@@edsalt5281 Well theres 19 now it would be silly to not think that at least 1 team is going to enter another car to increase odds of winning. 2025 will probably see 25+
The disadvantage would be cars will become slower though. Hypercars (LMH and LMDh) are too slow compared to LMP1 during the last decade, even the last decade's LMP2 cars are faster than Hypercars, but LMP1 had to be retired due to costs, and GTE also needs to be retired for same reason, especially that it's only a little faster than GT3 despite the huge cost difference.
@@salmanfarruz It is a disadvantage. It's one we're willing to live with because the pros outweigh that con, but that doesn't take away the fact that having slower cars is a disadvantage. One thing doesn't take away the other.
@@Sm00thieK Since first quarter of 2024 the beginning of new era of LMGT3 cars with 9 manufacturers such as Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren and Porsche.
That is correct. Companies with hypercar entries were guaranteed 2 spots on the grid. Porsche, Corvette (though Caddy), Ferrari, Lambo, Lexus (through Toyota), BMW, Aston Martin ( hypercar in 2025) were automatics. Ford got in through its affiliation with Proton and for having been a full time GTE entry in the past. McLaren was the oddball. Probably got in only due to being run by WEC stalwart team United Autosport.
@@Smoked_Cheddar Ferrari. Although Porsche & Aston Martin had multiple entries in WEC and ELMS, Ferrari had more cars than those two manufacturers. I saw a tweet that said in the early years of the ELMS, most of the GTE field was represented by Ferrari. Additionally, the GT Am grid of WEC was also mostly represented by Ferrari through AF Corse running their cars under different banners such as Spirit of Race, etc.
I think it was a good call. I watched plenty of the Fanatec GT World Championship races this year where GT3 specifications are used and they did race really good and every race we had different podium combinations. Let's hope this is passed on to the WEC as well!!
The one good thing I got from the pandemic was discovering the Fanatic series replays in Europe and the US during all time locked up with TH-cam as primary entertainment. Now that WEC has so many more manufacturers, including those from those series, the racing should be fantastic.
GTE made sense when we still had teams like Toyota, Porsche, Audi spending F1-level budgets on LMP1 programs. Now that Hypercar is a lot more affordable, it makes sense to switch to GT3 for GT-series racing, when it's already universally used and recognized. I will miss P2 though, no doubt, although it'd become a 'single makes' category a while ago since nobody could keep up with Ligier. Plus with WEC/IMSA convergence everyone wins in endurance racing.
Hypercar are also much slower yhan lmp1 14 sec,lmp2 is deleted cause everyone using oreca or ligier and also they arr much faster than hypercars, end of gte and lmp1 is like end of group c
GT3 has been a pretty successful category in recent years globally. The racing in IMSA has been fantastic and I believe it will work well for WEC. They say that variety is the spice of life so to see so many manufacturers involved can...hopefully...only be a good thing. I am excited for the future of endurance racing!
Can’t wait to see how the GT3 class goes on. As we’ve seen in IMSA the GT3 racing is awesome and if everything goes great, we could see a repeat of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with a HUGE GT3 class with at least 9 manufacturers, maybe 10 if Sainteloc can win the championship in the AsLMS. Combine this with a big LMH grid with some LMP2’s scattered in, I’m expecting some Super GT/IMSA type of racing where the top class is all in a battle coming up on the rear of a huge GT3 field. Really stoked to see how this season goes and who will come on top. We’ll get our first teaser with Daytona in a little over a month and then Qatar a month later.
If Sainteloc do win the AsLMS championship, they would have to run a Porsche or Lamborghini at Le Mans as there are no Audis in WEC so they can't race the Audi at Le Mans due to BoP. Same goes if a Mercedes team wins the AsLMS but they don't really have another brand they could realistically swap to.
@@maxb148 No, that rule was overturned and if Sainteloc were to win they could bring the Audi’s over. The BoP is already set with AsLMS which can easily translate over to WEC plus the are other BoP figures for Audi in other championships. Same possibility for Mercedes.
@huskiegaming_ Can I just ask where you saw this, because from what I can see there hasn't been a change of rules. Not saying you are wrong just want to be up to date. The latest I can find from a quick search is Sportscar365 from November 7th saying non-WEC GT3 teams are still not able to race at Le Mans.
@@huskiegaming_i wonder what is Mercedes WEC LMGT3 driver lineup gonna look like? If they race full time possibly they gonna field Rene Rast and Kanan Matsuura or Alexander Sims and Honoka Kousaka.
@@purwantiallan5089 Well there isn’t a Merc LMGT3 since their entry got rejected. I believe GetSpeed was going to be the team that was planning on running the entry iirc.
one thing you didn't mention was GTE were only raced in selected series like WEC, ELMS and IMSA where as GT3 is a global class, not just in IMSA, it's in both international and domestic like British GT, international GT, GTWC (America, Europe/Endurence, Asia and Australia) as well as some others
Great to see a larger range of cars. Having a Mustang and a McLaren balanced in the same class will be excellent, cars with completely different dynamics and strengths makes for good racing.
massive IMSA fan here and I can say that WEC fans are absolutely going to love this switch. IMSA is so close and the racing is phenomenal in the the GT3 class. VIR 2024 cant come soon enough.
Ha ha been watching GT3 race at Nurburgring 24 hour for a few years. If you want to see what the GT3s can do have a look at the N24. The last 4 years full races are all officially on TH-cam.
You missed a big point. LMGT3 is like the GTE-AM a Pro-AM Class. So only 1 Pro (Gold or Platinum) driver per car is allowed. The other has to be bronze or Silver driver by FIA license. (Rossi is a Silver Driver btw) But I’m still excited to see this GT3 field with the Hypercars at the same time 👌
I still kinda wish there was a GT3 Pro and Am classes but i understood why its just GT3 for the sake of simplicity and giving young silvers and gentlemen bronzes a chance. But after seeing battles in GTWC EU, DTM and IMSA GTD Pro. It definitely wouldn't hurt to be able to put full pro driver lineups in GT3 cars.
