The high-power solution to counter a dying breed

If you're already confused by the myriad of categories - and different names for them - that make up the landscape of international GT racing, then be prepared for a new addition. The class is called GT2 and, no surprise, it's the brainchild of Stephane Ratel, the architect of GT3 and GT4, as well as the short-lived GT1 division of the early 2010s.

Ratel, the world's premier promoter of GT racing by some chalk, saw an opening - or rather a need - for a new class. His realisation was founded on the gradual disappearance of the amateur driver from many of the series he promotes around the world.

That's why he came up with the idea of a new breed of machinery that fits between the existing GT3 and GT4 categories he created back in the 2000s. Ratel wanted to create a class for cars that were easier to drive, and cheaper to buy and run.

"I said let's take the spirit of GT4 cars, simple cars to drive and run, but not to castrate them in terms of power," says Ratel. "That is how the idea for a new class came about."

Something given the working title of 'GT4+' was briefly considered, but increasing the power of GT4 machinery to the levels required to hit Ratel's performance target wasn't possible. When he found out that the name 'GT2' wasn't trademarked in the realm of sport and entertainment, a new category was born.

Fitting in a new category between GT3 and GT4 and calling it GT2 is not as counterintuitive as you might think, argues Ratel. GT2 sits above GT3 in what he describes as the "pyramid of power". "We have based it on power," explains Ratel. "A GT4 is 350 to 450bhp, a GT3 is 500 to 550bhp, and GT2 is 630 to 700bhp. It makes perfect sense."

That's the selling point of GT2. More power, and lots of it. Ratel (below) reasons that the amateur or 'gentleman' driver is unable to exploit the cornering speeds of the latest generation of high-downforce GT3 cars, cars he calls "space rockets". But, he contends, anyone can press the loud pedal with their right foot.

"Hitting an apex at 100km/h when you feel comfortable at 80 is a big jump to make," he explains. "The truth is that the latest GT3 cars take a lot of driving because of the downforce. But it doesn't really matter if you are Lewis Hamilton or Stephane Ratel when you accelerate out of a corner." (Ratel is an occasional racer himself, with a collection of cars in his garage and a couple of starts in the Le Mans 24 Hours to his name.)

"The idea is to compensate for cornering speed with performance in the straight line. I wanted a car that is not intimidating to drive like a GT3 but is still almost as quick. We have seen that in the hands of a gentleman that a GT2 will achieve very similar lap times to a GT3."

That explains his initial plan, outlined at the Stephane Ratel Organisation's traditional press conference at the Spa 24 Hours back in July 2018, for the new cars to race alongside GT3 machinery in the double-header one-hour sprints it runs around the world. That meant what is now the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup and its North American and Asian counterparts.

Ratel's original plan hit a snag when it emerged that the cars, in particular the Porsche, would struggle to do an hour on a tank of fuel

"We are losing the amateurs in GT3, that is fact," he says. "At Imola for the first round of the GTWCE Endurance Cup this year we had 46 cars and one Am car. In our GTWCE sprints, they are long gone: we haven't welcomed an Am car for a long time. And we know that once they are gone, it is very difficult to convince them to come back."

He was less convinced that GT2 was necessary in the UK: "When you have a series like the British GT Championship where a full grid is signed and paid up by Christmas, you don't think about adding another category."

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Audi and Porsche were the first to unveil machinery for the new category, the former with the R8 LMS GT2 and the latter with the 911 GT2 RS Clubsport and the retro-bodied 935 version of the same car. GT2 appeared to have momentum when a grid full of Porsches - both 'normal' GT2 Clubsports and 935s - took part in a special one-make race on the undercard of the Spa 24 Hours last year. Ratel was suggesting at that time that six manufacturers on the grid from the get-go of the new category this year was a realistic hope.

But Ratel's original plan hit a snag when it emerged that the cars, in particular the Porsche, would struggle to do an hour on a tank of fuel. Fitting the prerequisite fuel capacity into a car with 700bhp wasn't possible, which meant he had to scratch the idea to incorporate the cars into his Sprint series.

