GT3 cars in European Le Mans Series 2013

By Tarek Ramchani

It's no secret that the GT3 class is booming worldwide at the moment. The formula has proven to be a great success in many international and national series. Now it's the turn of the European Le Mans Series to welcome the class.

In 2012 the ELMS field faced a dramatic collapse in numbers, especially in the Grand Touring division, where both GTE Pro and GTE Am failed to attract competitors. As a result the ACO have granted GT3 cars access to the ELMS series. With this move the ACO wanted to increase the amount of cars next year, with a large field of GT3 races cars around Europe. The all conquering Audi R8 LMS ultra is part of the GT3 class of course and we hope to see some cars in this top level sportscar series.

For 2013 the GT3 cars will compete in a special GTC class (Grand Touring Challenge), a class which is very different from the GTC class in ALMS where only GT3 Cup Porsches are allowed to compete. To make sure the GTC cars won't challenge the top GTE ones, the ACO will impose more restrictors on GTC cars. So do not expect the possibility of Audi R8 LMS cars there fighting against the GTE cars.