IMSA is Adding a New GT3 Class!

[@adrianprado7981]

They should work with GT World America

[@justinkids2082]

Looks like they are piliging it.

[@williamford9564]

No, this move is to put GT America out of business.

[@jordynpropst8915]

@@justinkids2082typical of NASCAR owned properties. Real shame because SRO puts on a good event.

[@Dexter037S4]

@@jordynpropst8915 SRO have been hemorraging car counts for years and it was only a matter of time until this happened.

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

@@jordynpropst8915 Yeah the supply of GT3 cars in the USA just does not support it. GT WC America in big big trouble

[@sheldonsmith1294]

Anytime sports car racing grows I'm happy. 👍

[@offintheesses]

Couldn't agree more!

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

@@offintheesses I dont want it to become TOO big. We are getting close to that point. The grid walks pre race are already harder than they used to be. Getting close to any race car at Daytona especially...no chance...a wall of people.

[@JackWells99]

to an extent, if we reach the point that F1 has then the fanbase will become the same, a diluted and casual crowd who has no interest in the core of sportscar racing, you can already see this happening in WEC with the addition of so many hypercar manufacturers and morons flocking to it because its the 'in thing'

[@fyfyi6053]

how does it grow exactly if it becomes just another GT3 series. You don't know what "growing" means. I used to like GT3 but now I'm kinda tired of them. Everything has been replaced by GT3. DTM, GT1, GTE, GT300, all replaced by GT3. Not because they're more popular but because they're cheaper.

[@sheldonsmith1294]

@fyfyi6053 I mean sports car racing in general. Don't get your knickers in a knot. I miss some of those series too.

[@neilmcdonald5142]

Agree with you! I think GTDX is a great addition to this series. Except I’m a little worried that on some tracks the fastest GTDX and the slow LMP3 cars will get in each other’s way

[@offintheesses]

The LMP3's *should* be consistently faster than the GTDX class however if you get a slow LMP3 driver they will definitely slow the GT's down as we used to see in the weathertech championship!

[@mathewhosier9739]

Uhhh did you watch IMSA just a couple years ago when they had LMP3, GTE and GT3 cars all on the track at the same time? Nevermind GT3, the LMP3s were faster than the GTE, I dont think you realize the differences in size, weight, downforce and drag, at Road America in 2020, the LMP3 pole was 4.5 seconds faster than the GTE pole and 9 seconds faster than the GT3 pole

[@offintheesses]

@@mathewhosier9739 The fastest VP LMP3 race lap at Daytona last year was a 1:44.657. The fastest race lap by a GTD silver driver last year was a 1:46.544. Slower LMP3 drivers will almost certainly interfere with the GTDX's

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

@@mathewhosier9739 GTLM cars were faster than LMP3. GT3 cars are slightly slower. Even at VIR the top LMP3 car in the VP series was 2 seconds faster than Madison Snow's BMW M4. And the GTDX is probably going to be bronze drivers.

[@danieldrexel3875]

Thing is, unlike the GTD in IMSA, the GTDX class wont see many pros participating, so it shouldnt be that big of a problem.

[@Patric_Aguirre]

Channel is underrated. You’re doing Gods work for Motorsports, love the channel mate!

[@offintheesses]

Thanks Patric! I appretiate it!

[@MidwestMotor]

I love it!!! My favorite was watching the GTD and GTD Pro in Weather Tech races! 🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁🏁

[@JK-bs9cx]

Good reporting. Thanks

[@Qwnntm]

This is great news! As a fan of GT3 I have another series to follow! Sidenote: that livery at 5:25 is just *chef's kiss 👌🔥

[@JackWells99]

can you explain to me what it is about GT3 racing that is any better than other series or specs of GT cars we have had in recent years? For me GT3 is the absolute bottom of recent world championship level GT classes that we've had as we have moved to cars that rely entirely on driver aids and mostly sound like vacuum cleaners. Give me GTE, GT2, GT1, N-GT cars any day instead of GT3 occupying every single grid and series that we have in sportscars, they aren't unique or interesting when you drum them into every series in order to save multi-billion dollar corporations a bit of pocket change in their GT racing programme.

