Grand Touring Endurance, shortened to GTE, was a set of regulations maintained by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and IMSA for grand tourer racing cars used in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 hours of Daytona GTLM, and its associated series. The class was formerly known as simply Group GT (Group N-GT in the FIA GT Championship) between 1999 and 2004, and later referred to as Group GT2 between 2005 and 2010. The GT2 name has since been revived for a different set of regulations.

ALMS GT2 cars competing at Road America in 2007
Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
Porsche 911 RSR-19
2nd-gen Ford GT
SRT Viper GTS-R

History

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The class, derived from the former 'GT3' class in 1998, debuted in 1999 under the name of 'GT' in 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and European Le Mans Series, and as 'N-GT' in the FIA GT Championship, and in 2000 as 'GTU' in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and 'GTO' in the British GT Championship. In 2005, the class was renamed GT2, below the faster GT1 class (formerly known as GT/GTS). Originally, it was dominated by the Porsche 911 GT3 in its R, RS and RSR versions, but the Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari F430 and Panoz Esperante were also successful, as well as the BMW M3 in the United States. Other models entered were the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Morgan Aero 8, Spyker C8 and TVR Tuscan.

 
Ferrari F430 GT2

After the GT1 class was dropped from ACO competitions for the 2011 season, the GT2 class was renamed as LM GTE in Europe and as GT in the United States. The new main rivals for the Porsche 911 were the Ferrari 458 Italia, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Chevrolet Corvette, BMW M3, BMW Z4 (E89) and SRT Viper. Other less successful models in the early 2010s were the Jaguar XKR, Lamborghini Gallardo, Lotus Evora and Ford GT.

 
Flying Lizard Motorsport's 997 GT3-RSR (997) at the 2008 Utah Grand Prix

In 2015, the two dominating cars were the Porsche 911 RSR and the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 (by points achieved).

In the 2018/19 season, the most competitive LM GTE cars were the Porsche 911 RSR, the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the Ford GT (by points achieved).

In 2021, IMSA announced that the GTLM class would be replaced with a GT3 based GTD pro class.[1] The ACO also announced that GTE in the WEC would also be replaced by GT3 in 2024, with the GTE Pro class seeing its final race in 2022 and the GTE Am class in 2023.[2]

Regulations

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Class plates of LM GTE categories
 
LM GTE Pro
 
LM GTE Am

The ACO had defined limits and requirements for the LM GTE category to ensure that cars are legitimately production-based. The car must had "an aptitude for sport with 2 doors, 2 or 2+2 seats, opened or closed, which could be used perfectly legally on the open road and available for sale."[3] The ACO modified its regulations for “small manufacturers” (less than 2000 cars produced a year). In order to be eligible, a big manufacturer must produced at least one car a week or a small manufacturer one car a month. The cars were be eligible to race when 100 road cars for big manufacturers or 25 road cars for small manufacturers were produced. The car must had an official launch campaign and sales network. The engine must be used in a production car; while this is usually the engine from the road car, the ACO had made exceptions for cars like the BMW Z4 GTE which use engines from other models. Carbon fiber, titanium and magnesium were banned except for special parts like spoilers or wheels. Cars with carbon cockpits (that are not directly attached to the suspension) were allowed. The engine displacement was limited to 5.5L naturally aspirated or 4.0L turbo/supercharged. The SRT Viper was granted a special waiver to 8.0L. The minimum weight was 1,245 kg including driver, fuel, helmet and liquids. Cars must had working lights and windshield wipers at all times. To distinguish from faster Le Mans Prototypes at night, LM GTE cars must used yellow headlights (not in WEC). Four-wheel drive was banned while engine-based traction control was allowed. Gearboxes were limited to six forward gears. All cars must also had rear-view cameras in addition to side mirrors.

LM GTE[4]
LM GTE Pro LM GTE Am
Minimum weight 1,245 kilograms (2,745 lb) (possibly subject to Balance of Performance) including driver, fuel, helmet and liquids
Maximum length

4,800 millimetres (190 in)

Maximum width

2,050 millimetres (81 in) (excluding rear view mirrors)

Engine displacement naturally-aspirated:
5.5 litres (340 in3)

turbocharged/supercharged: 4.0 litres (240 in3)

Fuel tank size

90 litres (24 US gal) (subject to BoP)

Drivers

free composition

2 to 3 drivers, at least

1 Bronze plus
1 Bronze or Silver

Cars were allowed one set of modifications every two years. Brand new cars were allowed one extra set of modifications in the first year of competition. Small aerodynamic modifications were allowed for Le Mans each year. If the road car was upgraded with a new part, that part could also be used on the LM GTE car through updating the homologation. Manufacturers could also apply for waivers to allow the homologation of cars or parts that would normally be banned by the rules.

Overall, the technical regulations were focused on keeping LM GTE cars relatively close to road cars in terms of parts and dimensions. Aerodynamic devices such as spoilers were heavily regulated. There were also minor requirements that were holdovers from the earlier era of Le Mans, such as requiring at least 150 cubic decimetres of luggage space.