About Audi: I am not sure you will see them on the endurance grid for 2025. The company seems to be in a full swing for F1 plus, the Audi sport outfit seems to be closing up their customer program (which was centred around the R8, a model that itself is sun-seting). Even if they wanted to be on the grid, the question that I would have is this: With what? As for the change to LMGT3, I will be honest... I think that the die was cast for this when manufacturers started to pull out of GTE while sighting complaints while running out the door. The FIA would not stand to sit still once that begun to happen, else they would have to content with the risk of it all falling apart again. Like what happened with the WSC.
You are completely right. Audi said that as long as they have parts, teams can buy them. When the warehouse is empty, it is done. I read somewhere that Mercedes is busy with the successor for the AMG GT3. Here is a list with all the GT3 cars and for how long they are allowed. Fun fact, the Ferrari 458 is still allowed to race next year and the 488 is still allowed till 2028. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_GT3
IMSA running this for GTD, SRO already has a fully packed calendar for GT3, DTM moved to GT3, we've got 24H Series in GT3, ADAC has been on GT3 for years, and now finally we've got WEC going GT3. This will be an exciting year.
This is honestly another golden era of racing. I knew it from the start GTP/LMH was special.... the stacked GT3 field is going to be another crazy addition to already awesome and frequent race and champ battles.
French fan of Endurance GT3/GT4 class here ! The differences between GTE & GT3 are really in the end not that much : it's +/-5 sec on qualification time around Spa Francorchamps for exemple... As you said, different rules, motor specifications.. Resulting in the fact that only the manufacturers themselfs did participate in GTE. In the other hand you've 50+ GT3 lauching each event week end, all over the EU (for EU challenge), and it's mighty !
Great move to GT3-regulations, only sad to see LMP2-class removed. Not particulary for the cars, but it gave (younger) drivers a chance to get familiarized with the LMP-type cars
Agreed. LMP2 was an important class in the series. Highly competitive with much lower costs compared to LMP1 or the newer Hypercar class. I hope they bring the class back at some point.
Just recently got into WEC, and you're quickly becoming my favorite creator for the sport. I was wondering though... How can I watch the races once the new season starts? I watch F1 through the F1TV app, is there a similar one for WEC, or a certain company that has broadcast rights that has an app?
You’ll be able to watch the WEC events on their app called “FIA WEC” You can also watch the events on certain platforms across different countries, an example of that is Motortrend for the US. I will also be doing race review for each race in 2024, like I did this year in 2023. In January I will also make a full video, explaining where you can watch the WEC racing. Hope this info helps!
@@FormulaJonah Thanks so much! I started getting interested after the 2023 Le Mans race, and now I'm really getting into it. Can't wait to see your upcoming videos for the new season.
@@winnerloser Do you follow IMSA as well? If you're accustomed to F1, you might want to check it out since WEC and IMSA each have substantially smaller schedules than F1; Daytona's 24 hour race takes place at the end of January. If you live outside the US, IMSA have their own app/web broadcasts for free; if you're in the US, they're on the streaming platform Peacock.
now all that is left is to have more races per year. ik its hard for teams to manage cost but, there should a 'race more earn more spend more' mindset.
I am sceptical about that. Quality over quantity imo. WEC endurance races have something special due to it's challenges. Like climbing a mountain, it takes a lot of preparation and the reward is fulfilling. I think that more races could erode this principle, so should be considered very well. You can see it with F1. If you want to see more races you can always watch the IMSA races. Most of the time they have better races than WEC.
There is likely 1 more race that is do able with the current calendar, and that is likely either putting another European race in after Le Mans and pushing Brazil back a couple of weeks into August or having a race at Mexico between Brazil and COTA. The other thing that could be done is instead of the European race do an African race like at Kyalami. For the European race it would likely be Silverstone or Nurburgring. Silverstone would be tricky as the first weekend of July is normally the F1 race there.
@@FormulaJonah Cars like the 992 GT3, the Corvette GT3, and the Mustang GT3... they need more public exposure. I'm not sure how RSR got so popular, but they need to make their names too. :)
Great video :) I hope in Ferrari as always but now I'm racing also eith McLaren on ACC ( about 400 hours in total on the simulator ) . And I'm happy for the return of Ford :) ( I have only fords in family ahahaha)
That’s cool you race McLarens on ACC! Ford are great cars, that’s awesome you have them in your family. Thanks for watching the video, and glad you enjoyed!
This change is amazing. This is gonna make WEC way better. It's a great move since the popularity of IMSA in North America on the rise it's only a matter of time for WEC to rise in the same market.
I witnessed the old GT1 days which were fantastic,Corvette Gt1,Porsche 911 Gt1....McLaren,,,It got too expensive so GT2 was introduced whch also got expensive...I always wanted to see GT3 adopted by LM and the WEC as it made sense as many manufactirers were involved...I think GT3 is a very decent concept,,,,but watch this space ,in a few years it too will become expensive and be toned down yet again......The Flintstones had a good concept too !!!
I worry that 2 main classes will take away from what I really like about multi class endurance racing. Having 3+ classes of cars with varying performance can make for some really cool situations and moments
With the current interest from manufacturers and the fast rising number of cars, the WEC should consider running something like a B championship to fill all these gaps. The demand is getting way too high to have only one grid of 37 cars
The grid is expected to go up to 40 cars for 2025, but they won’t do a B championship. IMSA is running the same regs as WEC essentially and if spots fill up in WEC then other teams go there. IMSA’s GTP grid isn’t expected to jump up as much so the possibility of some teams going there if spots run out, along with ELMS and ALMS if the spots are available. A B series wouldn’t be very big as it would only have about 12-13 entrants and ELMS, ALMS, and IMSA still give the teams that don’t make WEC a chance to run.
I was bummed at first. But, to get closer to the street versions will attract more fans, I think. Race on Sunday. Sell on Monday. Might be coming back!! Once again. Great job with the explanation. BTW my full name initials are WEC.
This is amazing news, prototypes & the GTE cars are all purpose built race cars which have little to nothing in common with cars we can ever get near. To have actual cars back in the racing is exciting, more relatable & hopefully the tech will filter down to the production cars which let’s be honest is one of the major roles of racing.
