Quote:
Originally Posted by lemansfanatic
LMGT AM does not have artificial class separation,the rules state that in GT AM the cars have to be a year old and use the tyres from the previous year so in effect the cars/tyres in GT AM in 2016 are the same spec as the GT Pro cars from 2015.
If you got rid of GT AM you would loose a lot of Top pros and factory drivers from Le Mans some of the highlights this year are: Matt Griffin (Ferrari Factory driver), Johnny O Connell (GM Factory driver), Rob bell (McLaren Factory driver), Towsend Bell (Indy 500 driver), Wolf Henzler (Porsche Factory driver), Manu Collard (Ex Porsche, Corvette, Peugeot factory driver) , Adam Carroll, Pat Long (Porsche factory driver), Pedro Lamy (Aston Factory driver).
Also the appeal of GT AM for bronze drivers is that they get the opportunity to race and learn from top pro team mates.
If you loose GT Am from Le Mans you would kill LMGTE from ELMS.
GTE AM keeps wealthy bronze drivers in the sport which keeps teams going and this Pro's employed. Replacing it with LMP3 would only compound the problem of money not skill filling seats at Le Mans.
GTE AM usually (not always) works like this, Bronze AM paying the budget, Silver (up and coming driver) getting the opportunity to drive for free and gain experience and a top Pro being paid.
Also LMP3 in my opinion is not a good formula, all you have to do is look the ELMS race from Imola and you will see the LMP3 drivers going off all over the place causing safety car/FCY.
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This year is exception with the separate rulebook in midst of regulation changeover, next year all the models will be clones of freezed factory cars again (more or less). Yeah of course there will be minor differences, and separate BoP and waiver crap, but essentially it's just the same class artificially separated.
Anyway, the same old argument applies here, all those amateur drivers were able to contest in GT1 and GT2 along with factories and all-pro crews just fine. Because they weren't treated like kids and given automatic trophies. They can still be there if they can take the challenge.