At Le Mans, LM GTE was divided into two classes: GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. GTE-Am cars were must be at least one year old or be built to the previous year's spec, and had limits on the qualification of drivers allowed in the lineup.

The Endurance Committee of the ACO had the absolute right to modify the Balance of Performance between LM GTE cars through adjusting the weight, engine or aerodynamics. Air restrictors were used with default values for specific engine capacities.

2016 updates

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At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ACO announced a range of changes for the LM GTE class for the 2016 season. The aim of the changes was to increase the performance of the cars relative to the GT3-spec machinery that they compete against in certain series, whilst reducing cost and improving the safety of the cars. The regulations became restrictive, and so there was a reduced reliance on waivers to allow certain cars to compete. One example of this was the increased freedom of aerodynamic development within specific regions of the car.[5] The new cars were able to compete in LM GTE Pro from 2016 alongside the 'old' specification of car, before becoming available for LM GTE Am in 2017. In 2018, the 'old' specification of car was out of competition.

Replacement of GTE Regulations

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Autosport magazine reported that on 20 August 2021 that the ACO had announced that they will be dropping the GTE class in favour of GT3 cars from the 2024 season onwards. The GTE class was to remain in place for the 2022 and 2023 WEC seasons, including Le Mans, following the decline of GTE racing with only four cars in the WEC Championship and three in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2021.[6]

List of LM GTE cars

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Manufacturer Model Developer Photo Year Notes
  Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2 Prodrive   2008–2011
V8 Vantage GTE   2012–2017 Fourth generation Vantage GTE, includes Vantage GTE upgrades for 2016
V8 Vantage AMR GTE   2018–2023 Fifth generation Vantage
  BMW M3 GTR (E36) Prototype Technology Group 1999–2000 Includes 2 and 4-door variants
M3 GT (E46) 2000–2003 6-cylinder E46 M3
M3 GTR (E46) BMW Motorsport   2001–2006 Includes 6-cylinder version raced in ALMS in 2006
M3 GT (E92)   2009–2012
Z4 GTE (E89)   2013–2015
M6 GTLM (F13)   2016–2017
M8 GTE (F92)   2018–2021
  Chevrolet Corvette LM-GT (C5) Pratt & Miller 2001–2005
Corvette ZR1 C6.R   2009–2013 Includes upgrades to GTE spec in 2012
Corvette C7.R   2014–2019 Includes upgrades for 2016
Corvette C8.R   2020–2023
  Dodge SRT SRT Viper GTS-R Riley Technologies   2012–2015 Includes upgrades in 2015
  Ferrari 360 N-GT Michelotto Engineering SpA [it]   2000–2002 Converted Ferrari 360 Challenge cars, visually the same as the 360 GT
360 GT 2002–2004
360 GTC   2004–2005
F430 GT   2006–2007
F430 GTC   2008-2010
458 Italia GT   2011–2015 Includes upgrades to GTE spec in 2012
488 GTE   2016–2017
488 GTE Evo   2018-2023
  Ford GT-R (Mk.VII) Doran Racing   2008–2011
GT (Mk.VIII) Ford Performance   2016–2019
  Jaguar XKR RSR Racing   2010–2011
  Lamborghini Gallardo LP 560 GT2 Reiter Engineering   2009–2011
  Lotus Evora GTE Ycom   2011–2012
  Panoz Esperante GT-LM Panoz Auto Development   2003–2009 Includes Evo version introduced in 2008
Abruzzi   2011
  Porsche 911 GT3 R (996.I) Porsche Motorsport   1999–2000
911 GT3 RS (996.I)   2001–2003
911 GT3 RSR (996.II)   2004–2005
911 GT3 RSR (997)   2006–2012 997.I & 997.II generations 911 RSR. There were upgrades every year.
911 RSR (991.I)   2013–2016 First 991 generation 911 RSR, includes upgrades for 2016
911 RSR (991.II)   2017–2019 Second 991 generation 911 RSR
911 RSR-19 (991.II)   2019–2023 Third generation 911 RSR
  Spyker C8 Double-12R Reiter Engineering   2002–2003
C8 Spyder GT2-R   2005–2007 Includes upgrades introduced in 2007
C8 Laviolette GT2-R   2008–2010
Source:[7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (28 January 2021). "GTD Pro for GT3 cars to replace IMSA's GT Le Mans class in 2022". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  2. ^ Cleeren, Filip (20 August 2021). "GT3 cars to replace GTE class at Le Mans from 2024". www.autosport.com. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
  3. ^ "Technical Regulations for Grand Touring Cars" (PDF). Automobile Club de l'Ouest. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  4. ^ "Classes - FIA WEC". fiawec.com. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  5. ^ FIA WEC: 2016 GTE Regulations, Key Points, Summary of New Regulations From DSC.
  6. ^ "GT3 cars to replace GTE class at Le Mans from 2024".
  7. ^ Hergault, Julien (11 June 2013). "24 Hours of Le Mans: Introduction to the LM GTE Pro Class". www.24h‑lemans.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
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  • LM GTE regulations as of March 8, 2013 [1]