I'm happy about the switch to LMGT3 and the removable LMP2. I think it's going to be great. Plus the hypercars, I'm already looking forward to next season
another factor is that scope for GTE programs was very limited outside WEC/Le Mans, whilst being very expensive and difficult to justify without massive corporate backing. GT3 as a class is already huge all over the world, with mostly standardised regulations meaning that customer teams from all kinds of regional GT3 events can, at least in theory, have a go at getting into Le Mans or taking part in WEC events without having to buy entire new cars and equipment. And if those savings and slightly slower cars means a full grid of GT's thundering through the porsche curbs come le mans and inevitably adding the spice of traffic to the LMH battle, I'm all for that
Fantastic FJ! I know I asked if you could do this a month or so ago. Great summary. I’ve seen GT3s race at Bathurst and GTEs race at Le Mans, googled the differences but was very confusing. Your summary explains it perfectly. And not having the Audis and Mercs competing is robbing us of an even better show so fingers crossed for 2025!
Thanks for the great summary. Gonna be a huge success as GT3 everywhere. The more manufacturers the better. Hope Audi and Mercedes will soon join the club (only to get beaten of course 🤣).
As far as I knew the GTE regulations are very similar to the old GT2 ones. And compared to the GT3 cars, the GT2 has modifications to the chassis, such as the rigidity, which is much greater in the GT2. Furthermore, the electronics of the GT3 are very conditioned by the street car. However, in GT2 it was pure competition electronics. In an interview with a GT OPEN driver when comparing a GT2 with a GT3 he said, the GT3 is a street car modified for racing, the GT2 is a racing car that looks like a street car.
I think that the initial phase of GTE was just like a rebadged GT2. I think the best example of that was the Ferrari 458, which was virtually identical in its GT2 and its initial GTE look.
Although I loved the GTLM class and the GTE class the biggest problem is more teams were dropping out than entering. So the GT3 class makes more sense.
I believe many years ago, Aston Martin said that GTE car are extremely expensive because of how strict the rules are so they spend lot of money on R&D to extract every ounces of performance from the car. What make them fast also because of the aero regulations that are slightly different than it’s GT3 counterparts.
These changes sound very exciting. I'd love to see that many different cars on the track. Lets hope Audi and Mercedes will be able to join sooner or later.
GT3 are only slower than GTE due to the BOP targeting a slower time. In Super GT the GT300 cars are quite a bit faster than GTE cars at Fuji, for example.
Audi is very unlikely given they basically cut their sportcar program for F1 entry. Merc might be though, but for more chances, they might have to get more involved in a WEC team. They certainly have no interested in hypercar program so far
I hope Mercedes and Audi can get in earlier than 2025. I don't see much reason for them to not be there. And when is Lexus going to make a new GT3? The RCF is good, but damn. Overall, I think it's going to be very fun racing nonetheless. I'm disappointed only because I got into all of this too late for the GTE era, but LMH/LMDH looks hot asf so that's gonna be cool, too. I just hope it doesn't take away too much focus from LMGT3, because that C8.R is what I'm here for. I'm glad to hear that the future of GT racing is quite secure.
This classificaiton stuff really confuses me. How is it Mercedes and Audi have no problem meeting classifications for the GT World Challenge, but failed to meet them for WEC?
Not to mention that, despite having such a modifications compared to the road counterparts, a GT3 car cannot be externally modified during all its homologation lifetime. This means cars like 992 GT3-R and 296 GT3 will be seen for at least half a decade racing worldwide. I don’t see cars like these leaving Le Mans or other important endurance racing competition before 2029
Sad to see GTE go as I like it more than GT3, tbh but I think we've seen so many times over the years that rising costs kill competition. Writing has been on the wall for GTE for years now and it's nice that this means the return of pretty much every GTE manufacturer other than like... what the Viper?
As sportscar racing has seen so many times, a spending war culture will kill off any class. GTE has to be canned because of this GT3 is a great alternate for the WEC with the 2024 entry list alone. Costs are slashed since GT teams don't have to build two separate cars for two separate regulations. Endurance Racing is in a great position with cost-effective regulations used universally
3:28 -- My colleague at a Porsche dealer was fired right in front of me for telling a client he would find them a "cheaper" model. Our dealer principle walked up to him and said: _"'Cheap' pertains to quality, 'affordability' pertains to price. Some models are more affordable than others, but there is no 'cheap' Porsche. Thank you for your time."_ That stayed with me ever since and I've never misused those words since. Now anyone reading this knows too.
Your colleague's boss was a wanker. Firing someone over one word instead of feedback or training? That is a sure fire way to get sued for wrongful dismissal in my country. If the story is true, then it actually puts Porsche in a bad light. Sounds like the BS you would cop at a Ferrari dealership if anything.
These are really good changes. The increase of competitors is totally worth decreasing the performance of these cars. Lmp2 is an antiquated class that should have been retired along with lmp1.
I love the video but I‘m not entirely sure if another gt3 series will be good for endurance racing. I’m Germany we had the same problem, when suddenly the old dtm class 1 was replaced by gt3, even though we had already one championship in that category. At some point I was also hoping the GTE class would transform back to the famous gt1 class, but gt3 racing is still better than no racing.
Any reason you didn’t mention that GT3 regs have been about for decades and that will have massively contributed to the high turnout in teams and manufacturers? They all had GT3 programs already, the regs are a known quantity with loads of development time and knowledge already being put in for years, so there’s no real risk in going out and buying a car to run
if the GT cars are kept closer to original road specifications that will make the competition more meaningful - the GT category has always been more important to me than Hypercar but the whole LM environment now looks really good, let’s hope the new regs bring a new golden era in endurance racing and that they are applied globally 🌎 🌍 🌏
It’s interesting how universal sports car racing has gotten. Ya have the LMDh and LMH regulations that gives top level prototype racing options of racing in the World Championship or in IMSA, ya LMP2 which is capable of racing in either the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, and IMSA as well as still being able to race Le Mans for the time being, and GT3 being the most worldwide used regulations being able to race under SRO, ACO, VLN, FIA, etc rules. It’s the one class of cars that’s able to race any sprint races around the world to running major endurance races from the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 hours of Nurburgring, the 24 hours of Spa, and now the 24 hours of Le Mans. Not to mention LMP3 and GT4 cars having their shares of the pie as well. I don’t think we’ve seen this much universality in sports car endurance racing since probably the 80s or so.