[@Aitch-i4l]

@@JackWells99 None of those that you mention exist anymore and some haven't for some time. The teams moved on, maybe it's time you did too.

[@Synystr7]

They might be stealing some guys from GT World America here, but honestly, with the multiclass format, it is always more interesting to watch that strictly GT3 racing.

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

Strictly GT3 racing is fantastic as long as you have at least 20 cars and 7-9 manufacturers. Thankfully there are plenty of those to watch. But yeah, the VP series was never on my radar but it will be now with GTDX there.

[@YokaiHitodama]

Cool content thanks. Long time car fan, motorsport noob. You make it easy to understand and get into

[@offintheesses]

That's what I'm going for! Try and bridge the gap between casual and hardcore fans! Glad you're enjoying it!

[@sdx3918]

IMSA support league at COTA? That just makes me want the Weathertech championship to go there too. maybe a collab with WEC would be cool like what they did with the Sebring 12H and Sebring 1000 Miles.

[@clunkclunk2099]

I'm looking forward to this season of this series - especially Samantha Tan & team. She's been working up the ranks in GTWC and a slot in an IMSA race is a great step.

[@bobbymoto1675]

This series is awesome on iRacing. Little apprehensive with the addition of GT3s, but lets see what happens :)

[@Esteban-Matamoros]

So glad to see STR on IMSA, hopefully she gets a good season!

[@FireChicken747]

So it’s sprint Multi class racing. That’s pretty cool

[@Murbanvideo]

Awesome video. Looking forward to seeing this play out

[@offintheesses]

Thanks Mark! Hopefully we'll see some strong grid numbers in the class this season!

[@FlorezGarage]

I love that lego lmdh and hypercar with lights behind you

[@betrayed_cargo]

Sweet. I'll be going to the Mid-Ohio event

[@johnvandeventer8668]

I’ll admit that I was pretty shocked when I heard this announcement

[@justinkids2082]

I will watch it now. Curious to see how they perform against the lmp3 cars. Hope it is close.

[@williamford9564]

@@justinkids2082 They should be behind the LMP3s. When the LMP3s and GT 3s shared some grids in the 2023 season, the LMP3s out qualified the GT3s. The GT3s though may be better in the slow corners and in the braking zones.

[@ilung2839]

More races? Sounds amazing to me

[@BaPorscheFan]

Thanks Jamie. Appreciate the explanation. Hey IMSA!! …. This is soooooooooo confusing. New fans will be at a loss.

[@tenkamenincrowder3486]

GT3 has been popular since 2010

[@uriahmartinez113]

So what you’re telling me is even more racing? Yes please.

[@thatkid780]

This is awesome!

[@markzebr6463]

The series was intended to give the amateur drivers, the backbone of the series, an opportunity to compete against other amateur drivers without the Pros. Sadly, there are some up and coming Pros in the series and they tend to dominate. It will be cool to see the GT3 added to the field.

[@OriginalNortad]

Good, its the 56th GT category, and the 144th category in Endurance... I dont bother even learning wich one is wich, it keeps changing and adding more

[@dbanks0927]

I work in SRO so hopefully this doesn’t pillage the entire GT America grid but idk, I guess I’d be okay with going to VP but idk I’m not the boss so

[@VectorGhost]

id like to see more powerful cars, like Gt1 days. Revuelto, FXX and other prime models.

[@williamford9564]

5:24: YOU HIT ON IT. This move is a direct shot to take competitors away from GT World Challenge America. The series has been decimated with teams leaving the last couple of years, some who have gone right to IMSA Weather Tech such as Conquest Racing and Triarsi. The grids early this year were 12 cars in two classes and I stopped watching because there really was no excitement. Samantha Tan may have been the most recognizable name left and here she is bolting to IMSA. And with her two car team, she is ONE SIXTH of the entire grid out of GT Challenge America. I wouldn't be surprised if Turner Motorsport, which already has cars in the Pilot Challenge also moves. EDIT: it was mentioned later that Kyle Washington was also leaving to come here.

[@billwonders1603]

People like GTWC because there are no LMP/UFO's getting in the way of the GT's. What is an Oreca, anyway?

