SRO plans French-based international GT series for 2017

SRO, which runs the Blancpain GT Series and the British GT Championship, has announced outline plans for a series that would include five rounds in France and one each in Spain and Portugal.

SRO boss Stephane Ratel said he was launching the series to prevent the death of GT racing in France.

The announcement follows the opening round of the ORECA-run French GT Championship at Nogaro last weekend at which nine cars - including four LMP3 prototypes - raced.

"I'm doing this because I am French and because the series was so successful when SRO ran it," Ratel told Autosport.

"Every GT series in Europe is booming and has good grids, but only the French one has sunk.

"We had an average of something like 38 cars over our 13 years and 29 cars at the first race at Norgaro in 2010."

Ratel blamed constant changes of format, culminating in the admission of P3 machinery for this season, for the decline in grids in France.

"The moment that was announced, I said French GTs is dead and started working on my own project," he said.

"People are not going to spend money running a GT3 car to be a class winner behind the prototypes."

Ratel said he was open to discussions with the FFSA, the national motorsport federation in France, about the new series becoming the French GT Championship.

"If the FFSA wants it to become the French championship, that's fine and we will do five races in France and one in Spain," he explained.

"If not, we will continue with our plan for a seven-race international series."

By registering the as-yet-unnamed series on the FIA international calendar, it will not come under the jurisdiction of the FFSA.

Ratel would not be drawn on detailed plans for the new championship, including whether it would follow the British GT model of allowing GT3 and GT4 machinery.

He revealed that the new series was part of a "larger concept" to be announced at his organisation's annual press conference ahead of the Spa 24 Hours BGTS round in July.

ORECA, which was already running the French Porsche Carrera Cup on the same bill, was given the right to run of the national GT championship by the FFSA for 2011.

The series that became the French GT Championship was launched as the 'GTR' by the BPR Organisation, in which Ratel was a partner, with a one-off race at Dijon in 1996.

Patrick Peter subsequently organised the series following his split with Ratel and Jurgen Barth, the 'B' of the BPR, ahead of the following season.

SRO was then asked to take over the series for 1998 by the FFSA.