Team Boss Says VLN Safety “Worsened” by BoP Change

“It’s a mystery to us how the VLN leadership deals with this topic. Instead of bringing transparency to the topic, the leaders duck away and let the teams run into the open.

“You can see that the VLN is not willing to have GT3 as a top class, and the accident record clearly shows that the GT3 cars are not the problem at all – most accidents are in smaller Cup classes.

“Just two weeks [before the opening round] breaking down entire vehicle classes without compensation before the start of the season is an unprecedented act that can not be outclassed in disrespect for [the] teams.”

WTM Racing will protest by switching to the Creventic-run 24H Series, which includes the 12-hour races at Mugello, Spa and Brno as well as the 24-hour events at Portimao and Barcelona.

The team also plans to lodge entries for the Total 24 Hours of Spa and the Kyalami 9 Hours, which are both part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Leading Porsche Team Threatens to Quit

Frikadelli Racing is another established outfit to have publicly questioned the BoP decision, with team boss Klaus Abbelen claiming that the updated rules “make absolutely no sense anymore”.

Frikadelli, which finished second in last year’s VLN Speed Trophy standings, has threatened to quit the series after the Nurburgring 24 Hours in June if the BoP is not altered.

Abbelen feels the payoff for running a Porsche GT3 car, which costs three to four times the upfront price of a TCR touring car, will be wiped out by the new regs.

“The much too late new BoP states that only the GT3 cars should lose 5 percent of their power, but not the other cars in the VLN,” he said.

“As a result, smaller vehicles costing just one-tenth of the annual budget of GT3 cars will overtake them on the straights at 30 km/h [19 mph] or more and will be ahead of the GT3 car again in the next corner.

“Unless there are several turns in a row, the GT3 finally makes it past. That makes absolutely no sense for us anymore.

“If this incision really should be accomplished, one would have to reduce the performance of all vehicles by 5%. Only then will you be able to compete and we will justify the cost of the GT3 vehicles.

He continued: “The whole track characteristic of the Nordschleife is changed annually, shortened and defused, so that even every new video game racer can control this course. But we can not get faster ourselves. That also makes no sense.”

“If I had been told in November that we had 5% less power imposed, I would have decided directly against a participation in the VLN and the 24-hour race.”

Frikadelli will enter this weekend’s VLN season-opener with two GT3 Porsches, including one for factory-affiliated drivers Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet.

A total of 171 cars, including 25 GT3s in the SP9 class, will take part in the four-hour Westfalenfahrt race on Saturday.