GT3 The State Of Play: Part 2, Beyond 2022
With the end of the GTE Pro class in the FIA World Endurance Championship just two races away, and just one more season for the Pro-Am GTE AM class in the WEC, and GTE in ELMS, focus is shifting to the new era of GT3-based racing for the ACO’s major competitions, albeit with the addition […]
The post GT3 The State Of Play: Part 2, Beyond 2022 first appeared on dailysportscar.com.With the end of the GTE Pro class in the FIA World Endurance Championship just two races away, and just one more season for the Pro-Am GTE AM class in the WEC, and GTE in ELMS, focus is shifting to the new era of GT3-based racing for the ACO’s major competitions, albeit with the addition of a not-yet defined ‘GT3 Premium’ package.
IMSA has already made the transition of course with GTD Pro nearing the end of its first season alongside the Pro-Am GTD class.
And then of course there’s the SRO suite of Series and Championships, GT World Challenge and the IGTC.
Plus a huge array of other notable, and more minor Championships where GT3 plays an important role.
There’s no surprise then that the SRO Press Conference at Spa rolled out a big number for the GT3 cars currently competing – 315 GT3 cars have raced worldwide in 2022 – and that number didn’t go all the way down the food chain either!
There is therefore, likely to be some significant renewed interest in the class with new and potentially lucrative racing options about to open up.
So, in an already crowded marketplace – who is making moves to capture the attention of customers?
First the bad news:
The crowd-pleasing Bentley programme is petering out with just one or two cars still active and now no factory involvement or investment at all, the remaining cars supported by MSport but the clock is ticking until the brand disappears from contemporary racing.
Maserati have announced a GT2 version of their MC20 but recent statements seemed to indicate that their motorsport product line was complete with the GT2, the forthcoming Project24 track-only car and Formula E.
This one is something of a ‘watch this space’ – if the GT2 car takes off with commercial interest, a look at GT3 would surely be sensible?
Lotus have recently launched the GT4 version of their new Emira road car and it’s an impressive package.
The company though has no plans at all to progress up to GT3, the Emira platform, with its transverse engine layout, deemed to be at a significant disadvantage in the current GT3 regulations.
KTM look unlikely to enter GT3 in the short-term, their GTX and GT2 X-Bow variants though are picking up customers and there’s now set to be a road going version of the closed top car for the first time, the X-BOW GT-XR.
If that car does sell in significant numbers there’s a possibility of a step up – but don’t hold your breath.
So who is still in the GT3 marketplace, and with what?
Acura/ Honda – the NSX GT3, badged as an Acura in North America and as a Honda elsewhere, is built in Italy by JAS Engineering on chassis despatched from the road car’s US factory – or they were when the road cr was still in production. JAS have a limited stock of ‘bodies in white’ to build new cars or resell existing NSXs but the scope and scale of customer growth for the car is somewhat limited.
That’s not to say that the car is done with racing, far from it, the latest NSX GT3 Evo22 updates came for the current season and are homologated through to the end of the 2024 season.
After that, the future is significantly less clear!
Aston Martin – With around 50 of the current Vantage AMR GT3 cars built, the clock is ticking until the introduction of a new Vantage road car, currently planned for 2024, and the almost definite ‘Evo’ version of the GT3 platform to match, the green light awaiting decisions on final regulations at that point.
Audi – One of the best ever sellers in the GT3 marketplace is still taking the fight to the rest, the R8 LMS now in its latest evolution, launched for customers early in the 2022 season.
The Audi R8 LMS Evo II though will face a challenge into 2023 when one of, if not the brand’s core customer and factory-backed squads, Team WRT, step away from their partnership with Audi.
That said there are plenty of high quality Audi customers out thee, and several of them are easily good enough to take on the mantle of factory-backed outfits.
While we wait and se what is going to happen with Audi Sport Customer racing’s future product strategy, the still very fresh current car has plenty of competitive shelf life remaining.
BMW – The M4 GT3, launched for customer operation at the start of 2022, is currently the newest operational GT3 design.
Replacing the previous M6 GT3 the car has seen success in the marketplace and is present in customer hands in a wide variety of Sprint and Endurance races and Championships worldwide, 20 plus cars already in action.
Corvette – Already confirmed is that a GT3 version of the Corvette C8, dubbed the Corvette Z06 GT3.R, will be introduced for the 2024 season for both factory (GTD Pro) and, for the first time in GT3 from GM as a factory concern, customer sales too.