This is a genuine question. I've heard this several times now from quite a few people discussing these changes both in the real world racing as well as sim racing. I'm more versed in the sim side of things and not as familiar with the real world series counterparts which is why I'm asking. A few times when I've heard people talking about GT"fill in the blank" series and Corvette is referred to, they say "Corvette" as if it's the manufacturer. The first time I heard it I thought it was mistake. The 2nd time I started just thinking I was crazy. But now I hear you say it (@1:35) which is at least the third time I've heard it. Is Chevrolet not the manufacturer and Corvette the car? There's only a handful of times I've ever seen something like this happen one example is when Ram became it's own entity, gained all rights and excluded itself from Dodge. Possible the Viper had the same thing the last few years. But as far as I'm aware Chevy still owns all rights to the Corvette and it's not it's own entity so is it really a GT"x" Corvette Corvette? Please tell me I'm not crazy lol.
It’s still Chevrolet. So technically yes it’s Chevy Corvette entering into the WEC. The WEC has previously been calling it as just Corvette, which has been why I called it as “Corvette” entering, which also made me confused since Corvette is not technically a car manufacturer? I have since recognized that this may be confusing for some, so for recent videos I have been calling it has Chevrolet Corvette entering which is more correct if you ask me. Hope this answers your question!
If Honda/Acura Will be entry in Wec in 2025, theorycally, we will can see 12 manufacter in LMGT3 class. Aston Martin, Audi, Acura/Honda, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus/Toyota, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche.
Whilst that would be cool to see, the grid will not be able to hold all 12 manufacturers for the full season as that would go over the cap of 40 cars + the new LMH cars coming over in 2025
Very nicely put together video mate 👍🏻 I would like to hear some more technical detail comparison between GTE and GT3 such as weight , bhp and potential relative lap times ?
Hopefully in the future there can more videos just like what you mentioned regarding GT racing! Thanks for watching the video as well, glad you enjoyed it!
it'll be interesting when LeMans comes round and if they add more GT3 spec cars into the race, maybe thats how Merc and Audi gets entered so we keep the 2 by 2 sort of thing
@@theocousins6386 that sucks because it would be cool to see a pair of Mercs, Audis, Nissans or whoever else is in GT3 Racing and not in WEC Full time. I do like the 2 car per manufacturer model. No Safety in numbers in LMGT3
WEC is still pro am and leaves out Mercedes and Audi. It is by no means a premier GT3 series. As far as driver talent, IMSA GTD Pro, NLS/N'Ring 24, SRO GT WC Europe, and DTM are all superior. What I do like about WEC GT3 is the 2 car per manufacturer limit. So we get manufacturer diversity. Going to be weird to see GT3 racing with no Mercedes though.
If Audi wanted to join, they shouldn’t have binned their test-ready LMDh for F1. Mercedes is unfortunate, but the same thing applies - Hypercar teams get priority for GT3. Rules are rules
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I love to see endurance in good health.
I cant wait for Lemans it may be the best race of the year next year. Itll be amazing seeing 20+ hypercars at the start
@@MrGoombasticveryFantasticwill there be 20+?? Who are the extra entries gonna be
@@edsalt5281 Well theres 19 now it would be silly to not think that at least 1 team is going to enter another car to increase odds of winning. 2025 will probably see 25+
Yup
@edsalt5281 some of the imsa entries will come over
Cheaper cars mean more manufactures, endurance is doing a great work at reducing costs 👍🏻
Very true!
Especially compared to the massive barriers to entry of F1
The disadvantage would be cars will become slower though. Hypercars (LMH and LMDh) are too slow compared to LMP1 during the last decade, even the last decade's LMP2 cars are faster than Hypercars, but LMP1 had to be retired due to costs, and GTE also needs to be retired for same reason, especially that it's only a little faster than GT3 despite the huge cost difference.
@@hikari2752that's not a disadvantage at all. Better to have slower cars than only just having Toyota committing to WEC.
@@salmanfarruz It is a disadvantage. It's one we're willing to live with because the pros outweigh that con, but that doesn't take away the fact that having slower cars is a disadvantage. One thing doesn't take away the other.
I have a feeling that this will be a really competitive class next year
Competitive, but with slower cars
@@Sm00thieK
Since first quarter of 2024 the beginning of new era of LMGT3 cars with 9 manufacturers such as Aston Martin, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Lexus, McLaren and Porsche.
I heard that the reason there's only 2 cars per manufacturer is to stop one particular manufacturer from taking up majority of the grid slots
Porsche?
That is correct. Companies with hypercar entries were guaranteed 2 spots on the grid. Porsche, Corvette (though Caddy), Ferrari, Lambo, Lexus (through Toyota), BMW, Aston Martin ( hypercar in 2025) were automatics. Ford got in through its affiliation with Proton and for having been a full time GTE entry in the past. McLaren was the oddball. Probably got in only due to being run by WEC stalwart team United Autosport.
@@Smoked_Cheddar Ferrari. Although Porsche & Aston Martin had multiple entries in WEC and ELMS, Ferrari had more cars than those two manufacturers. I saw a tweet that said in the early years of the ELMS, most of the GTE field was represented by Ferrari. Additionally, the GT Am grid of WEC was also mostly represented by Ferrari through AF Corse running their cars under different banners such as Spirit of Race, etc.
@@WyldStallion-bs9oo Being McLaren probably didn't hurt their case, that is a name that has recognition in a way another random car might not.
@@DamienE11They blocked Mercedes or Audi from getting in. I’d say those are both pretty recognizable brands
FIA WEC LMGT3 BOP is one hell of an acronym.
I think it was a good call. I watched plenty of the Fanatec GT World Championship races this year where GT3 specifications are used and they did race really good and every race we had different podium combinations. Let's hope this is passed on to the WEC as well!!
The one good thing I got from the pandemic was discovering the Fanatic series replays in Europe and the US during all time locked up with TH-cam as primary entertainment. Now that WEC has so many more manufacturers, including those from those series, the racing should be fantastic.
