Alongside SRO’s plans for Blancpain GT and British GT, Stéphane Ratel has expressed his intentions at his annual press conference at Spa for a new project for the organisation, an Ultracar Sports Club.
This would be a two event series operating as part of two of the biggest Blancpain GT events for owners of ‘hypercars’ which will not be homologated as race cars, including cars such as the McLaren P1 and Ferrari LaFerrari with the possibility of accepting older cars like the Maserati MC12 on request. The event within an event would include two free practice sessions and a pair of regularity trials with entrants split by potential pace of the drivers.
“It would be a 24 hour long event, starting from midday on Saturday and finishing before the main race on Sunday so owners can turn up after working and leave before the end of the weekend.
“I get asked all the time, where’s the Paganis? When can we see the La Ferrari?,” Ratel told DSC. “We all know it’s impossible financially for the teams to make them race cars and to afford to run them but if we can get the owners to come along to create a grid and have something more to get involved in than just a parade or a village parking spot it would be spectacular for the fans.”
Stephane also announced his intention to respond to the FIA’s proposed tender of a one-off end of year FIA GT3 World Cup event in the coming years.
The announcement of the FIA’s intention to seek interest from promoters in the new event came after SRO relinquished the FIA GT Series moniker for the now renamed Blancpain Sprint Series.
“We as SRO are pushing the FIA to create an event, a GT3 World Cup,” said Ratel. “I think it will be good for GT3 for the FIA to stay involved because I feel they played a big part in getting GT3 to where it is now, and I don’t want them out.
“It would be out to tender for any city or any place, and I personally think it would be best to run it in the winter.”
Stephen Kilbey
