Jury is still out, Atherton says. ‘Don’t fix it if it’s not broken’<\/p>\n
One of the big pieces of news last week from Le Mans was the elimination of the GT1 class from ACO-sanctioned endurance racing starting in 2011. Instead, the governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours will focus on a single GT class. It\u2019s much the same structure currently in place in the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n.<\/p>\n
<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s another example of the ACO frankly following our lead,\u201d Series President and CEO Scott Atherton told SPEED at Le Mans. \u201cWe made that decision about a year that we were just going to recognize GT2.\u201d<\/p>\nThrough three rounds, it\u2019s shown to be a wise move. GT fields are regularly well into double-digits with six manufacturers and eight full-season entrants. Nine cars have led races in GT through three rounds.<\/p>\nFor 2011, the ACO will rename GT2 to GT Endurance (although the 2009-spec rules will remain in place). GT Endurance will be divided into two sub-classes \u2013 GT Endurance PRO (professional category) and GT Endurance AM (for varying skill level of drivers and cars more than one year old).<\/p>\n\u201cWe haven\u2019t decided yet if we\u2019re going to incorporate that – the reason being that we have spectacular GT racing in the series. We also have the benefit of the GT Challenge class (for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars) that is working very well. From our perspective, it\u2019s a matter of don\u2019t fix it if it\u2019s not broken.\u201d<\/p>\nAtherton also told Radio Le Mans\u2019 John Hindhaugh that fans should expect additional manufacturers for the GT Challenge class in the future. Audi is one of the more widely rumored marques with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich even telling RLM recently that he would welcome having the Audi R8 LMS be eligible for the class as soon as 2011.<\/p>\nThe next race for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n is the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix. The two-hour, 45-minute race is set for 2:35 p.m. MT on Sunday, July 11 from Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. SPEED will air the race live at 4:30 p.m. ET. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche \u2013 a production of Radio Show Limited \u2013 as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Visit the Series\u2019 schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a9 RIF | ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jury is still out, Atherton says. ‘Don’t fix it if it’s not broken’ One of the big pieces of news last week from Le Mans was the elimination of the GT1 class from ACO-sanctioned endurance racing starting in 2011. Instead, the governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours will focus on a single GT …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[214,5264,5334,1816,609,5301],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6393,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions\/6393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cIt\u2019s another example of the ACO frankly following our lead,\u201d Series President and CEO Scott Atherton told SPEED at Le Mans. \u201cWe made that decision about a year that we were just going to recognize GT2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through three rounds, it\u2019s shown to be a wise move. GT fields are regularly well into double-digits with six manufacturers and eight full-season entrants. Nine cars have led races in GT through three rounds.<\/p>\n
For 2011, the ACO will rename GT2 to GT Endurance (although the 2009-spec rules will remain in place). GT Endurance will be divided into two sub-classes \u2013 GT Endurance PRO (professional category) and GT Endurance AM (for varying skill level of drivers and cars more than one year old).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t decided yet if we\u2019re going to incorporate that – the reason being that we have spectacular GT racing in the series. We also have the benefit of the GT Challenge class (for Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars) that is working very well. From our perspective, it\u2019s a matter of don\u2019t fix it if it\u2019s not broken.\u201d<\/p>\n
Atherton also told Radio Le Mans\u2019 John Hindhaugh that fans should expect additional manufacturers for the GT Challenge class in the future. Audi is one of the more widely rumored marques with Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich even telling RLM recently that he would welcome having the Audi R8 LMS be eligible for the class as soon as 2011.<\/p>\n
The next race for the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patr\u00f3n is the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix. The two-hour, 45-minute race is set for 2:35 p.m. MT on Sunday, July 11 from Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah. SPEED will air the race live at 4:30 p.m. ET. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche \u2013 a production of Radio Show Limited \u2013 as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242. Visit the Series\u2019 schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a9 RIF | ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jury is still out, Atherton says. ‘Don’t fix it if it’s not broken’ One of the big pieces of news last week from Le Mans was the elimination of the GT1 class from ACO-sanctioned endurance racing starting in 2011. Instead, the governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours will focus on a single GT …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[214,5264,5334,1816,609,5301],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6393,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions\/6393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u00a9 RIF | ALMS<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jury is still out, Atherton says. ‘Don’t fix it if it’s not broken’ One of the big pieces of news last week from Le Mans was the elimination of the GT1 class from ACO-sanctioned endurance racing starting in 2011. Instead, the governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours will focus on a single GT …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[214,5264,5334,1816,609,5301],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6393,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions\/6393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Jury is still out, Atherton says. ‘Don’t fix it if it’s not broken’ One of the big pieces of news last week from Le Mans was the elimination of the GT1 class from ACO-sanctioned endurance racing starting in 2011. Instead, the governing body of the Le Mans 24 Hours will focus on a single GT …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[9],"tags":[214,5264,5334,1816,609,5301],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6390"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6393,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6390\/revisions\/6393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}