ACO bullish on GT2 class

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest specifies that for the “24 Heures du Mans" and the Le Mans Series (in Europe, in the USA and in Asia), the LM"GT2 category, currently expanding rapidly, has a wonderful future beckoning for the coming years.

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

• By listening to, and consulting with all the constructors of GT2, the ACO had supported their request to the FIA to ‘freeze’ the 2009 rules for 2010 and 2011.

• Within an objective of safety and balance of performances with the other categories (LMP and GT), the ACO had also decided to lower the performances of the LM"GT2s. This decision has made it possible to appreciably improve the reliability of the GT2s in the Le Mans races as well as in the “24 Heures" race.

• At the same time, the ACO also decided to open the LM"GT2s to new makes which were making the request to race in this category, in order to give this category a wider sports dimension. Out of the 26 requests that the ACO received in GT2 for the 2010 “24 Heures" in February, we have thus been able to count 7 different makes, including 3 new ones (BMW, Jaguar and Corvette).

• 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.

The ACO believes that the future will allow an even more important expansion of this GT category, notably with the arrival of new technologies on the ‘road’ versions of the manufacturers.