[@swaggerdude20]

I wish they included Lime Rock to the calendar!

[@travisbartlett1977]

Very Cool News.

[@theremodelerslife]

No Road America makes me sad.

[@offintheesses]

There's still going to be plenty of IMSA support series at Road America don't you worry!

[@ronknox3376]

Great video and news especially for CTMP that lost the SRO series. But I have 2 questions or concerns. What ranking of driver is allowed in this series? Bronze only or bronze and silver? Surely nothing higher. Also will there be adjustments to detune or increase tuning as the GT3 cars on some tracks will be worrying the P3 cars on some tracks? Great job with the channel!

[@Aitch-i4l]

From the wiki "The series features two 45-minute races per event weekend with no mid-race pit stops or driver changes.[3] The series is designed as a development series for other IMSA series, and as such drivers must have either a silver or bronze categorization from the FIA to participate"

[@offintheesses]

Hey! Yeah it's intended to be for non pro drivers so you won't see any drivers higher than a silver rating! As far as their speed goes, the GTD's won't be tuned down or anything as the LMP3's will be faster everywhere they go. There will probably be some very slow LMP3 drivers that get passed by GT3's but there's not much that can be done about that really

[@KohliN7]

Does this make the series more prestigious than GT (WC) America & the Pilot Challenge ?

[@FlashoftheBlades]

Pilot Challenge is an IMSA feeder/support series. GTWC America 🇺🇸 is from a separate sanctioning body that, because of IMSA being owned by NASCAR, is often overshadowed.

[@markhunt7434]

​@FlashoftheBlades gtwc America is basically a privateer series for the SRO compared to the SRO'S main series in europe

[@Aitch-i4l]

Pilot Challenge is GT4 & TCR. A different kettle of fish and brilliant in its own right.

[@bobbymoto1675]

RIP LMP3 V8s 😢

[@redluca56]

GT World Challenge America is going to have to fold

[@emog7609]

Wow traffic will be interesting to see how the LMP3 will overtake other classes, as on the straights against the GT3 X it could be very close in top speed unless IMSA give the LMP3 a boost in power or the GT3 X a decrease in power but then they would also have to give the GTX (GT4) a reduction in power as well

[@ananastudio]

GT3s and LMP3s have been racing in the same races for years now in other series like the ELMS, AsLMS, Michelin Le Mans Cup and even in IMSA.

[@valeriobigari5095]

I would have preferred that the gtdx class was more similar to the gtx class in the 24h series, or at least a gt2 spec, and leave the gtd/gt3 car classes for the imsa wethertech championship

[@jacksondaniels8169]

This is great news, but what network is going to broadcast the races? It seems like when american racing takes 1 step forward they take 2 steps back due to broadcasting. i.e. AMA Roadracing and MX/SX.

[@offintheesses]

The races will be live on Peacock in the US and on IMSA.tv plus KZbin for everyone else. This will be the same as the Weathertech races!

[@brettrobinson6056]

I love GT3 racing... I'll admit I prefer it to F1...

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

No doubt about that!

[@antggamingkartingcars4873]

Sort of stopped watching or being interested in this series in 2024, but I did spectate at their 2023 race at Lime Rock Park. Planning to go to Watkins Glen for 2025, so it’s a shame they won’t be heading there this year. It’s a good addition, and I feel was essential in keeping fans from just watching the WeatherTech series.

[@offintheesses]

Yeah this is a great addition and hopefully will attract some more fan interest to the series! On a side note I'll be at the Glen this year, if you see me say hi!

[@antggamingkartingcars4873]

That was about to be my question when I saw you reply. Will you do a meet and greet like most weekends you’re at a race? I’ll be at the track Friday-Sunday.

[@offintheesses]

@@antggamingkartingcars4873 Yes I will always try and do a meet and greet at some point during the weekend! It will likely be on Saturday during a support race in the Esses grandstand. If you're unable to make it to that then just DM me on X/Instagram and we can meet up in the paddock at some point!