Its really not that good all bop thing is bs, let them have pure racing
GTE made sense when we still had teams like Toyota, Porsche, Audi spending F1-level budgets on LMP1 programs. Now that Hypercar is a lot more affordable, it makes sense to switch to GT3 for GT-series racing, when it's already universally used and recognized. I will miss P2 though, no doubt, although it'd become a 'single makes' category a while ago since nobody could keep up with Ligier. Plus with WEC/IMSA convergence everyone wins in endurance racing.
I thought they all ran the Oreca Chassis
Hypercar are also much slower yhan lmp1 14 sec,lmp2 is deleted cause everyone using oreca or ligier and also they arr much faster than hypercars, end of gte and lmp1 is like end of group c
GT3 has been a pretty successful category in recent years globally. The racing in IMSA has been fantastic and I believe it will work well for WEC. They say that variety is the spice of life so to see so many manufacturers involved can...hopefully...only be a good thing. I am excited for the future of endurance racing!
Its not good gt3 is slower than gtee, hyper cars are slower than lmp1 and also slower than lmp2 its like and of group c
Endurance racing is getting way more exciting than F1.
thats why i switched to WEC
Can’t wait to see how the GT3 class goes on. As we’ve seen in IMSA the GT3 racing is awesome and if everything goes great, we could see a repeat of the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with a HUGE GT3 class with at least 9 manufacturers, maybe 10 if Sainteloc can win the championship in the AsLMS. Combine this with a big LMH grid with some LMP2’s scattered in, I’m expecting some Super GT/IMSA type of racing where the top class is all in a battle coming up on the rear of a huge GT3 field. Really stoked to see how this season goes and who will come on top. We’ll get our first teaser with Daytona in a little over a month and then Qatar a month later.
If Sainteloc do win the AsLMS championship, they would have to run a Porsche or Lamborghini at Le Mans as there are no Audis in WEC so they can't race the Audi at Le Mans due to BoP. Same goes if a Mercedes team wins the AsLMS but they don't really have another brand they could realistically swap to.
@@maxb148 No, that rule was overturned and if Sainteloc were to win they could bring the Audi’s over. The BoP is already set with AsLMS which can easily translate over to WEC plus the are other BoP figures for Audi in other championships. Same possibility for Mercedes.
@huskiegaming_ Can I just ask where you saw this, because from what I can see there hasn't been a change of rules. Not saying you are wrong just want to be up to date. The latest I can find from a quick search is Sportscar365 from November 7th saying non-WEC GT3 teams are still not able to race at Le Mans.
@@huskiegaming_i wonder what is Mercedes WEC LMGT3 driver lineup gonna look like? If they race full time possibly they gonna field Rene Rast and Kanan Matsuura or Alexander Sims and Honoka Kousaka.
@@purwantiallan5089 Well there isn’t a Merc LMGT3 since their entry got rejected. I believe GetSpeed was going to be the team that was planning on running the entry iirc.
one thing you didn't mention was GTE were only raced in selected series like WEC, ELMS and IMSA where as GT3 is a global class, not just in IMSA, it's in both international and domestic like British GT, international GT, GTWC (America, Europe/Endurence, Asia and Australia) as well as some others
Great to see a larger range of cars. Having a Mustang and a McLaren balanced in the same class will be excellent, cars with completely different dynamics and strengths makes for good racing.
massive IMSA fan here and I can say that WEC fans are absolutely going to love this switch. IMSA is so close and the racing is phenomenal in the the GT3 class. VIR 2024 cant come soon enough.
Ha ha been watching GT3 race at Nurburgring 24 hour for a few years. If you want to see what the GT3s can do have a look at the N24. The last 4 years full races are all officially on TH-cam.
I plan to be at VIR next year as well. It’s my favorite track.
You missed a big point.
LMGT3 is like the GTE-AM a Pro-AM Class. So only 1 Pro (Gold or Platinum) driver per car is allowed. The other has to be bronze or Silver driver by FIA license. (Rossi is a Silver Driver btw)
But I’m still excited to see this GT3 field with the Hypercars at the same time 👌
Good to know for future videos. Thanks for letting me know!
@@FormulaJonah looking forward to the new videos. I like your content :)
Keep up the good work 🤌
Thank you! So happy you like the videos!
@@bjoerndn2hopefully 2024 WEC can be as intense as MotoGP 2016 and 2020 Season where there are too many different winners.
@@purwantiallan5089 Yes i hope so too. But it looks good. Good teams and good pro drivers are competing so every race should be a close call.
I still kinda wish there was a GT3 Pro and Am classes but i understood why its just GT3 for the sake of simplicity and giving young silvers and gentlemen bronzes a chance. But after seeing battles in GTWC EU, DTM and IMSA GTD Pro. It definitely wouldn't hurt to be able to put full pro driver lineups in GT3 cars.
I would say give it time, because it does feel as if a split like that might be necessary.
Love the adoption of the GT3 regs. The closer the racecars are to the street cars, the better.
short of mustang GTD, there are close to nothing in common between road going cars and their GT3 counterparts.
About Audi: I am not sure you will see them on the endurance grid for 2025. The company seems to be in a full swing for F1 plus, the Audi sport outfit seems to be closing up their customer program (which was centred around the R8, a model that itself is sun-seting). Even if they wanted to be on the grid, the question that I would have is this: With what?
As for the change to LMGT3, I will be honest... I think that the die was cast for this when manufacturers started to pull out of GTE while sighting complaints while running out the door. The FIA would not stand to sit still once that begun to happen, else they would have to content with the risk of it all falling apart again. Like what happened with the WSC.
You are completely right. Audi said that as long as they have parts, teams can buy them. When the warehouse is empty, it is done. I read somewhere that Mercedes is busy with the successor for the AMG GT3.
Here is a list with all the GT3 cars and for how long they are allowed.
Fun fact, the Ferrari 458 is still allowed to race next year and the 488 is still allowed till 2028.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_GT3
Thanks so much for this! It's much more clear now to me what the differences are.
You deserve so much more views and subs. They will come, cheers!
Really appreciate this comment, and so happy the video was informative! Thank you so much for your your support
Agreed 👍
Just listened to the video again. You do an amazing job with your explanation!
IMSA running this for GTD, SRO already has a fully packed calendar for GT3, DTM moved to GT3, we've got 24H Series in GT3, ADAC has been on GT3 for years, and now finally we've got WEC going GT3. This will be an exciting year.
