Grand-Am/ALMS – Protos and GT separated in 2014?

The merger of the ALMS and Grand-Am planned for 2014 is eagerly awaited by endurance fans. If the organizers announced that the LMP1 category would not be eligible, the four categories selected promise particularly competitive races. However, certain US circuits could have difficulty accommodating such a dense entry list, which would push the discipline to hold separate races between the Prototypes and the GTs. “With the program set up, we have limitations on the number of authorized cars entered”, explained Ed Bennett, President of Grand-Am, on Speed.com. “It's an identical situation to that encountered at Lime Rock last year in the Continental Series. We had to do one race for the GS and another for the ST. »

ALMS CEO Scott Atherton agrees with the Grand-Am director. According to him, it would be better to carry out several separate races rather than prohibiting certain categories on several circuits. “We all agreed that it would be a big problem,” he added to our American colleagues. “This type of problem is easier to resolve than the opposite extreme. I would hate to take the dynamic of a race with multiple categories out of the equation because I think it's something really fundamental to what we represent in the motorsport landscape. There could be an occasion where we should have a prototype or GT only race, I think the chances of that happening are quite high. But I believe this would only happen once or twice. »