[@MattWillPrior]

What happened with that GT3 class that Bathurst ran? The cars with DRS and big power? Is that still running or was it a one off (I'm new to all this and it's mind boggling 😭)

[@markhunt7434]

That was just a one of that merc developed to beat gt based track records during there 130th year anniversary

[@ananastudio]

@@markhunt7434 Funny thing is the record set by that unrestricted Mercedes GT3 was beaten 2 weeks later by a Ford Transit

[@Thunder55Turbo]

No Laguna Seca? Road America? Long Beach? Hell, no Sebring! Damn......great that the grid's expanding but this is a crappy schedule.

[@Sketchupdave]

VW Passat Variant GT3

[@reekhadol]

How many manufacturers does IMSA even have left for GTD?

[@Snow_OwL217]

9 i think

[@offintheesses]

Yup there are 9 GTD manufacturers but the McLaren and the Acura are eligible for this series as well since they ran in Weathertech last year!

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

Exactly 9. It was 11 last year but we lost Acura and McLaren. I do think GT racing's platform and future needs to be discussed by the end of the decade because so many GT based road cars are hybrids now.

[@evanbosch8211]

My worry is this may hurt car counts in GT World Challenge America or GT America under the SRO series

[@mathewhosier9739]

Don't care about those, don't watch them, they aren't major championships or hold any importance to the world of racing, unless it's WEC or IMSA i personally don't care, i watched 113 races last year, only 20 of which were Sportscar races, oversaturation is a thing

[@Murbanvideo]

@@mathewhosier9739SRO may not be that popular in North America but it is absolutely a major racing championship. They own the world’s biggest GT3 race. Saying it doesn’t hold important in the world of racing is ridiculous. You might not watch but that has no bearing on whether or not it’s important.

[@Murbanvideo]

It’s designed to. IMSA wants those teams and drivers paying to race their championship.

[@evanbosch8211]

@@mathewhosier9739 Just because something isn’t a major championship doesn’t mean it’s good and to say they don’t hold an importance to world is ignorant. I mean a lot of world class racers have raced in World Challenge. Not to mention World Challenge is the premier GT series in Europe.

[@KompadoodleLEL]

i wonder if any wec / imsa / gt word challenge series will ever get biger than f1

[@pmayo7894]

Well, Group C once rivaled F1 in terms of popularity.

[@ananastudio]

​@@pmayo7894 Group B rallying was more popular than Formula 1 and Group C in the 80's. But, endurance racing was more popular than F1 in the 60's when sportscar racing was perceived as more prestigious and the car were faster than their open-wheel counterparts

[@nathanielbottin9619]

Soo it's a baby imsa

[@richarddavidmoxley]

Not GTD Am then wich is a Proper Pro-Am class with Bronze Drivers and their Professional counter parts wich would be in IMSA if I was Running it

[@MGK-fm9hc]

Will it be LMGT3 based GT3 or normal GT3 based cars?

[@Snow_OwL217]

normal GT3

[@offintheesses]

Any car that raced in the Weathertech championship last year will be eligible, so we could see the Acura or the McLaren here! Also notable is they aren't running the torque sensors in this series!

[@MUCKLEECH]

No Laguna Seca? Lame (the series addition is cool though)

[@michaelzuckerman2556]

Why don't they race in the North East

[@Steve-Slacker-Philipson]

I hope there is a big enough deltat from LMP3 to gtd3 becasue there wasnt a couple seasons ago that why they kicked lmp3 out of the main show

[@ananastudio]

They kicked LMP3 out of the main show due to the growth of the GTP class.

[@markhunt7434]

There should be since imsa's main game also had full pro line-ups when lmp3 was a part of it vs the VP series, which allows at best a silver

[@crazycreeper399]

Need a sprint LMP2 series

[@offintheesses]

I would love to see that as well!

[@crazycreeper399]

@ it should be pro and pro/am

[@nickporter574]

Yea, Ive grown to really like LMP2.

[@crazycreeper399]

@ yeah

[@Kpaxlol]

faster or slower

[@donaldgrant9067]

So what is the cheapest class you can get into and what would that cost? You know a class where everyday people can race? Without that this will always be a small knitch racing. Plus I only know of one track around me and it is only for time laps. Not the same as racing. I always loved the old days when there were so many sports cars to choose from, but everything is so expensive these days.