Excellent explanation of the changes. I love that we will see a big field of 9 different manufacturers.
Thank you! I’m happy that you liked the video!
This is honestly another golden era of racing. I knew it from the start GTP/LMH was special.... the stacked GT3 field is going to be another crazy addition to already awesome and frequent race and champ battles.
French fan of Endurance GT3/GT4 class here ! The differences between GTE & GT3 are really in the end not that much : it's +/-5 sec on qualification time around Spa Francorchamps for exemple... As you said, different rules, motor specifications.. Resulting in the fact that only the manufacturers themselfs did participate in GTE. In the other hand you've 50+ GT3 lauching each event week end, all over the EU (for EU challenge), and it's mighty !
Great move to GT3-regulations, only sad to see LMP2-class removed. Not particulary for the cars, but it gave (younger) drivers a chance to get familiarized with the LMP-type cars
Agreed. LMP2 was an important class in the series. Highly competitive with much lower costs compared to LMP1 or the newer Hypercar class. I hope they bring the class back at some point.
Thanks a lot Jonah.... A perfect explanation about new GT class...
All my respect for you work!
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed this video and found it informative. I really appreciate this!
Waiting for Mercedes, Audi, Nissan, Acura, Bentley
Unfortunately, Honda/Acura NSX is already no longer in production, that's wlll affect its GT3 version.
Mercedes too afraid to race gt cars nowadays
Giving the people what they want, thanks homie
Just recently got into WEC, and you're quickly becoming my favorite creator for the sport. I was wondering though...
How can I watch the races once the new season starts? I watch F1 through the F1TV app, is there a similar one for WEC, or a certain company that has broadcast rights that has an app?
You’ll be able to watch the WEC events on their app called “FIA WEC” You can also watch the events on certain platforms across different countries, an example of that is Motortrend for the US. I will also be doing race review for each race in 2024, like I did this year in 2023. In January I will also make a full video, explaining where you can watch the WEC racing. Hope this info helps!
@@FormulaJonah Thanks so much! I started getting interested after the 2023 Le Mans race, and now I'm really getting into it. Can't wait to see your upcoming videos for the new season.
@@winnerloser Do you follow IMSA as well? If you're accustomed to F1, you might want to check it out since WEC and IMSA each have substantially smaller schedules than F1; Daytona's 24 hour race takes place at the end of January.
If you live outside the US, IMSA have their own app/web broadcasts for free; if you're in the US, they're on the streaming platform Peacock.
Brilliant video. I love GT3 and GTE class.
now all that is left is to have more races per year. ik its hard for teams to manage cost but, there should a 'race more earn more spend more' mindset.
I am sceptical about that. Quality over quantity imo. WEC endurance races have something special due to it's challenges. Like climbing a mountain, it takes a lot of preparation and the reward is fulfilling. I think that more races could erode this principle, so should be considered very well. You can see it with F1. If you want to see more races you can always watch the IMSA races. Most of the time they have better races than WEC.
There is likely 1 more race that is do able with the current calendar, and that is likely either putting another European race in after Le Mans and pushing Brazil back a couple of weeks into August or having a race at Mexico between Brazil and COTA. The other thing that could be done is instead of the European race do an African race like at Kyalami.
For the European race it would likely be Silverstone or Nurburgring. Silverstone would be tricky as the first weekend of July is normally the F1 race there.
Sad to see beauties like the RSR go, but the GT3 today hopefully are just as well regarded. :)
I hope so too!
@@FormulaJonah Cars like the 992 GT3, the Corvette GT3, and the Mustang GT3... they need more public exposure. I'm not sure how RSR got so popular, but they need to make their names too. :)
Great video :) I hope in Ferrari as always but now I'm racing also eith McLaren on ACC ( about 400 hours in total on the simulator ) . And I'm happy for the return of Ford :) ( I have only fords in family ahahaha)
That’s cool you race McLarens on ACC! Ford are great cars, that’s awesome you have them in your family. Thanks for watching the video, and glad you enjoyed!
I think it was a good idea to switch to GT3. I'm hyped to see Ford and especially BMW beeing back in the GT class of WEC.
I strongly belive that FIAWEC in 2024 despite it only has 2 classes like in FANATEC GTWC Europe, its gonna be very competitive.
This is phenomenal
Next year is going to be fire 🔥
Looking forward to the racing. The more manufacturers the better
This change is amazing. This is gonna make WEC way better. It's a great move since the popularity of IMSA in North America on the rise it's only a matter of time for WEC to rise in the same market.
I witnessed the old GT1 days which were fantastic,Corvette Gt1,Porsche 911 Gt1....McLaren,,,It got too expensive so GT2 was introduced whch also got expensive...I always wanted to see GT3 adopted by LM and the WEC as it made sense as many manufactirers were involved...I think GT3 is a very decent concept,,,,but watch this space ,in a few years it too will become expensive and be toned down yet again......The Flintstones had a good concept too !!!
Very informative video. Keep up the good work.
Thanks you! Will do!
I worry that 2 main classes will take away from what I really like about multi class endurance racing.
Having 3+ classes of cars with varying performance can make for some really cool situations and moments
With the current interest from manufacturers and the fast rising number of cars, the WEC should consider running something like a B championship to fill all these gaps. The demand is getting way too high to have only one grid of 37 cars
The grid is expected to go up to 40 cars for 2025, but they won’t do a B championship. IMSA is running the same regs as WEC essentially and if spots fill up in WEC then other teams go there. IMSA’s GTP grid isn’t expected to jump up as much so the possibility of some teams going there if spots run out, along with ELMS and ALMS if the spots are available. A B series wouldn’t be very big as it would only have about 12-13 entrants and ELMS, ALMS, and IMSA still give the teams that don’t make WEC a chance to run.
I was bummed at first. But, to get closer to the street versions will attract more fans, I think. Race on Sunday. Sell on Monday. Might be coming back!! Once again. Great job with the explanation. BTW my full name initials are WEC.
This is amazing news, prototypes & the GTE cars are all purpose built race cars which have little to nothing in common with cars we can ever get near. To have actual cars back in the racing is exciting, more relatable & hopefully the tech will filter down to the production cars which let’s be honest is one of the major roles of racing.
well done ❤ Rockin Roll 🏁
Thank you!
