GT Open 2017

[Bcarr6]

2017 calendar

29/30 April Circuito do Estoril (P)

27/28 May Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (B)

10/11 June Circuit Paul Ricard, Le Castellet (F)

1/2 July Hungaroring (H)

2/3 September Silverstone Circuit (GB)

30 Sept./1 Oct. Autodromo Nazionale di Monza (I)

28/29 October Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (E)


Entry List so Far

Balfe Motorsport - McLaren 650s GT3 - Rob Bell / Shaun Balfe

SF Racing - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Fu Songyang / TBA

Imperiale Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - TBA

Imperiale Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - TBA

AF Corse - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Piergiuseppe Perazzini / Marco Cioci

SPS Automotive - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Valentin Pierburg / Tom Onslow-Cole




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[Bcarr6]

Might just end up being a bigger grid kind of season for the GT Open this year after pretty lacklustre entries throughout 2016.

Here's another full season run:

FFF Racing Team - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Antonio Luizzi / Hitoshi Hamaguichi


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[jondownunder]

Italiaracing had a couple of interesting rumours, reporting that Jimmy Eriksson (ex-GP2) is testing for Lazarus. I can't be sure if that was for GT Open though.

Supposedly Raffaele Marciello was in advanced negotiations to partner Giovanni Venturini in a Lambo in GT Open, but that less certain now he has tested for AKKA-ASP (Blancpain GT).

http://www.italiaracing.net/newsint....=227069&cat=17

[Racing Harz]

Solaris Motorsport - Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 - Francesco Sini/Mauro Calamia
http://www.solarismotorsport.com/en/...mauro-calamia/

[Bcarr6]

Nice to see Solaris back after a few runs last season, should be a good entry

We are now up to 8 confirmed full season entries, much better than at this time last year

GT Open always features a range of Race by race entries too


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[StueyB83]

I was hoping for the return of the Radical Works team after they withdrew after Silverstone last year (with 2 cars on the grid courtesy of RAW motorsport).

The Radical RXC GT3 needs honing and to my knowledge the car has changed from a National GT3 homologation to a G3 - similar to the Emil Frey Jag - because it allows more development freedoms.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by StueyB83

I was hoping for the return of the Radical Works team after they withdrew after Silverstone last year (with 2 cars on the grid courtesy of RAW motorsport).

The Radical RXC GT3 needs honing and to my knowledge the car has changed from a National GT3 homologation to a G3 - similar to the Emil Frey Jag - because it allows more development freedoms.

Still plenty of time to announce, we are a decent crack away from start of season still.

It was great having the Radical, even if the performance wasn't there it was nice to have variety


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[Bcarr6]

Drivex - Audi R8 LMS Ultra - Marcelo Hahn / Allam Khodair

For tomorrow's test and most likely partial or full season


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[Bcarr6]

Teo Martin will be back with two M6 GT3's


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[Bcarr6]

Great spread of cars for the first winter test, 19 on track but a mixed of confirmed cars and those so far just trying it out

Here's an update of confirmed entries

GT Open 2017

Balfe Motorsport - McLaren 650s GT3 - Rob Bell / Shaun Balfe

SF Racing - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Fu Songyang / TBA

Imperiale Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - TBA

Imperiale Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - TBA

AF Corse - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Piergiuseppe Perazzini / Marco Cioci

SPS Automotive - Mercedes AMG GT3 - Valentin Pierburg / Tom Onslow-Cole

FFF Racing Team - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Antonio Luizzi / Hitoshi Hamaguichi

Solaris Motorsport - Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 - Francesco Sini / Mauro Calamia

Drivex - Audi R8 LMS Ultra - Marcelo Hahn / Allam Khodair

Teo Martin Motorsport - BMW M6 GT3 - TBA

Teo Martin Motorsport - BMW M6 GT3 - TBA

Witt Racing - Bentley Continental GT3 - Jordan Witt / David Witt

[Juntos]

Missing some Ferrari there.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Missing some Ferrari there.

