No changes for Blancpain Endurance Series format

Ratel has insisted that he will not tinker with the series, which kicked off at Monza last weekend with a grid of 60 cars.

"I always try to do new things, but this time I am not going to do anything," said Ratel, who has 62 full-season entries for the BES. "The reason is that I don't need to.

"We will be sticking at five races and we won't be doing races outside Europe. Nothing needs to change."

The only innovation for this season is the 1000km (660 miles) distance, instead of the normal three-hour duration, for September's Nurburgring event.

Ratel claimed that the BES, which started in 2011, is set to become a fixture on the international sportscar scene over the coming years.

"The Blancpain series has the chance to grow into a classic series that will be part of the motorsport landscape for the next 20 years or longer," he said.

A grid of more than 80 cars is a possibility for the Spa 24 Hours blue-riband BES round in July, according to Ratel.

"Last year we had 20 race-by-race entries for Spa, which I think put us at 79 cars," he explained, "but we lost a dozen or so cars in the run-up to the race."