[@offintheesses]

MX-5 Cup is pretty cost effective right now (although there's no racing that is "cheap"). An MX-5 Cup car will run you about 100k new (maybe a bit under) and you could probably run the season for a couple hundred grand? I have not heard any recent numbers on what a season costs though

[@donaldgrant9067]

@@offintheesses Thank you for answering my question. Now I hope you understand that I trying to help road racing back on the map as a sport. I remember watching road racing at the Greenvalley race way in Dallas in the early 60's as a kid. And wanted out there so bad. I didn't have to win a race, just be in one. But life is what it was for me and I was a blue collier worker. And by the time I was old enough to drive the only thing that was left for us was Dirt track bomber class and drag racing. The SCCA made it so expensive to race that only the management could race. And it is still that way with 200 grand to race a season. This will be several parts, so please keep reading.

[@donaldgrant9067]

@@offintheesses But if you go back into history it was probably two blue collier workers that first started racing. 2 guys that tinkered with their Model A's. But today road racing is too expensive for those people to race anymore. But I did some searching here in Texas for road racing tracks and found a 10 of them that yes they were there, but nothing was scheduled for a racing even. So they just sit there, not being maintained. So I have to ask you why there isn't a class for the working class to take a used BMW roadster and race them? A one size fits all Roll cage to keep cost down and maybe a 5 gallon gas tank so fires are that big of an issue.

[@donaldgrant9067]

@@offintheesses But if you want buts in the seats you have to make it available to everyone. Right now those drivers have to pick up the tab for maintains on those tracks with no one watching the sport. And that makes it so much more expensive for the drivers. But again I'm trying to get this sport back on it's feet. And to do that you have to have a class for the average man who only makes 36 grand a year. I know the government says it's 85 grand a year, but if you go to the person that is half way up the population at around 167 million. That person only earns 36 grand a year. Just some ideas.

[@offintheesses]

@ you can race spec miatas at for a more reasonable amount than MX-5 cup though. A solid spec miata looks like it'll run you around 30k for the car

[@louiienation8497]

Another series of races to keep track of.. this is too much guys. WeatherTech championship, WEC, F1, Super GT.. now this one!😅

[@nickporter574]

Super GT is awesome. Those GT500's are spectacular. Love it. I wish some of them could go to Le Mans.

[@davidsutarik1223]

Couldn’t the teams trying to get into GT3 racing race in the World Challenge America ? It seems that so many teams and drivers are leaving SRO for IMSA which is a shame ( my opinion ). I’m a huge fan of the SRO series. I hope it finds a way to expand its field with new teams and drivers.

[@offintheesses]

They definitely could and I'm sure there will be some cross over between this series and GTWC America!

[@Murbanvideo]

IMSA wants those teams and drivers paying to race in their paddock.

[@FlashoftheBlades]

Wright Motorsports already does that, winning the GTWC America 🇺🇸 Pro Championship this past season (and are the rightful winners of the 8 Hours of Indianapolis. Suck it, WRT.)

[@markhunt7434]

​@FlashoftheBlades hate to break it to ya but indy was also part of the igtc which WRT WON

[@FlashoftheBlades]

@@markhunt7434 Not rightfully, and you’re not changing anyone’s mind.

[@maxvanthiel5112]

Again SRO will lose more cars.m

[@gerglmuff]

good ever since SRO took over world challenge, its been pretty crappy./

[@jacksonbarinowski3966]

I love watching any GT3 races, so to have them added to the VP Challenge gives me another outlet! I'm really looking forward to seeing it.

[@Ohtechnik]

This is so going to kill GT America.

[@Dexter037S4]

That's the point, it's not like GT America was in any good health anyways, losing cars en masse in recent years because the US can't handle two top tier series and never has been able to.

[@FlashoftheBlades]

@@Dexter037S4 At least not in the long run.

[@evanbosch8211]

Not a fan of them stealing cars from SRO😢 should have never dropped the open cockpit Mazda prototype’s.

[@Dexter037S4]

Teams were already jumping ship anyways, SRO America has been in bad health for a while.

