Ferrari and Porsche save GTE Pro until end of 2022
The future of the GTE Pro division is safe, at least through to the end of the 2022 World Endurance Championship. Beyond that, all bets are off.
Ferrari and Porsche, the two manufacturers remaining in the class following Aston Martin’s withdrawal, have committed to racing on into next season. Both will continue with their existing two-car programmes in 2022, the season before they move into the prototype ranks with a Le Mans Hypercar and LMDH contender respectively.
A Ferrari spokesman said the marque will “continue in GTE in 2021 and 2022”, while his Porsche counterpart promised “the same programme as this year”. But for 2023 Ferrari has said its “focus will be on the LMH programme”, while Porsche called a continuation of the factory GT campaign in the WEC “a different topic because we will be racing with our LMDH and in the current planning there will be a works team [for LMDH]”.
No Ferraris or Porsches would almost certainly mean the end of a professional class running to GTE rules. The question is whether the rulemakers – the Automobile Club de l’ouest and the FIA – decide that they need a home for factories or teams with all-pro line-ups in the WEC as well as a healthy top prototype class packed with manufacturers. And the likes of Porsche and Audi are likely to make their LMDH machinery available to customer teams.
The ACO and the FIA are keeping their powder dry on their plans for the category. “The future remains open, but the decision will not be imminent and LMGTE cars will compete in the WEC until at least the end of the 2022 season,” they said in a joint statement. “A longer-term strategy will be discussed and decided at the FIA Endurance Committee meetings later this year.”
A switch to GT3 rules in line with the IMSA Sportscar Championship in North America, which is replacing its Gte-based GT Le Mans class with GT Daytona Pro in 2022, might not necessarily be the way forward for the WEC. Ferrari has expressed hopes for some kind of “GT plus category”, while Porsche has insisted that it views the GT3 category as customer racing.
• Michael Christensen will come back into the Porsche factory fold for the Le Mans 24 Hours WEC round in August. The Dane will renew his partnership in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR with Kevin Estre, who this season is sharing with Neel Jani. Frederic Makowiecki will again drive #91 alongside Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz. The pair of additional drivers will also contest the Portimao 8 Hours WEC race in June.