GT Class

[Mirek]

A question for You. Who is going to be written in the history statistics as the winner of 40th Rally Islas Canarias?

A hint. It's not going to be Cruz. Same reason why Kopecký doesn't hold Barum rally record in number of victories as one of them doesn't count because he run in non-FIA field (2004).

And by the way Cruz drove unrestricted 911 under Canarias local rules, not Spanish championship one.

[Ucci]

A question for You. Who is going to be written in the history statistics as the winner of 40th Rally Islas Canarias?

A hint. It's not going to be Cruz. Same reason why Kopecký doesn't hold Barum rally record in number of victories as one of them doesn't count because he run in non-FIA field (2004).
And by the way Cruz drove unrestricted 911 under Canarias local rules, not Spanish championship one.

True, but Cruz was the fastest! Or not??
Even if Ogier would be here with Polo WRC I would congrate to him as he would be the fastest. At least I hope so....

[Mirek]

Strange logic. So why not to start a trophy with unrestricted WRC cars alongside some FIA championship and claim an overall victory everywhere despite having completely different rules? Isn't it ridiculous? Anyway the official winner of the rally is Lukyanuk. You can check the event website. It's there black on white.

And by the way Barum Rally 2014 was won by zero car if You go only after the times without respecting rules.

[Ucci]

And by the way Barum Rally 2014 was won by zero car if You go only after the times without respecting rules.

My god, you are so stubborn....It is not a GC rally topic, we are not discussing about Luky's victory. The 911 was the FASTEST and period. Leave for at least on time those stupid rules behind.
And if the zero car was the fastest on Barum two years ago(I have no problem with this fact) nowebody can't claim that the stopwatches were against rules.

[electroliquid]

Leave for at least on time those stupid rules behind.

So why even do rally events? Isn't enough to just drive high speed in open roads?

[Mirek]

My god, you are so stubborn....It is not a GC rally topic, we are not discussing about Luky's victory. The 911 was the FASTEST and period.

No? So what is this? It's You who wrote this and claimed that Cruz is the winner of the rally instead of Lukyanuk and started a pointless comparison of cars running in different championships under different rules.

Congratulations to Enrique Cruz who won the 40.Rallye Islas Canarias.
Despite all the obstacles he showed to entire rally scene, that 911 GT3 RS 3.8 can compete against R5 cars, which are driven by some of top drivers.

I don't understand Your obsession with unrestricted 911 being faster than R5 somewhere. Everybody knows that unrestricted 911 is faster than R5.

Leave for at least on time those stupid rules behind.

Are You for real?

[Rally Power]

Gt’s can have their place in modern rallies. Spanish teams made a fantastic job adapting them to rally roads and proved they’re effective on tarmac. They’re also entertaining to see, amazing to drive and cheap to buy or run (as most of them are pre used racing units).

The real issue it’s on ASN’s rally policy. Should the countries follow FIA strict rules or adopted their own regulations, allowing other cars to be part on their national series?

This stands for Gt’s but also for N+’s, RRC’s, expired homologated WRC’s and even Proto’s.

Is it feasible to get a liberal reg system with an effective BOP matching all those top rally car groups?

Honestly I think it’s, and some ASN’s are trying to do it. The argument that’s unfair to those competitors with more costly cars or that only purpose built rally should run are easily surpass by the advantages of having a greater diversity of rally cars and drivers.

In that sense it’s understandable RFEA (one of the most liberal ASN’s around) attempt to limit the GT’s domination in Spanish rallies, but they went a bit too far. They could have used a larger restrictor and keep 911’s competitive.

By the Canarias experience (in the SS's Ares and Monzon run without problems) it came clear that R5’s will become the undisputed series leaders.

Ucci: Portuguese ASN still didn’t announce ’16 GTR rules and somehow this is a marginal question as our main championship (CNR) is a mix surface series. But autonomic Spanish regional Federations (like the Canarias) will keep allowing unrestricted Gt’s.

[Lundefaret]

The GT-class is something that could give the whole sport a broader appeal, but they need to be let loose from to many restrictions. A Porsche winning a tarmac rally brings back memories from bygone times, and its actually an added marketing value for the other competing brands.

The whole homologated rally world has become very androgyn, its almoast only small cars homologated, and this is cars with no real fan base to begin with.
It would be much better for both Ford and VW if it was the Ford Focus RS going up against the Volkswagen Golf GTI (or R). This is cars that are relevant, and appeals to the sporty clientele. It would be a real battle of the giants.

In both WRC, R5, R3, R2 and R1 its basically the same car being homologated. Rally is not only about the sport and drivers, its also about sight, sound, and brand allegiance. A Porsche fighting a Ford Focus would be good for both, and would bring more spectacle, as it does in Spain etc.

There is positive things happening with the new Abarth, the Toyota GT86 etc, but these are very expensive vs their performance. If you took a Porsche Cup circuit car and "rallynized" it, it would be cheaper.

A GT Class definitely has a place in rallying, one just needs to find out exactly where

[Mirek]

As I said before. Porsche is an exclusive brand. There is nothing what it can win from a marketing point of view by loosing with Fabia. Even beating Fabia is nothing. That's why Porsche as a brand is not interested and why it won't be interested unless GT cars become leading class and Porsche can fight its real adversaries there such as Lamborgini or Ferarri. In that moment however rallying loses it's long-term commited brands which created the sport and kept it running through the whole history. I don't think that rallying can afford that for sake of experiment with bringing exclusive brands in and I don't think it's right thing to do.

The whole rally world has been standing for decades on brands like Ford, Citroën, Peugeot or Škoda. In my opinion it's correct to keep them in as they proved to be commited for decades.

We shall not be too idealistic. There is no point for brands like Porsche to come to fight cheap common brands. Since that GTs can stay only a curiousity for privateers or the whole rally world must be completely rebuilt and GTs established as the top class. As I said earlier that's not a viable option for me.

We shall also take into account that there different classes of car manufacturers with different customers and competitors. That's why exclusive brands compete with each other in GT circuit series, Le Mans or F1 and not in a popular "cheap" sport called rally.

[Arnold Triyudho Wardono]

And current 911 is too big for rallying in my opinion..