Ratel wasn't deterred and thought again. He found a home for GT2 in his anything-goes GT Sports Club Series for amateur drivers to get the category off the ground. A pilot event at the Barcelona round on the bill of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup in September 2019 was meant to coincide with the launch of a third GT2 project. It didn't happen.

Ratel has no problem revealing that the third marque was McLaren, which opted against pushing ahead with its GT2 programme last summer. Its decision was a double disappointment, he says, because he lost a manufacturer and "the three others who were considering GT2 ended up staying on the fence".

Again, Ratel wasn't deterred. His vision for GT2 called on the premium manufacturers already involved in GT3 building cars so, when he didn't get the required take-up, he turned to what he calls the "special tuners" who have been important in so many of the categories he has launched over the years.

Among their number was Prodrive, which built the Ferrari 550 Maranello GTS that raced in SRO's FIA GT Championship from 2001 and at Le Mans and elsewhere under the Automobile Club de l'Ouest's rules. More pertinently they incorporated Reiter Engineering, which developed the Lamborghini Murcielago that raced in FIA GTs from 2003 and on into the FIA GT1 World Championship, the Italian manufacturer's Gallardo for GT3, and then a KTM GT4 contender. The German operation run by Hans Reiter, who engineered at Schnitzer in the 1990s on its touring car and sportscar programmes, has now produced the KTM X-BOW GT2 with a 600bhp turbocharged five-cylinder Audi engine.

"I understand that it is difficult to commit to a new programme in the current times, so I thought, 'OK, if the manufacturers need a proven success before they commit, then we will go back to our friends the tuners'," says Ratel. "Good old Hans. He has been in
at the beginning of so many new categories."

There are also other projects out there, such as the JUBU ZP Zero, a car based on the Lotus Exige chassis and powered by a twin-turbo version of the British car's Toyota V6 powerplant.

The category has also been opened up to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Huracan one-make racer. One of the marques that was sitting on the fence, Lamborghini has been invited to come up with a kit to reduce the downforce of a car that already has more power than the GT3-spec Huracan.

"It's right there in the GT2 performance window," says Ratel. "The only difference between this car and the others is that it has a little bit too much downforce."

Now that Ratel has four or five GT2 cars ready to go, he has created a series specifically for the class after deciding against mixing them with GT3s in GT Sports Club events. It will be called the GT2 European Series and will encompass five dates, starting at Monza in April and incorporating races on the bill of the British GT Championship round at Silverstone in June and the Spa 24 Hours in July. Each weekend will encompass two 50-minute races, which will be open to one and two-driver and pro and pro-am line-ups, with a pro being defined as a silver-rated driver over 30.

GT2s will also be able to race alongside GT3 and GT4 cars in a series run under the GT America banner, which will have a race on the Nashville IndyCar Series round next August. The aim is to have 16 cars racing in the standalone GT2 series next year.

"I am not giving up on GT2: it will be a success, I promise you that. The look of the cars is there, the power is there and the running costs are there" Stephane Ratel

"That's what we need next year and we are working on it," says Ratel. "But it's like when you open a restaurant, you never know how many people are going to walk through the door. If you ask me how many of each car I want, I'd say four of each. That's the magic number."

Ratel concedes that he is struggling to attract Porsches in the numbers he'd hoped for a car being made in large numbers - 200 Clubsports and 77 of the limited-edition 935s. He suggests that the majority of the cars are destined for "the hands of collectors" who have no plans to race them. He seems more confident in attracting Audis and has bought an R8 LMS of his own, which he intends to place with a team for next year. "When you start something you have to put your hand in your pocket," he says.

Ratel has maintained over the past 18 months or so that he wasn't about to give up on GT2. He almost suggests that it has to work, hinting that the GT3 category could be approaching some kind of tipping point. The implication is that GT2 might offer some kind of insurance policy or a fallback position should GT3 hit problems.

"At some point the costs will get out of hand in GT3," says Ratel. "We have very little margin to support more costs across our platforms.

"I am not giving up on GT2: it will be a success, I promise you that. The look of the cars is there, the power is there and the running costs are there. I don't know whether it will be two years or longer. But one day it will be a success, period."