GT World Challenge Europe 2023

[GregUK]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

56 in endurance, 40 in Sprint.

Bronze will not attend Brands Hatch and Zandvoort

And approaching 70 cars at Spa 24!!

[fergus_r]

Yeah…not a fan of that at all. GT World Challenge has had more than 30 cars on two occasions at Brands Hatch (including 37 in 2017).

They know the circuit’s space capacity - they should cap the entries at that, instead of exceeding it and then denying other competitors (in this case, the whole 10-car Bronze category) a chance to race at two of the events. It seems a silly way of doing it.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by fergus_r

Yeah…not a fan of that at all. GT World Challenge has had more than 30 cars on two occasions at Brands Hatch (including 37 in 2017).

They know the circuit’s space capacity - they should cap the entries at that, instead of exceeding it and then denying other competitors (in this case, the whole 10-car Bronze category) a chance to race at two of the events. It seems a silly way of doing it.

Im not sure I see the appeal to enter bronze cup this year. Its a 5 round series, but you can only attend 3 rounds?

Why bother. Do GT Open instead?

I have to say, 30+ in sprint races always seems pointless. It always becomes a procession

[GT3_Fan]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Im not sure I see the appeal to enter bronze cup this year. Its a 5 round series, but you can only attend 3 rounds?

Why bother. Do GT Open instead?

I have to say, 30+ in sprint races always seems pointless. It always becomes a procession

Agree with the comment about the sprint series field sizes. GT Open and GT Masters sound like the alternatives for teams feeling left out.

As good as the raw numbers are. Why is Aston Martin so underrepresented? Did they not see Heart of Racing in the past couple of years in IMSA GTD? Just won Daytona 24 GT overall. Its a dang good car. I might add its the car I do best in Assetto Corse Competizone!

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by GT3_Fan

Agree with the comment about the sprint series field sizes. GT Open and GT Masters sound like the alternatives for teams feeling left out.

As good as the raw numbers are. Why is Aston Martin so underrepresented? Did they not see Heart of Racing in the past couple of years in IMSA GTD? Just won Daytona 24 GT overall. Its a dang good car. I might add its the car I do best in Assetto Corse Competizone!

Probably down to less appealing customer support package AMR can offer. Same reason we see way too many Mercedes and Audi's, they offer the best customer support trackside

[Badlands99]

Again, the results from today's test at Paul Ricard don't make good viewing for Porsche and Lambo ......
Just one Porsche in the top 20 times and 14 of the 16 slowest lap times in the Weds afternoon session from these manufacturers.
Now, I am sure that SRO will pay attention to this and hopefully avoid the farce that IMSA created at Daytona - if not, there are going to be some very annoyed teams who have invested an awful lot of £££ in these new cars.

[NaBUru38]

Maybe the Sprint Cup should split pros and amateurs in different races.

[GregUK]

72 cars confirmed for Spa 24

[joeb]

Originally Posted by GregUK

72 cars confirmed for Spa 24

Carnage will ensue. that is a lot of car!

[GT3_Fan]

Originally Posted by joeb

Carnage will ensue. that is a lot of car!

SRO just does not learn do they? From the horrible FCY to Safety Car procedure AFTER the clean up was made as an artificial means to close the cars up. 72 cars?! Why do you need 16 Mercedes and 14 Porsches either.

How about a 40 car grid with a minimum of 10 manufacturers. Make it more exclusive. But if you turn out with a less common car like an Acura or Lexus. Guaranteed spot on the grid. The cars are so reliable now. A 40 car GT3 grid at Spa. 32 of them will still run at the end...and end that horrid safety car procedure.

Well they won't listen to me I'm sure.

[IdealLine]

72 cars! That's mega! SRO for sure is doing an amazing job with their grids this year.

I'll for sure go visit the 24H this year, it's going to be a must-see

[GregoryDG]

Originally Posted by GT3_Fan

SRO just does not learn do they? From the horrible FCY to Safety Car procedure AFTER the clean up was made as an artificial means to close the cars up. 72 cars?! Why do you need 16 Mercedes and 14 Porsches either.

How about a 40 car grid with a minimum of 10 manufacturers. Make it more exclusive. But if you turn out with a less common car like an Acura or Lexus. Guaranteed spot on the grid. The cars are so reliable now. A 40 car GT3 grid at Spa. 32 of them will still run at the end...and end that horrid safety car procedure.