There were plenty at the test yes, but as far as I know not fully announced yet

[Bcarr6]

Garage 59 back unchanged:

Garage 59 Racing - McLaren 650s GT3 - Alexander West / Come Ledogar

Garage 59 Racing - McLaren 650s GT3 - Mike Benham / Duncan Tappy


Raton Racing in for full season too:

Raton Racing - Lamborghini Huracan GT3 - Eduardo Liberati / Link Kang


And spirit of Race too:

Spirit of Race - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Mikel Mac / Miguel Ramos

Already up to 16 full season cars

[Bcarr6]

Emil Frey and or Farnbacher Racing will by running one or more Lexus RC F GT3's in selected events throughout this years GT Open

Look forward to seeing this car attack a one hour sprint format soon

[TF110]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Emil Frey and or Farnbacher Racing will by running one or more Lexus RC F GT3's in selected events throughout this years GT Open

Look forward to seeing this car attack a one hour sprint format soon

Hopefully that's in addition to the VLN program.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by TF110

Hopefully that's in addition to the VLN program.

It seems this is a primary focus for both, with additional one off entries in European races in other series is possible...

Seems like with two teams running a car, they should be able to at least commit to the full GT Open and VLN

[Juntos]

Is this Lexus RC F GT3 fully FIA homologated?

They say every road comes to an end, but sometimes the end feels just like the beginning. Even when you think you’ve come a long way.

[Bcarr6]

Kaspersky Motorsport - Ferrari 488 GT3 - Alex Moiseev / Giancarlo Fisichella

Fisi will support Kaspersky team owner Alex Moiseev in a couple of GT Open races this year.

The Kaspersky car will run both Paul Ricard and Spa Francorchamps



I wonder if Orange1 will return now they are confirmed for the Blancpain Enduros. Calendar wise it's possible with no clashes and good spacing between both series.

I hope we see the Lexus teams running near full seasons or it seems a bit pointless

[Bcarr6]

Emil Frey confirmed for the first round of Gt Open at Estoril, with driver Albert Costa Balboa confirmed.

Frey are currently only confirmed for round one

The second Lexus of Farnbacher Racing looks to already be confirmed for a full season wth he Farnbacher brothers at the wheel

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Emil Frey and Farnbacher will both centre around a GT Open campaign, although they may look to do a few one of rounds in various series.

I personally struggle to see the logic in putting both teams in the GT Open.

I'd say run one in GT Open full season, and the second can circulate Blancpain, VLN, gt masters, the British GT Spa round, that sort of thing

This is a quote from the Blancpain GT thread. Why does GT Open exist? What is there identity? They got none as far as I know. And they have not had any for the past couple years.

I liked the series back in 2013 when it was a place for GTE cars (called GT) and GT3 (called GTS) cars ran against each other without any technical BoP. I was always interested in GT Open back then because I liked that inter class battle that you really did not get to see anywhere else. GT Open should go back to that.

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

This is a quote from the Blancpain GT thread. Why does GT Open exist? What is there identity? They got none as far as I know. And they have not had any for the past couple years.



I liked the series back in 2013 when it was a place for GTE cars (called GT) and GT3 (called GTS) cars ran against each other without any technical BoP. I was always interested in GT Open back then because I liked that inter class battle that you really did not get to see anywhere else. GT Open should go back to that.

That system ran out of steam same time as it did in supercar Challenge. This is the new alternative, a cheaper series for GT3 to run. More around Pro Am I guess

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

I liked the series back in 2013 when it was a place for GTE cars (called GT) and GT3 (called GTS) cars ran against each other without any technical BoP. I was always interested in GT Open back then because I liked that inter class battle that you really did not get to see anywhere else. GT Open should go back to that.

Where did you get the idea from that GTS ran without BoP?! They were a bit more open than SRO or ACO-GT3, but of course there was a BoP in place. At the very tail end of the GTE era they tried to pad the GTE-class with some uprated GT3s, but the GTE teams balked at the thought of that and it became a GT3-oly affair.

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Where did you get the idea from that GTS ran without BoP?! They were a bit more open than SRO or ACO-GT3, but of course there was a BoP in place. At the very tail end of the GTE era they tried to pad the GTE-class with some uprated GT3s, but the GTE teams balked at the thought of that and it became a GT3-oly affair.

I do remember that and it was a stupid stupid idea! Hence why now we GT open is a poor man's Blancpain sprint series.

[TF110]

Farnbacher confirms their GTopen intentions here http://www.farnbacher-racing.de/2017...n-der-gt-open/

[J Jay]

Honestly, I think GT Open was a victim of circumstance more than anything else. There were the banner seasons when Manthey came to play, but even that was only a stop-gap while Porsche was working their return to GT factory status.

The idea of running GTE and GT3 on the same track was a selling point, but the GTE pool was always going to shrink, and then GT Open would be a similar situation as they are now, but with everybody asking why GT Open didn't move to GT3 earlier.