Oreca about to abandon the GT Tour?

The situation is very tense between Oreca, promoter of the GT Tour, and the FFSA following the Easter Cups in Nogaro (Gers) played from April 26 to 28. With only nine competitors, the weakness of the FFSA Protos and GT field called into question the future of the Championship.

“We wanted to come to Nogaro with nine cars, two of which (Oak) are here to please us”, declared Dominique Roger, the president of the FFSA circuits commission, to the newspaper La Dépêche . “Between the FFSA and promoter Hugues de Chaunac, we are giving ourselves a week before making a decision. We are really not optimistic. We made the mistake of coming to Nogaro with so few cars. We cannot accept a flagship championship with so few competitors. »

“We must find a new flagship discipline... I am thinking of Jean-Philippe Dayraut, promoter of Supertourism, a product capable of replacing the end of the GT-Proto... I cannot anticipate but we must act quickly! », underlined the representative of the Federation.

These are the comments that greatly displeased Hugues de Chaunac, the president of Oreca, who also did not appreciate the immediate SRO proposal to regain control of the Championship.

“I am totally stunned, on the one hand by the statements to the press by the President of the FFSA circuits commission, representing the President of the FFSA, on the future of GT in France; on the other hand by the broadcast, on the same day, of a press release from SRO announcing a new GT series in France in 2017”, commented Hughes de Chaunac.

“These comments, which do not reflect the idea I have of the FFSA, are simply unacceptable towards the teams and drivers, the GT Tour support series and our partners with whom we built this event . We never gave up on the French Championship FFSAGT. We have always stood in solidarity with the FFSA, even in difficult times. I was on the front lines myself, taking blows that weren't aimed at us. Everyone knows the real reasons which caused several teams and drivers to leave. Oreca had the possibility of no longer being a promoter in 2016: we nevertheless decided to continue out of loyalty and with conviction”, added the president of Oreca.

The Oreca press release specifies that “the Group is now giving itself a few days to draw conclusions from this situation and make the most appropriate decisions” and that' “a grid of 12 to 15 cars was looming for Lédenon (Gard)” June 4 and 5.