That’s going to be particularly important outside of the IMSA Championship with no all-Pro class at Le Mans a foot on the Pro-Am ladder is essential if the brand is going to continue its glittering history at Le Mans.
The car will be based around the 5.5 litre normally aspirated powered Z06 road car. The emergence of the factory GT3 project around the C8 has though seen the end of the line for the Callaway Corvette, the German outfit having produced GT3-spec versions of the C6 and C7 ‘Vettes with some success in Europe.
Ferrari – Have announced their new-for-2023 296 GT3, the replacement for the 488 GT3. The new V6-powered car, a race version of the 296 GTB is in its test and development phase.
The car has been designed by Ferrari but will be built by ORECA in France, who will also take on the role of customer support for the cars globally.
The new car has been specifically designed to reduce the cost-per-kilometre for Ferrari which, in the case of the 488 ran at over double some market rivals.
The car is set to make its competitive debut at the 2023 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
Ford – Announced at the Rolex 24 in 2022, the Ford Mustang GT3 is being developed in a joint programme between Ford Performance and Multimatic with a V8 Coyote engine developed and built by MSport in the UK.
The car is set to be released for customer sales for the 2024 season. Ford have confirmed it is heading for an IMSA campaign in GTD Pro with a factory team in that same season.
Glickenhaus – The V8-powered Glickenhaus SCG 004 is planned to be a future GT3-homologated car. To achieve that goal the parent company must sell 200 examples of the 004’s road going version.
Company founder Jim Glickenhaus has repeatedly stated that the company has more than 200 expressions of interest from prospective buyers. At present the car is unlikely to be homologated before 2024 in GT3 but already competes, now in an ‘Evo’ version in the NLS on the Nurburgring in their SPX class for non-homologated cars.
Lamborghini – Launched their current EVO 2 version of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3, based around the roadgoing Huracan STO, for 2023 competition earlier this year.
The new car retains Lamborghini’s very competitive ‘costs per km’ market position.
The Huracan is based on the Audi R8, a model set to be discontinued. Lamborghini have stated that the Huracan replacement will be a Lamborghini only vehicle, with bespoke underpinnings, but no date has yet been given for its road car replacement.
Lexus/ Toyota – The current Lexus RC F GT3 is only now active in IMSA with Vasser Sullivan and in its home market. Clearly though there is a plan for a new car and it looks set to be based on the Toyota GR GT3 concept which was unveiled in January.
Sources suggest that for the US at least the future car is likely to be badged as a Lexus, though other markets may see the car adopting the Toyota Gazoo Racing sporting sub-brand.
Little else is currently known either than the fact that at the time of unveiling the concept Toyota suggested a running prototype could be ready by the end of this year. US sources suggest that a new car is likely to be ready for competition for the 2024 season.
McLaren – The current 720S GT3 is amongst the most recently homologated GT3 cars and is not set for a replacement for some time yet, particularly as the current car is doing pretty well in the marketplace at present.
An Evo pack though is expected in 2023 targeting a reported lack of front downforce in traffic coupled with some geometry changes and other systems upgrades.
Mercedes AMG – The 2019 Evo of the AMG GT3 is still finding a healthy customer base and is still very competitive on track – including a winning performance at the 2022 Spa 24 Hours. Mercedes AMG is understood to be evaluating a further evolution of the car on the current platform with the replacement for the current road car currently launched only as an open topped roadster.
Nissan – No announcement has been made about any plan for a race version of the forthcoming R36 version of Nissan’s GTR, due at present to debut in 2023. With no factory support for the ‘current’ R35 cars in Europe and the US, the cars have seen very limited racing in recent seasons outside of Japan with only cars until recently active in GT Cup in the UK and in GTWC Australia.
There is still support for the cars in the home market with several cars competing in the GT300 class of Super GT.
Porsche – Have just publicly taken the wraps off the latest iteration of their 911 GT3 R, this the latest car in a line that goes back to their original GT3 offering, a car which way back then was effectively a Porsche Cup car.
Now though, with the new car, based for the first time on their current ‘992’ platform, the GT3 weapon is an entirely different kettle of fish. More aero, more power, simply just ‘more’, the car a significant step forward in all key areas, certainly far more than an ‘Evo’ kit.
The new car is likely to debut in factory development hands later in 2022 ahead of customer deliveries for the start of the 2023 season.
The post GT3 The State Of Play: Part 2, Beyond 2022 first appeared on dailysportscar.com.