[@oldfrend]

will GTDX be the same spec as GTD? if so there will be problems with the fastest GTDX cars being faster than the slowest LMP3 cars. you see GTD passing LMP2 all the time. LMP3 isn't a fast class at all.

[@offintheesses]

Yes it's the same spec and will be using the BOP from the 2024 IMSA season for the GT3 cars. I don't think that we'll see too many issues with the LMP3's and GTDX's. Previously we saw issues in Weathertech when the Pro GTD drivers were in the cars and the AM LMP3 drivers were in the car. Since these will be Am drivers in all classes, I don't think it will be as big of an issue

[@ChadDsWorld]

I'm so sick of GT3. It's a great platform but it's basically taken every series the exact same thing. There is no real identity difference. I know that's what lots of people are so excited about but I don't.

[@mrmidnight32]

Bro the GT world just needs to fall under one series and leave it at that. Their biggest enemy is the fact they keep trying too much and have 15 different GT series going at once. Then wonder why their fan base is so sporadic

[@Maenfy]

How is that supposed to work? Teams from Europe won't race in East Asia, East Asian teams won't race in Europe, Australian teams can't race anywhere else either. One series would legit kill GT3 racing.

[@mathewhosier9739]

Jesus, the last thing we need is yet another GT3 class, talk about oversaturation, the FIA and IMSA need to get together to create a new GT class of cars, im fine with GT3s in WEC and IMSA because they are major championships but everything else is just too much, which is why i love Formula 1, Formula E, NASCAR and Indycar, they are so unique and different from anything else, you cant make it to WEC or IMSA without being a top driver, while everything else is dominated by amateurs and so called gentleman drivers

[@hertzwave8001]

I wonder if a new gt1/IMSA GTO-styled class with cars similar to the bugatti bolide, fxx-k, huayra r, and GMA T-50s would be workable as a sprint series class or would brands/teams still see it as too expensive?

[@hertzwave8001]

forgot to throw in the Alpine Hy4 Alpenglow with its hydrogen powerplant to see if theres any interest in pursuing that as a technical aim

[@Dexter037S4]

@@hertzwave8001 LMDH/LMH is GT1 circa 1998. Le Mans Hypercars require 1 road going version to be produced.

[@mathewhosier9739]

@hertzwave8001 i would love to see a modern interpretation of GT1, but they would have to make it similar to LMdH to make it affordable for teams, like have Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, and Oreca build chassis that the manufacturers can fit their own bodies to, they can still resemble their road versions without having to build the entire car from the ground up, that's what killed both DPi and GTE, if it's so expensive that a manufacturer has to win to survive then it will never be successful, the one positive thing i can say about Sportscar racing right now is every category is affordable

[@WyldStallion-bs9oo]

@@mathewhosier9739 Is GT500 (japan) good enough to make GT1?

[@elr2141979]

I think the series is going to be awesome but there's no schedule for it for lime Rock Park 😭

[@benjaminbrockway5998]

More racing crabs. Meh. We already have GTWC America, why is this needed?

[@Dexter037S4]

Because GTWC America is dying? They had what 6 full time cars last year?

[@benjaminbrockway5998]

@Dexter037S4 So we get yet another GT3 series? We really can't get something unique?

[@FlashoftheBlades]

@@Dexter037S4They regularly had around 15 cars on the grid.

[@FlashoftheBlades]

While they’re doing that, how about including LMP3 in the Michelin Pilot Challenge as a way to give up-and-coming prototype drivers some endurance racing experience before stepping up to the big leagues?

[@Murbanvideo]

Manufacturer contracts get in the way. The GT4 manufacturers aren’t gonna want to revert to class wins only.

[@FlashoftheBlades]

@ Then bring back the Prototype Challenge in an endurance format. It’s not right that GT drivers looking to move up the development ladder can get endurance experience while up-and-coming prototype drivers are left high and dry.

[@Aitch-i4l]

Don't you think there's enough FYC in the MPC already without the dentists getting involved?

[@FlashoftheBlades]

@@Aitch-i4l Only an idiot would believe that only dentists drive in LMP3.