SRO Not Ruling Out GT3 Cars for GT Sports Club America

Photo: Audi

SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel has not ruled out GT3 machinery in the new-for-2020 GT Sports Club America.

Announced as the latest series from SRO Motorsports America, the five-round season, set to kick off at Virginia International Raceway in June, was due to exclusively feature GT2 machinery.

However, it appears GT3 cars may also be eligible to race alongside SRO’s new platform, as was the case in the European launch event at Barcelona last month (pictured above).

“For the moment we don’t know how many GT2s will be delivered,” Ratel told Sportscar365.

“I think we’ll do GT Sports Club and we’ll see throughout the winter how things will develop.

“We’re not ruling out GT3s. I think we need to bring more new blood, amateur drivers who come for the fun of it.

“We definitely need to get GT3 owners that maybe don’t go for the big format.”

The move would come as the opposite of SRO’s recent announcement that it would split GT2 and GT3 machinery into separate Sports Clubs in Europe due to competitor feedback.

“In Europe, you’ve had a lot of [GT2] cars delivered and Porsche has delivered quite a substantial number of cars,” Ratel explained.

“We saw from Barcelona that these guys didn’t want to race together with GT3.

“What do you do? We had to react. We have the room [in Europe] where we have ten events where we can do it. 

“In America we’re starting it from scratch so we’ll see the interest we will get and we will decide. It doesn’t start before VIR, which is in June so we have some time.”

When asked if he thinks the addition of GT3 machinery into Sports Club America would detract from potential entries in GT World Challenge America, which faced lower-than-expected car counts this year, Ratel said he doesn’t think that would be the case.

“The reality is that we see is that GT3 is not growing in America,” he said.

“Us and IMSA, I think there were 12 cars at their last event and 13 [at Las Vegas]. That’s 25 cars in total, which is very, very low.

“Let’s try to grow it and to address every sector of the game. Some people want to come alone, have fun, and that’s the Sports Club format. You’re only here for two days.

“We need to bring new blood in our paddock and if they want to step up to the main show, they can do it.

“Christian Michelotto was telling me years ago what you should do in America is Sports Club because you have a lot of those type of clients, who are a bit older and just want to have fun.

“That’s something we have to look at.”

Sofronas Backs GT3 Addition in Sports Club

GMG Racing team owner James Sofronas is among those in support of adding GT3 machinery to the new Bronze-only series, which will feature 45-minute single-driver races.

Sofronas has multiple Porsche 911 GT3 Rs currently not in active competition that could be used alongside his fleet of Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsports. 

“I think there’s a lot of interest in clients who have GT3 cars who are not necessarily ready to commit to full 90-minute driver change, fueling, pit stops and would like to just compete at a high level with a professional organization but still in the sprint format,” Sofronas told Sportscar365.

“Those guys can then aspire to get into the endurance races.

“I feel like it could be a stepping stone and it brings people together who have GT3 cars.”

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John