ACO and FIA plan single GT category to replace GTE and GT3

The FIA and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest at Le Mans have revealed that they intend to create one GT division instead of the two categories that currently exist.

They want a class that has a concrete rulebook like GTE, but with the reduced costs of GT3.

ACO sporting manager Vincent Beaumesnil said: "The GT manufacturers support the GTE regulations, but it is clear at the same time that GT3 is a great success. It has been decided together by the FIA to establish a working group with all the manufacturers involved in GT racing to create a single category worldwide.

"We have three main targets: to keep the technical credibility of GTE; to achieve the reduced costs of GT3; and to allow the manufacturers to develop one car rather than the two that they have to today."

The FIA would not be drawn on a firm timescale ahead of the first meeting of the working group in November. Beaumesnil said that the rules could be announced as early as the Le Mans 24 Hours next June, but that the category would not come into force until one complete season after that, meaning 2015.

The ACO and the FIA stressed that there would be a transition period during which the existing cars would be allowed to compete against the new-generation GTs.

The GT3 category, which was the brainchild of Stephane Ratel, was introduced at the start of the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2006.

It has subsequently been adopted around the world by a series of national series, including the British GT Championship, and is also the basis for the ultra-successful pan-European Blancpain Endurance Series established last season.

There is no rulebook in the traditional sense for GT3 cars. Manufacturers or specialist tuners produce cars, which are then performance balanced to certain level.