Quote:
Originally Posted by bella
perhaps they could do it by having say, 15 lmp2 entries on the grid, and they confirm 18, and you have to qualify during the test session. granted, that leaves it a bit late for anyone who fails to qualify but it's long enough to see who drops out for budgetary reasons and who doesn't.
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There's something I quite like about there being a genuine contest to qualify, and with test day now being so close to the event it might work in terms of building excitement.
What happens however if you end up with 18 quality entries, all funded on the basis of a run at the main event, and sponsors who have booked their chateau accommodation, the catering, the hospitality etc, and you have to have three 'losers'. If one of the big spending teams, who presence is never really doubt (Alpine, Jota, TDS etc) has a complete mare at test day (nasty engine fire at wrong bit of track, big off etc) do we just accept that 'that's racing' and have them miss the event? I'm not sure we'd find too many takers for that.
Much like I said in the run up to this years event, I can't help feeling that tighter coordination between the ACO and the teams on the waitlist would be a huge benefit, especially those that notionally have the capacity to run a second car would help minimise the prospect of there being a gap, especially if the ACO decides to leverage the overall brand value of the 24 Hours and made an offer akin to "buy a premium hospitality package for the race and we guarantee it, and your livery, will go to ensure the race's longevity - this could mean signage on a car if we need to support a late entrant, or facility named after you on circuit" - with a bit of creativity I'm pretty sure many things are possible.