Don't dumb down the Spa 24 Hours

It is difficult to argue with the contention - put forward by the organisers and many more - that the Blancpain GT Series is the most competitive championship in the world right now. And we're not just talking sportscars.

Yet that competitiveness has been blunted by new sporting rules, particularly pertinent to this weekend's Spa 24 Hours, that are dumbing down the Endurance Cup element of the BGTS.

Endurance racing is not just about what happens out on the racetrack. It never has and, hopefully, never will be. The prowess of the mechanics in the pits and the strategical nous of the engineers are elements of the game that are every bit as important as the drivers' skill behind the wheel. Modifications to the BGTS rulebook threaten to change that.

One of the new regs has been in place - and then tweaked before the Paul Ricard round last month - since the start of this year's BGTS Endurance Cup. It isn't exactly easy to explain, but here goes.

The rule sets a window during which a car must not leave the pits after making a stop, which means there is now a 20-second period in which it cannot rejoin the track. The upper limit, measured from pit-in and pit-out and therefore different for every race, is a minimum that's deemed to be the optimum time for the fuel to go in, new tyres to be put on and the driver to be changed. The lower limit is a maximum and an acknowledgement that there will be occasions when a car has a puncture or requires a splash-and-dash at Spa.

So you know, the lower limit is 1m55s for this weekend and the upper 2m05s. Those figures reflect the long pitlane at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, stretching from the Bus Stop chicane to the bottom of Eau Rouge.

It isn't as complicated as it sounds, and the second change, for the Spa blue-riband event only, is actually quite simple. What is termed a mandatory technical pitstop of five minutes - to be taken in the first 22 hours of the race - has been introduced. This is effectively a stop to allow for the cars to have their brakes changed.

The rationale behind the new rules, says series boss Stephane Ratel, is to prevent "an arms race" in the pits. Some teams will spend more time practising (and time is always money in motor racing) and buy the best and most expensive wheel guns, and develop the cleverest tools.

Then there is the fear that one of the new breed of GT3 cars that has arrived in the hands of customers this season will move the goal posts by going through the race without a change of brakes.

"We are trying to be clever," says Ratel, "by acknowledging the fact that we have a mix of factory-supported teams and privateers. It might sound artificial, but as long as the rules are the same for everyone we are maintaining the competition."

Ratel knows the importance of the run-of-the-mill privateer, one without factory support, the loan of a works driver or a massive budget. Think back to the original FIA GT Championship, and how it imploded after 1998 when the manufacturers dropped out. Privateers are central to the BGTS business plan.

He is also worried that technological advances by the manufacturers, most significantly the ability to get through the 24 hours without a change of brakes, would upset the equilibrium of the series.

"It could come to a point where some manufacturers are losing two minutes over the race in refuelling and three minutes changing brakes - so they would be effectively starting two laps down," he explains. "A some point it might decide not to come with its cars."

Or their customers might reach the same conclusion and stay home. Many of the teams are questioning the moves, however.

"This is taking away some of those little details where you can make a difference as a team," says Vincent Vosse, boss of the WRT Audi squad.

Matthew Wilson, team manager at M-Sport Bentley, reckons the moves will "take away the competitive element for the mechanics".

"Endurance racing has to be a proper team effort," he says. "A 24-hour race is as close as it gets to our rallying background and everyone in the team should be able to play a role in making a difference."

And it's not just the factory-level teams who have their doubts.

"They should just equalise the time it takes for the fuel to go in, and let us get on with it," says Mark Lemmer, whose Barwell Motorsport team is running a pair of Lamborghinis this season.

Two-time Spa winner WRT, a team whose prowess in the pits has been a significant component of its success since its formation in 2010, still made a difference at the Silverstone round back in May working within the new constraints. It came from nowhere to claim second by short-fuelling and getting out before the lower time limit.

I'd call it clever and part of the game. Rules are there to be exploited. The organisers didn't see it that way and promptly rewrote them. A pitstop below the lower time limit can now only involve changing one wheel and tyre.

Some of the organiser's arguments also don't make sense.

The talk of stopping the arms race in the pits could be regarded as spurious. There are no constraints in the Sprint Cup element of the BGTS, a series in which Ratel has been encouraging entrants in the Endurance Cup to take part. Or rather forcing.

If a manufacturer wants to race at Spa, it has to be represented in both legs of the BGTS and prize money is only paid to teams doing both.

The brake issue - and remember GT3 doesn't allow carbon pads and discs - isn't entirely clear-cut, for example. Cars have gone through Spa without a change in the past. The McLaren MP4/12C, now replaced by the 650S, did on more than one occasion and so did the BMW Z4 GT3.

What is fact, however, is that the race has never been won since the start of the GT3 era in 2011 by a car using just one set of pads and discs.

I understand that balancing the needs of the top teams and what he calls the "true privateers" is paramount to Ratel, and a game he admittedly plays well. But the limitations in the pits are probably not befitting of a series of the quality of the BGTS and certainly not a classic race of the standing and history of the Spa 24 Hours.

I was reminded of that heritage when I took a walk out to Eau Rouge to watch the cars during practice on Thursday. On display at the bottom of the old paddock was a BMW CSI fielded by the Swiss Brun team at Spa in 1985. As well as marvelling at the beauty of the thing, I couldn't help but think back to the glory days of the European Touring Car Championship in the '80s.

That made me wonder what the likes of Tom Walkinshaw and Charly Lamm at Schnitzer would have said 30 years ago had the organisers started placing restrictions on their strategical freedom. I suspect the former's reaction would have been unprintable and the latter wouldn't have stopped talking for three or more hours.

I contend that Spa was bigger - and by that I mean more prestigious - than it is now back in the days of the ETCC in the '80s. And I say that as a committed fan of sportscar racing who thinks that the creation of the GT3 category is one of the most important innovations of my time involved in motorsport.

But there is also no doubt in my mind that the Belgian enduro has the potential to outstrip those glory days in the GT3 era. Just look at the quality of the entry this year, the number of top-line teams and drivers. And the level of support from the manufacturers is growing year by year.

But that potential can only be fulfilled if the teams are free to race to the best of their ability. The BGTS can continue at its present level or press on to greatness without unnecessary restrictions on the teams. There is a choice to be made.