The final act of the first half of the season in the Italian GT Championship was the latest revision to the Balance of Performance, carried out at the end of July at Vallelunga. Almost every car will lose weight, and now all the 2012-spec cars will have the same weight as the 2013 models.
In more detail, the 458 Ferrari has been given a little smaller restrictor, following its dominance at Imola – two of 41mm instead of 43mm previously – and is now 15 kilos lighter. Audi, Lamborghini and McLaren (still no race for them) will stay at the same weight – 1270kg for the Ingolstadt cars, 1235kg for the Sant’Agata black beauty, and 1255kg for the British car. BMW and its Z4 will be now 1230kg (a reduction of 20kg), Porsche will be listed at 1250kg (-10kg), the Corvette Z06 will be 1270kg (-20kg) and the Mercedes SLS will be 1300kg.
The net result of all this would appear to be that not a lot will change – the Ferrari will still be the fastest car of all, the Audi still won’t have enough top speed or power to fight for the victories, while the BMW still will be the slowest of all. Porsche is perhaps the least affected, but has already been hit hard in the first part of the season, while the Lamborghini has to wait a bit longer for a performance break.
We understand that we can’t have everything 100% balanced, but once again the powers-that-be appear to have failed in their mission, and we suspect that the title chase will soon come down to a fight between the 458 and, maybe, the EbiMotors Porsche; or will we see further revisions after the next round, which again takes place at Imola, on September 1st.
Gabriele Tosi
