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Le Mans / ALMS
ALMS: Series Finalizing New GT-Am Class For 2013
In SPEED.com exclusive, American Le Mans Series set to introduce new Pro-Am category for next year...
The American Le Mans Series is set to introduce a sixth category for 2013, GT-Am. (Photo: John Dagys)
With the success of GTE-Am in Europe, which saw more than a dozen entries take part in last month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, the same platform is set to be introduced into the American Le Mans Series, beginning next year.
In a SPEED.com exclusive, ALMS and IMSA COO Scot Elkins confirmed the series is in the advanced stages of finalizing plans for the creation of GT-Am, a category based off the highly successful GT ranks.
"We talked about it a lot last year and actually had a meeting at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last year with a lot of the GT and GTC teams,” Elkins explained. “At the time, I didn't feel like we had enough committed competitors for the class.
“This year, it's actually worked the opposite way, where I've actually had competitors and customers of the ALMS come to us and say they were really ready to do it and wanted to step up."
Utilizing the same specification of cars from GT (or GTE-Pro, as known in the FIA WEC and ELMS), the major difference in GT-Am comes with the driver categorization, as only one pro driver (gold or platinum) would be allowed in each lineup.
While the ACO GTE-Am category also enforces that each car must be at least one year old, Elkins said that’s something the ALMS is still evaluating on whether to implement.
The ALMS is also exploring the possibility of using “off-the-shelf” tires, similar to those run in PC, to help reduce costs as well. But unlike PC and GTC, Elkins said GT-Am would be open to all tire manufacturers.
No other major changes are expected to be made.
“The way the GTE rules are written right now, the cars are, for all intents and purpose, frozen from a homologation standpoint,” Elkins said. “So there's not a whole lot of things that can change from the homologation that teams can do development and spend money on.
“Hopefully, that will help us keep costs where they need to be. But if we need to do other things in terms of the technical specs, we can look at that. That's all a part of what we're working out right now, trying to decide what the actual regulations are going to be.”
Despite having yet being officially launched, GT-Am appears to have gained considerable interest from existing and prospective ALMS entrants. Elkins said he’s already received “very serious interest’ from six to seven teams but will deem the category a success if four or five cars are on the grid next year.
Black Swan Racing’s Tim Pappas has been one of the major pushers for the new category, while existing GT teams such as Flying Lizard Motorsports, Extreme Speed Motorsports and Lotus Alex Job Racing, which all have a gentlemen driver in its current lineups, would be able to easily make the transition, if desired.
SPEED.com has learned there’s also interest from teams currently outside of the ALMS, potentially swayed by the series’ mandated minimum drive time rules that typically gives gentlemen drivers more track time.
"I think what is also causing people to have interest in it is that it's a really defined path to get amateur drivers a chance to race at Le Mans,” Elkins said. “That's something we would be able to offer as well, as we have a set number of [automatic] entries provided by the ACO."
In a SPEED.com exclusive, ALMS and IMSA COO Scot Elkins confirmed the series is in the advanced stages of finalizing plans for the creation of GT-Am, a category based off the highly successful GT ranks.
"We talked about it a lot last year and actually had a meeting at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last year with a lot of the GT and GTC teams,” Elkins explained. “At the time, I didn't feel like we had enough committed competitors for the class.
“This year, it's actually worked the opposite way, where I've actually had competitors and customers of the ALMS come to us and say they were really ready to do it and wanted to step up."
Utilizing the same specification of cars from GT (or GTE-Pro, as known in the FIA WEC and ELMS), the major difference in GT-Am comes with the driver categorization, as only one pro driver (gold or platinum) would be allowed in each lineup.
While the ACO GTE-Am category also enforces that each car must be at least one year old, Elkins said that’s something the ALMS is still evaluating on whether to implement.
The ALMS is also exploring the possibility of using “off-the-shelf” tires, similar to those run in PC, to help reduce costs as well. But unlike PC and GTC, Elkins said GT-Am would be open to all tire manufacturers.
No other major changes are expected to be made.
“The way the GTE rules are written right now, the cars are, for all intents and purpose, frozen from a homologation standpoint,” Elkins said. “So there's not a whole lot of things that can change from the homologation that teams can do development and spend money on.
“Hopefully, that will help us keep costs where they need to be. But if we need to do other things in terms of the technical specs, we can look at that. That's all a part of what we're working out right now, trying to decide what the actual regulations are going to be.”
Despite having yet being officially launched, GT-Am appears to have gained considerable interest from existing and prospective ALMS entrants. Elkins said he’s already received “very serious interest’ from six to seven teams but will deem the category a success if four or five cars are on the grid next year.
Black Swan Racing’s Tim Pappas has been one of the major pushers for the new category, while existing GT teams such as Flying Lizard Motorsports, Extreme Speed Motorsports and Lotus Alex Job Racing, which all have a gentlemen driver in its current lineups, would be able to easily make the transition, if desired.
SPEED.com has learned there’s also interest from teams currently outside of the ALMS, potentially swayed by the series’ mandated minimum drive time rules that typically gives gentlemen drivers more track time.
"I think what is also causing people to have interest in it is that it's a really defined path to get amateur drivers a chance to race at Le Mans,” Elkins said. “That's something we would be able to offer as well, as we have a set number of [automatic] entries provided by the ACO."
Monterey
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