I'm super excited for next year. Two of my fellow countrymen, South African brothers Sheldon and Kelvin Van Der Linde will also be competing.
I'm happy about the switch to LMGT3 and the removable LMP2. I think it's going to be great. Plus the hypercars, I'm already looking forward to next season
another factor is that scope for GTE programs was very limited outside WEC/Le Mans, whilst being very expensive and difficult to justify without massive corporate backing. GT3 as a class is already huge all over the world, with mostly standardised regulations meaning that customer teams from all kinds of regional GT3 events can, at least in theory, have a go at getting into Le Mans or taking part in WEC events without having to buy entire new cars and equipment. And if those savings and slightly slower cars means a full grid of GT's thundering through the porsche curbs come le mans and inevitably adding the spice of traffic to the LMH battle, I'm all for that
Fantastic FJ! I know I asked if you could do this a month or so ago. Great summary. I’ve seen GT3s race at Bathurst and GTEs race at Le Mans, googled the differences but was very confusing. Your summary explains it perfectly. And not having the Audis and Mercs competing is robbing us of an even better show so fingers crossed for 2025!
Thanks for the great summary. Gonna be a huge success as GT3 everywhere. The more manufacturers the better. Hope Audi and Mercedes will soon join the club (only to get beaten of course 🤣).
Definately looking forward to the new regs
As far as I knew the GTE regulations are very similar to the old GT2 ones. And compared to the GT3 cars, the GT2 has modifications to the chassis, such as the rigidity, which is much greater in the GT2. Furthermore, the electronics of the GT3 are very conditioned by the street car. However, in GT2 it was pure competition electronics. In an interview with a GT OPEN driver when comparing a GT2 with a GT3 he said, the GT3 is a street car modified for racing, the GT2 is a racing car that looks like a street car.
I think that the initial phase of GTE was just like a rebadged GT2. I think the best example of that was the Ferrari 458, which was virtually identical in its GT2 and its initial GTE look.
That may have been the case several years back but electronics in gt3 and gte are pretty much identical and far from road cars.
I can't wait for wec 2024 lmgt3 should be good looking forward to wec more than f1
Although I loved the GTLM class and the GTE class the biggest problem is more teams were dropping out than entering.
So the GT3 class makes more sense.
I can’t believe I will be seeing them in imola next year 🙌🏾😭
How cool! Hope you have a lot of fun!
I believe many years ago, Aston Martin said that GTE car are extremely expensive because of how strict the rules are so they spend lot of money on R&D to extract every ounces of performance from the car. What make them fast also because of the aero regulations that are slightly different than it’s GT3 counterparts.
ty for explaining!
The 2024 and 2025 seasons of WEC and IMSA feel like Christmas. Exciting time for endurance racing.
I see a lot of haters on GT3 but i love them. Le Mans felt limited last year because of the small number of manufacturers. This will be good.
seeing how well the hypercar era has started, i'm really confident that lmgt3 will make for some great races
Fully agree!
hyper car is almost spec class racing....two chassis manufacturers, spec hybrid gear...it's a tuning and paint series.
Yes👍👍👍
im so hype for the le mans 24h
These changes sound very exciting. I'd love to see that many different cars on the track. Lets hope Audi and Mercedes will be able to join sooner or later.
INTERESTING 🤩🤩🤩
seems like a good class
GT3 are only slower than GTE due to the BOP targeting a slower time. In Super GT the GT300 cars are quite a bit faster than GTE cars at Fuji, for example.
Audi is very unlikely given they basically cut their sportcar program for F1 entry. Merc might be though, but for more chances, they might have to get more involved in a WEC team. They certainly have no interested in hypercar program so far
I hope Mercedes and Audi can get in earlier than 2025. I don't see much reason for them to not be there.
And when is Lexus going to make a new GT3? The RCF is good, but damn.
Overall, I think it's going to be very fun racing nonetheless. I'm disappointed only because I got into all of this too late for the GTE era, but LMH/LMDH looks hot asf so that's gonna be cool, too. I just hope it doesn't take away too much focus from LMGT3, because that C8.R is what I'm here for. I'm glad to hear that the future of GT racing is quite secure.
Toyota is developing the new GT3 car based on Mercedes AMG GT3 to replace the aging Lexus RC F GT3.
This classificaiton stuff really confuses me. How is it Mercedes and Audi have no problem meeting classifications for the GT World Challenge, but failed to meet them for WEC?
Unlike the SRO, WEC and Le Mans has the point of an ever-expanding Hypercar grid.
Not to mention that, despite having such a modifications compared to the road counterparts, a GT3 car cannot be externally modified during all its homologation lifetime. This means cars like 992 GT3-R and 296 GT3 will be seen for at least half a decade racing worldwide. I don’t see cars like these leaving Le Mans or other important endurance racing competition before 2029
Cars can be upgraded through evolutions and considering Porsches track record we will see a freshly homologated 992.2 GT3 R as early as 2025.
@@reneengelke3218even though they can have EVO versions, it’s still the same car anyway
The GTE class, the RSR especially, will be missed.
Sad to see GTE go as I like it more than GT3, tbh but I think we've seen so many times over the years that rising costs kill competition. Writing has been on the wall for GTE for years now and it's nice that this means the return of pretty much every GTE manufacturer other than like... what the Viper?
This thing sounds well. Memories from the Glickenhaus (similar)
As sportscar racing has seen so many times, a spending war culture will kill off any class. GTE has to be canned because of this
GT3 is a great alternate for the WEC with the 2024 entry list alone. Costs are slashed since GT teams don't have to build two separate cars for two separate regulations.
Endurance Racing is in a great position with cost-effective regulations used universally
3:28 -- My colleague at a Porsche dealer was fired right in front of me for telling a client he would find them a "cheaper" model. Our dealer principle walked up to him and said: _"'Cheap' pertains to quality, 'affordability' pertains to price. Some models are more affordable than others, but there is no 'cheap' Porsche. Thank you for your time."_ That stayed with me ever since and I've never misused those words since. Now anyone reading this knows too.
