Gill: Three-Hour Format Aimed to Reduce Time at Track

Photo: Jason Doudt/SRO

The new three-hour race format for GT World Challenge America powered by AWS for next year has been devised as part of a plan to reduce race weekends from four to three-day events according to SRO America President and CEO Greg Gill.

Announced at last weekend’s CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa as part of SRO Motorsports Group’s annual press conference, GTWC America’s current format of two 90-minute races will be combined into a single three-hour race, held on the Sunday of each weekend.

The season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS will be the only exception and will remain series’ sole long-distance endurance race.

Gill revealed that discussions had been ongoing for a potential move to dual 60-minute races, mirroring that of GTWC Europe Sprint Cup as well as GTWC Asia and Australia, but ultimately came to the decision to have one longer feature race instead.

“For the last few years, we’ve been looking at a lot of different things. We kept querying the paddock,” he told Sportscar365.

“One of the accepted logic was that you’d 60 minutes instead.

“But as we dug deeper into that, it really didn’t give our racers, which is our first priority, the best experience.

“We looked at taking the bigger picture, and I really give our general manager Staci Langham a tremendous amount of credit for this, because she sat down at COTA really looking at this, ‘What do we change up to get our teams less time at the circuit and more time on track?’

“That’s something we got inspired from Stephane [Ratel] when we first met him because that was his philosophy in Europe.

“It became natural for us. Once we looked that way.”

Gill said the expansion of the race format will also have added benefits to teams.

“The benefit [of a three-hour race] to the teams was strategy, because that was one of the things they really felt challenged by with 90-minute [races],” he said. “They weren’t really doing strategy.

“It was just, ‘Do we do the Pro driver [first] or do we do the Am driver?’ There wasn’t really a lot else they could do.

“Now they have, with [multiple] pit stops, two drivers, they’re going to have some more time.

“And at the same time, from an economic standpoint, which I think you have to be wise about, it gives them a better race on Sunday and only three days of actual time at the circuit for the drivers, and that’s a great thing.”

The condensed weekend schedule will see GTWC America and GT America powered by AWS teams run from Friday through Sunday, with Pirelli GT4 America and TC America powered by Skip Barber Racing School competitors on a Thursday through Saturday format.

Most SRO America race weekends currently operate from Thursday through Sunday for all series, when counting test sessions, which are technically optional for competitors.

SRO America general manager Staci Langham confirmed to Sportscar365 that GTWC America teams will have a test session to kick off activities on the Friday morning of each race weekend.

When asked if the move to three-hour races could offer a new opportunity for GT3 teams that can’t afford the costs related to racing in the GTD class of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which began mandating torque sensors this year, Gill said: “I think so.”

He added: “For the people out there that are considering going into pro [sports car] racing, really in America, you have two pro [sports car] racing series; you have IMSA and you have the SRO.

“They know when they get to the IMSA level, [that] is true endurance racing and with a lot greater expense.

“Someone might ask, ‘How do I get into that transition?’ As a Bronze racer, they can try GT America [and work their way up].

“[GTWC America] then gives them an opportunity if they have a pro they’re working with, or on the same token that we’ve seen with both Dollahite and AF Corse, where they run on the Am side, you’ll see growth there too.

“It’s going to give them that opportunity.”

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