Well they won't listen to me I'm sure.

They don't need the money anyway!

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Maybe the Sprint Cup should split pros and amateurs in different races.

And maybe the Spa 24h too.

[chunterer]

So 55 cars entered for the GTWCE at Monza this weekend!
Lot more M4's than I had accounted for and judging by their recent pace in NLS I wonder if they are benefiting from a BOP leg up?
Be interestimg to see what happens with the new Porsche and the Ferrari 296.
Also there are still a shed load of Audi's and Merc's in the field, but sadly only one Aston.
Lambo well represented across all the classes too.
Looking forward to tuning in over the weekend!

[v8supes]

New Porsche teams have been asked to run without TC and ABS. Should be fun in the rain on Sunday..

Surprised to see that Formula regional Europe are running at Imola this weekend and not on the GTWC bill given the fact they support GTWC at other events.

[rika]

Rossi is still the weak link in his car.


Has he ever had a mistake-free race? I don not think so.
He was rather rubbish in his last years of Moto GP and he is still rather rubbish in cars.


IMO of course

[v8supes]

I tend to disagree, i thought he was pretty solid during his first year with WRT, today he had a puncture.

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by rika

Rossi is still the weak link in his car.


Has he ever had a mistake-free race? I don not think so.
He was rather rubbish in his last years of Moto GP and he is still rather rubbish in cars.


IMO of course

And here we have the classic knee-jerk, "I-couldn't-wait-to-tell-you-so" reaction the internet has made popular.

I'd wager it was premature to post this, unless you're also going to blame Farfus for the left-rear puncture, seeing as he was in the car at the time? Could it not be more likely that there was a problem (which has now retired the #46) that no driver could have done anything about?

He isn't rubbish, he's okay. Not great, not awful. Does this make him deserving of a seat with a top team? I don't think so, but his status/popularity has given him the drive. So far, the results bare out his performance; some glimpses of pace (such as the fastest lap so far) but otherwise at the upper end of the midfield. This isn't Vadim Kogay we're discussing.

[fergus_r]

Speaking of Vadim Kogay, it was mentioned in practice that it’s 10 years since we were graced with his presence at Monza. He was a bit erratic everywhere that season but obviously it was Monza where he really came into his own.

[J Jay]

Yeah, it was hilarious looking back at it. Then at Spa the next year, Kogay's deficiencies were not amusing.

Speaking of deficiencies, the other manufacturers are falling over themselves to hand BMW a 1-2-3, it's just a question of which order the podium is.

[rika]

No it is just my opinion. You may choose not to agree of course, that is not a problem.


I just think I have not seen a really good race for Rossi and I think he is just over rated.




And he made a lots mistakes today, do you not think so?

[J Jay]

Good races? Off the top of my head, Brands R2, Misano R2, Paul Ricard, Barcelona, maybe Hockenheim. Certainly more than enough to say he is not a poor driver. And today, he made two mistakes at most, depending on the onset of the problem that retired the car.

I suspect you are conflating his disproportionate presence with his ability. He's definitely over stated in GTWC coverage, but that unfortunately is he way SRO have chosen to get more people tuning in.

[rika]

Yes maybe I would not focus on his bad races or his mistakes if they were just not talking about him all the time, I think you are right.


It is annoying that they talk about him all the time they do not do that with other drivers tht are better than him

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by rika

It is annoying that they talk about him all the time they do not do that with other drivers tht are better than him

I think this is the problem. Rossi is doing fine, but is talked about much more than others.

Separate note. I've watched a lot of racing today - GTWC was by far the highest YouTube figures

FE - 5k
ELMS - 5k
GTWC - 15k

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by rika

It is annoying that they talk about him all the time they do not do that with other drivers tht are better than him

I can only agree with this. As much as I understand it, it is annoying to the extreme, like Alonso in WEC on steroids. We're approaching Danica Patrick in NASCAR levels of fawning.

Originally Posted by Akrapovic

Separate note. I've watched a lot of racing today - GTWC was by far the highest YouTube figuresa

FE - 5k
ELMS - 5k
GTWC - 15k

Stephane knows how to make the most of a good thing. Add that to GT cars being the most representative of road cars, and it makes sense.