see a bit more consistency with IGTC. It doesn't feel like a series or challenge or whatever - just random events with no link between them.

The GT4 America plans look like a mess. I hope that doesn't spread things too thin.

Hopefully this means we'll get PWC streaming on the GT World YouTube Channel rather than the weird mess they do now of taking streams up and down, renaming etc.

[Marcel ten Caat]

It all comes down to what the exact definition of private testing is going to be in the sporting regulations.

E.g. this is what is in the rules for 2018: Private testing means any testing carried out by any team involving driver(s) entered for the event in
question with GT3 cars homologated by the FIA or G3 cars homologated by the RACB.

In GT4 private testing is forbidden as from 7 days before an event, but participation in track days organised by Curbstone Events is allowed.

[Akrapovic]

A lot of confusion in this race because Watson isn't watching the screen.

The #23 Nissan has rear damage from a BMW that drove into the back of it on lap 1. The Nissan then drove into the McLaren and put it in the gravel. The Nissan was penalised for the McLaren incident, not the BMW incident.

[Akrapovic]

SRO appear to have stopped the "SC follows a FCY" procedure. I wish this stuff was communicated so we could know what's going on.

[Akrapovic]

Ok scratch that, they've just put out the SC during a FCY for no reason.

[Juntos]

A bit disappointing end of life for the Jaguar.

[tux]

I hope tonight we don’t find out the #4 is running illegally, it’s very fast.

[Akrapovic]

No need for all these SCs. I feel like they're trying really hard to make this exciting.

Blancpain 2018 has been a bit flat.

[Akrapovic]

Well, that's that I guess. 2018 Blancpain felt like a bit of a non-event. Don't know why.

That last race was all over the place. Forced safety cars to try (and fail) to close things up. Even went green a lap earlier than they should, with T1 still under waved yellows, to make sure there would be a fight t the end. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't feeling it this year.

I really think the FCY/SC procedure needs looking at, as does the pit regulations.

[tux]

Originally Posted by tux

I hope tonight we don’t find out the #4 is running illegally, it’s very fast.

Damn, if only i was this good at the lottery

#4 disqualified.

https://www.blancpain-gt-series.com/...barcelona-race

But seriously, what the hell? It seems like every weekend now at least one team gets thrown out for breaking rules.

[Purist]

Even if the Fuji thing was a contingency, I'm still glad to see it. There's no need for everyone else to use the F1 layout, just because it's the F1 layout. Actually, I think the configuration they used is called "Fuji GT".

I'll have to see what I might be able to catch. Geo-blocking has kept me out of following the details nearly as closely for a while now.

As for the series feeling kind of "meh" overall, well, for my part, the tracks visited by the Sprint Cup that I genuinely want to see the cars at would be Brands Hatch and Zolder; I suppose Nurburgring is okay. With the Endurance Cup, it's Monza and Spa, and Paul Ricard is alright. So it's not really any better in that area than the Asian branch, where I like these cars at Sepang, Buriram, and Suzuka, and am at least curious about Ningbo this year.

As for the three sprint series in 2019, as long as the car selection over here is good, I think it will be a most excellent season, and hopefully they won't be having to use the IndyCar layout at Sonoma anymore.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Well, that's that I guess. 2018 Blancpain felt like a bit of a non-event. Don't know why.

That last race was all over the place. Forced safety cars to try (and fail) to close things up. Even went green a lap earlier than they should, with T1 still under waved yellows, to make sure there would be a fight t the end. Maybe it's just me, but I wasn't feeling it this year.

I really think the FCY/SC procedure needs looking at, as does the pit regulations.

My feelings exactly. I couldn't watch the race live but watched it from YouTube several hours later. It was a bit 'meh'.

Most of the sprint races were at small, narrow tracks where it's difficult to overtake.
(Brands Hatch, Zolder, Misano) and most of the excitements is during the pitstop period.

Endurance is generally a bit better, but Barcelona doesn't lend itself for good action it seems.

As for the yellows: like ytou already mentioned they didn't goe FCY -> SC all the time. Clear as mud, those rules.
Several accidents occurred jsut after a Safety Car because there were too many cars bunched up in a very small piece of real estate.
I hope they took notice and amend things for next year.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Juntos

A bit disappointing end of life for the Jaguar.

Disappointing? It was 4th (or 3rd if the DQ of #4 stands) and won the Silver class. And the championship.

[Akrapovic]

My problem with the FCY -> SC rules situation is that you don't know what they're going to do. If they always do FCY->SC then fine. It's not good but at least everyone knows it, and you set your strategy accordingly. But when they sometimes don't do it, it means your strategy is literally a gamble based on what race control is going to decide, seemingly on a coin toss.