That's going to stick with me now too
Your colleague's boss was a wanker. Firing someone over one word instead of feedback or training? That is a sure fire way to get sued for wrongful dismissal in my country. If the story is true, then it actually puts Porsche in a bad light. Sounds like the BS you would cop at a Ferrari dealership if anything.
These are really good changes. The increase of competitors is totally worth decreasing the performance of these cars.
Lmp2 is an antiquated class that should have been retired along with lmp1.
At least LMP2 class still gets its own races on regional level (Asian Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series, 24 Hours of Le Mans, etc)
Nice video 👏🏻
Thank you!
Was the reason for the GTE programs being all factory purely due to higher cost, or were customer teams not allowed to run until now with GT3?
Banger of a video
Thank you!
I love the video but I‘m not entirely sure if another gt3 series will be good for endurance racing. I’m Germany we had the same problem, when suddenly the old dtm class 1 was replaced by gt3, even though we had already one championship in that category. At some point I was also hoping the GTE class would transform back to the famous gt1 class, but gt3 racing is still better than no racing.
Any reason you didn’t mention that GT3 regs have been about for decades and that will have massively contributed to the high turnout in teams and manufacturers? They all had GT3 programs already, the regs are a known quantity with loads of development time and knowledge already being put in for years, so there’s no real risk in going out and buying a car to run
if the GT cars are kept closer to original road specifications that will make the competition more meaningful - the GT category has always been more important to me than Hypercar but the whole LM environment now looks really good, let’s hope the new regs bring a new golden era in endurance racing and that they are applied globally
🌎 🌍 🌏
Always Love GT3 racing Since GT Sport despite being F1 fan
Nice vidéo
My Favorite Class Was The GTLM
Man.. I hope Nissan GT-R GT3 will be in LeMans race
I wish I could’ve just tuned into the GT3 segment , but it was a fantastic event nonetheless
It’s interesting how universal sports car racing has gotten. Ya have the LMDh and LMH regulations that gives top level prototype racing options of racing in the World Championship or in IMSA, ya LMP2 which is capable of racing in either the European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series, and IMSA as well as still being able to race Le Mans for the time being, and GT3 being the most worldwide used regulations being able to race under SRO, ACO, VLN, FIA, etc rules. It’s the one class of cars that’s able to race any sprint races around the world to running major endurance races from the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, the 24 hours of Nurburgring, the 24 hours of Spa, and now the 24 hours of Le Mans. Not to mention LMP3 and GT4 cars having their shares of the pie as well. I don’t think we’ve seen this much universality in sports car endurance racing since probably the 80s or so.
Convergence was the goal, and convergence they now have
YES!
so what about all the part timers who didn’t grow up racing from 5 years old tryna go full time?
I’m building a car right now. I would like to know as well
the acronyms are such a pain in the ass, waiting for the day they do something like F1, prototype one - P1, revision one - R1
This is a genuine question. I've heard this several times now from quite a few people discussing these changes both in the real world racing as well as sim racing. I'm more versed in the sim side of things and not as familiar with the real world series counterparts which is why I'm asking. A few times when I've heard people talking about GT"fill in the blank" series and Corvette is referred to, they say "Corvette" as if it's the manufacturer. The first time I heard it I thought it was mistake. The 2nd time I started just thinking I was crazy. But now I hear you say it (@1:35) which is at least the third time I've heard it. Is Chevrolet not the manufacturer and Corvette the car? There's only a handful of times I've ever seen something like this happen one example is when Ram became it's own entity, gained all rights and excluded itself from Dodge. Possible the Viper had the same thing the last few years. But as far as I'm aware Chevy still owns all rights to the Corvette and it's not it's own entity so is it really a GT"x" Corvette Corvette? Please tell me I'm not crazy lol.
It’s still Chevrolet. So technically yes it’s Chevy Corvette entering into the WEC. The WEC has previously been calling it as just Corvette, which has been why I called it as “Corvette” entering, which also made me confused since Corvette is not technically a car manufacturer? I have since recognized that this may be confusing for some, so for recent videos I have been calling it has Chevrolet Corvette entering which is more correct if you ask me. Hope this answers your question!
If Honda/Acura Will be entry in Wec in 2025, theorycally, we will can see 12 manufacter in LMGT3 class. Aston Martin, Audi, Acura/Honda, BMW, Chevrolet, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, Lexus/Toyota, McLaren, Mercedes, Porsche.
Whilst that would be cool to see, the grid will not be able to hold all 12 manufacturers for the full season as that would go over the cap of 40 cars + the new LMH cars coming over in 2025
Very nicely put together video mate 👍🏻 I would like to hear some more technical detail comparison between GTE and GT3 such as weight , bhp and potential relative lap times ?
Hopefully in the future there can more videos just like what you mentioned regarding GT racing! Thanks for watching the video as well, glad you enjoyed it!
They don't have to be slower anyway. If given more power under BOP they'd run more aero as well...
Then you beat the main point of GT3 already; accessibility. Both you said will raise the cost
it'll be interesting when LeMans comes round and if they add more GT3 spec cars into the race, maybe thats how Merc and Audi gets entered so we keep the 2 by 2 sort of thing
Only models on the WEC grid are eligible to be used at Le Mans as extra entries, so no Audis or Mercs at Le Mans next year.
@@theocousins6386 that sucks because it would be cool to see a pair of Mercs, Audis, Nissans or whoever else is in GT3 Racing and not in WEC Full time. I do like the 2 car per manufacturer model. No Safety in numbers in LMGT3
I was reading that some LMGT3 cars can enter Super GT in the GT300 category -- do you know which ones?
Ill miss the RSR
WEC is still pro am and leaves out Mercedes and Audi. It is by no means a premier GT3 series. As far as driver talent, IMSA GTD Pro, NLS/N'Ring 24, SRO GT WC Europe, and DTM are all superior.
What I do like about WEC GT3 is the 2 car per manufacturer limit. So we get manufacturer diversity. Going to be weird to see GT3 racing with no Mercedes though.
If Audi wanted to join, they shouldn’t have binned their test-ready LMDh for F1.
Mercedes is unfortunate, but the same thing applies - Hypercar teams get priority for GT3. Rules are rules
Se acerca un buen campeonato 2024