A perusal of the draft regulations for the 2014 British GT Championship shows a number of amendments from the previous year’s regs, with the first being a new qualifying format for races longer than one hour; namely Rockingham, Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Silverstone.
“Each driver will qualify in a session with the highest graded driver taking part in the first session. Driver pairings with the same ranking will be allocated a session by the Organiser. Both drivers will need to compete 3 timed laps (not including Out and In laps). Fastest lap times from both sessions will be combined to make the grid. Lowest ranking driver to start the race (2 hours and 3 hours). If pairings have the same grading, then the driver with the slower time in qualifying will start the race. Should either or both drivers not be able to set a lap time during the qualifying session, the Team may be allowed to start at the back of the grid at the discretion of the Clerk of the Course.
Approved 3 driver line ups for the 3 hour race must nominate the lowest ranking driver to take part in the qualifying session. All drivers to at least take part in the Free Practice sessions.”
What this means is that the Am driver’s time will now be instrumental in determining the starting position of his or her car, whereas previously they had merely to complete three timed laps in qualifying while leaving the Pro to set the time.
One car owner has already expressed his concern to DSC that this will lead to a need for “a large number of tyres, as the new aggregate time for Qualifying means the Am will need to practise his qualifying runs in free practice with new tyres in order to qualify in the top 10. My budget would be six sets of tyres per weekend compared to two sets in past years.” We asked SRO for their thoughts on this matter and received the following reply; “This changed at the request of the teams and any potential increase in tyre costs wasn’t raised.”
There have also been changes in the ever-contentious area of driver pairings and the associated penalty ballast.
As was the case previously, drivers will be graded as A, B, C or D, with A+A, A+B and B+B pairings prohibited. The gradings will be determined by a panel consisting of:
Benjamin Franassovici – Championship Manager
Jon Crook – Championship Eligibility Scrutineer
Drew Furlong – BRSCC Competitions Director
For the permissible pairings, the penalties will be as follows:
‘A’ + ‘C’ will carry an 85kg weight penalty for GT3 entries and 50kg (was 60Kg) weight penalty for GT4 entries.
‘B’ + ‘C’ will carry a 75kg weight penalty for GT3 entries and 40kg (was 50Kg) weight penalty for GT4 entries.
‘C’ + ‘C’ will carry a 65kg weight penalty for GT3 entries and 30kg (was 40Kg) weight penalty for GT4 entries.
New for 2014 is that ‘A’ category drivers paired with ‘D’ category drivers will carry a 10kg weight penalty for GT3 and GT4 classes.
For all pairings the following applies: “Alternative weight penalty or time penalty may be imposed to specific entries or any other means of adjustment. Weight is subject to a reasonable maximum total ballast weight. Alternative penalties can be applied e.g. ride-height etc.”
So while we have seen a reduction in GT4 (and we believe that the penalties are unlikely to change further), it is not on the scale previously advocated by DSC.
Other changes in brief:
Classes: The Invitation Class will be reinstated for 2014.
Pitstops: For three-hour races, any stop involving a driver-change or refuelling will be subject to the mandatory minimum time.
Grid: Tyre trolleys not allowed on the grid and all cars must be resting on their wheels by the time the three-minute board is shown. Failure to do this will attract a 10 second stop/go penalty.
Transponders: Driver-identifying transponders will be required in 2014 and must be used during all timed sessions.
Testing: Testing is prohibited in any form of vehicle at the relevant circuit from the Monday prior to the race weekend.
Safety: All personnel in the Working Pit Lane must wear fire proof overalls as a minimum.
Discipline: “For offences under MSA Regulations [C1.1.5], [C1.1.6], [Q14.4.2] and [Q14.5], the Clerk of the Course, at his discretion, may additionally impose a championship penalty in the form of the following:
(i) For an offence in qualifying; a grid penalty of up to ten places
(ii) For an offence in a race; a time penalty of up to one minute
(iii) For an offence in a race where the offending driver is not classified; a grid position penalty in the next race/event.
Where a grid penalty is given any unused element will be carried forward to a subsequent race e.g, if a competitor is given a 10 place grid penalty and at his next race he qualifies 5 places from the back of the grid, a penalty of 5 places will be imposed and 5 places will be carried forward to the next available race.
For a driver who has already received a penalty during the course of a season, any subsequent penalty WILL have a championship penalty applied. Where a championship penalty has previously been applied, the severity will be increased.”
The regs are expected to be confirmed within the next few weeks. One final interesting observation is that full season entry fees have increased by £3,000 in GT3 and GT4 and by £2,500 in GTC (single-event fees have also increased), and no ‘early bird’ discounts have been offered. The fact that the SRO felt able to do this strongly suggests that the series is in rude health.
