24 Hours of Le Mans

ACO: “GT2 has a wonderful future beckoning”

Last week SRO announced the cancellation of the 2010 FIA GT2 European Championship due to a lack of commitment from teams and manufacturers. Today the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) has issued a press release stating quite the opposite for the various Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans. The ACO goes even further, saying that the GT2 class is “a category of the future for endurance racing”.

Where the FIA GT2 European Championship only had two teams confirmed, both with a Porsche 997 GT3 RSR, the ACO sees a rapid expansion in the LM GT2 categories at Le Mans and in the Le Mans Series in Europe, the USA and in Asia. According to the ACO the category “has a wonderful future beckoning for the coming years.”

Unlike SRO the ACO seems to be very content with GT2 and its manufacturers and, with no reference to the recent SRO decision, makes it clear that they are listening to the manufacturers.

The press release clarifies this statement:

Indeed, the ACO had already taken 3 important decisions in 2009 concerning the future of the category:

• The stability of its rules, the opening to projects coming from different manufacturers, and the fact of mastering the level of performance of the cars make it possible today for the LM-GT2 category to group together exceptional line-ups where private and official competitors fight on equal terms for victory.

On one thing SRO and ACO agree. Both expect the GT2 category to expand with the arrival of new technologies on the ‘road’ versions of the cars raced by the manufacturers, like the Hybrid Porsche. But where SRO decided not to continue until that moment, with the chance that teams will not return, the ACO seems to welcome everyone in. An invitation already taken up by former FIA GT2 teams like AF Corse, CRS Racing and ProSpeed Competition.