Pick a rule (preferably don't go FCY->SC) and stick to it. The new pit stop regulations for next year are an improvement. Now if we can get rid of the artificial stint lengths, that'd be nice too.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

My problem with the FCY -> SC rules situation is that you don't know what they're going to do. If they always do FCY->SC then fine. It's not good but at least everyone knows it, and you set your strategy accordingly. But when they sometimes don't do it, it means your strategy is literally a gamble based on what race control is going to decide, seemingly on a coin toss.

Pick a rule (preferably don't go FCY->SC) and stick to it. The new pit stop regulations for next year are an improvement. Now if we can get rid of the artificial stint lengths, that'd be nice too.

All of these safety car periods takes the "endurance" out of "endurance". Same issue with IMSA. The WEC guys seem to get it though outside of the silly Le Mans safety car procedures.

But yeah I think the biggest eye sore on sportscar racing as a whole today is the increased frequency of safety car periods.

[greeny12]

It's just the sheer illogicality of the FCY>SC thing that gets me. The whole point of introducing FCYs/Code 60s or whatever is to allow safety actions (such as stranded car removals) to take place in a safe environment. We never, ever want another Jules Bianchi situation in a race.

So if safety is the prime driver, why then bunch the field up behind a safety car, with all the cars effectively out of position on the track and the leaders facing a tight line of lower order cars that are basically no slower on a one or two lap basis so become bl00dy hard to pass safely.

The only explanation is a desire by the organisers to eliminate gaps in order to generate 'closer' racing. But that has nothing to do with safety (quite the reverse) or - in my view - sporting integrity. If we want WWE-style pantomime racing we have the BTCC for that...

[Mike Hedlund]

SC is normally deployed when the race director wants the cars packed up so that there is a longer interval of clear track for safety workers (and vehicles) to do there thing around an incident. If it's close to the track surface and not far away, it's easier and safer for them to work when cars aren't going by... even at slow speeds.

-mike

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

SC is normally deployed when the race director wants the cars packed up so that there is a longer interval of clear track for safety workers (and vehicles) to do there thing around an incident. If it's close to the track surface and not far away, it's easier and safer for them to work when cars aren't going by... even at slow speeds.

-mike

That's what happens in ACO rules, but SRO doesn't do that. SRO clears the incident under the FCY and once it's clear, they do a single lap of SC to bunch them up.

SRO will use the SC from the start of the incident if it is a large or problematic incident, but even if they're just moving a stalled car from the side of the track, they do FCY and once everything is clear they do 1-2 laps of SC. It's kinda the opposite of what is meant to happen.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

That's what happens in ACO rules, but SRO doesn't do that. SRO clears the incident under the FCY and once it's clear, they do a single lap of SC to bunch them up.

SRO will use the SC from the start of the incident if it is a large or problematic incident, but even if they're just moving a stalled car from the side of the track, they do FCY and once everything is clear they do 1-2 laps of SC. It's kinda the opposite of what is meant to happen.

I guess they did not like that Mauro Engle's Mercedes had a such a big lead. Oh wait..the stupid DQ took care of that. 2018 will not go down as the best year for SRO as a whole. The Blancpain Sprint series for sure took a step back in quality. PWC was not very good. Endurance Cup should have been awesome, and it did have its good moments. Spa 24 was good for instance. But I really hate deploying the safety car as often as they did.

[Anyopenroad]

One further oddity of the FCY->SC thing is that the SC is usually only out for a lap or two, which isn’t enough time for all cars to get into the train. This has two effects:

1. By random chance some cars are left way behind when the SC pulls in
2. The drivers realise the risk so as soon as SC is called they drive like demons to ensure they make it to the train. It’s paradoxical to see the cars accelerate hard and push to the limit the moment SC procedure is announced.

I really have a problem with this. It’s artificial and random and dumb. It disfigured the Spa 24, which was a great spectacle but a poor race.

[Jameson]

Originally Posted by Mike Hedlund

SC is normally deployed when the race director wants the cars packed up so that there is a longer interval of clear track for safety workers (and vehicles) to do there thing around an incident. If it's close to the track surface and not far away, it's easier and safer for them to work when cars aren't going by... even at slow speeds.

-mike

I remember reading somewhere that the reason there is an SC after FCY is that everyone can put some heat on their tires during the lap or two it takes to group everyone behind the Safety Car. They referred to several accidents on cold tires at Spa after restarts. Must be a couple of years ago or so.

[tux]

https://sportscar365.com/other-series/gt3-spec-ford-gt-under-evaluation/

Potential Ford GT3 project

[joeb]

Originally Posted by tux

https://sportscar365.com/other-series/gt3-spec-ford-gt-under-evaluation/

Potential Ford GT3 project

I didn't think much of it, but then Ford announced they are building another batch of road GT's too. So it does sound like they want this car around for a bit.