Porsche Motorsport chief Thomas Laudenbach has backed SRO boss Stephane Ratel’s concerns over the direction the category is taking, calling for everyone – including new manufacturers – to return to its roots.

Ratel’s warning over the growing threats facing GT3 racing has made waves and is beginning to receive support from manufacturers involved in the category.

The Frenchman has raised concerns that rising costs and the types of cars being used are moving the category away from the principles on which GT3 racing was originally based. 

Speaking at the recent IMSA race at Road America, Laudenbach said he agreed with Ratel's assessment, as he called for action to safeguard the future of the category.

"I share nearly all of his views. I was on the phone with him for a long time and I fully share his view," he said.

"I think we have to be careful. We've probably opened the door too much because it should still be GT racing. It should be affordable.

"If you look at what we do, I think we have a very, very clear philosophy of GT3. Look at our pricing, it's still good.

"I don't want to see prototypes. I want to see it the other way around.

"We have street-legal cars and we derive race cars. That's the nature of GT3. And I see a tendency which I'm not that happy about.  And therefore, yes, I share his view, at least most of it, and I share his concerns."

Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Ratel has highlighted that the cars due to arrive from 2028 onwards, with Genesis, Mercedes and Toyota among the manufacturers planning new GT3 programmes, appear to be being developed primarily as race cars before being adapted into road-going models, with only a limited number of road cars produced. GT3, however, was originally conceived on the basis of road cars being converted into race cars.

In that respect, Porsche is arguably beyond reproach, with the 911 having long served as its flagship model. However, Laudenbach admits manufacturers may have to adapt to their rivals if they want to continue winning, potentially creating a situation where the entire category follows the same path.

"He [Ratel] made some good proposals," said Laudenbach. "It's naive because the door is already open and we need to define measures and criteria. It's difficult if you already let others in on the other criteria.

"But still, I think we have to take action. And I think we don't want to have GT prototypes racing because even so, we have a great variety of manufacturers.

"I'm long enough in the business to know that it can collapse like this and so we've got to be careful. 

"I would say even more customer cars [being mandated]. I think he said at least 30, probably even more.

"But if you look, there are other manufacturers who mainly do it as....yeah, it's customer support [as] they sell it to you, but it's mainly factory-supporting cars. This, to me, is not the nature of the sport.

"Look what we do here [in IMSA]. We don't have factory, we have AO and we have Manthey.

"Manthey is a customer because they want to promote their brand in the US, which I think is great. But this is how we do it.

"We do not [provide] factory support in GT [classes] because I think it's a tricky one for the series. It's a tricky one for the GT class.

"Look at what AO is delivering here. This is great racing. I don't need the factory. But the factory is competing in GTP.

"So to me, yes, I share very much [the concern]. I hope it goes down the right path. It would be a shame if it collapses."

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