The FIA World Endurance Championship will abandon its current GTE ruleset in favor of a GT3-based formula from the 2024 season.
Announced during the ACO’s traditional pre-Le Mans press conference on Friday, the announcement was made that the GTE ruleset will no longer be used after the 2023 season.
In doing so, the ACO and WEC follow in the footsteps of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, which is trading in GTE for GT3 at the start of the 2022 campaign.
Richard Mille, president of the FIA Endurance Commission, explained that the current GTE ruleset will remain in place until 2023, after which the switch will take place.
“GT was always an important parameter for ACO and FIA,” Mille said. “It’s important for us that many amateurs can race. The current situation is that until 2023 we are going to keep the current categories, GTE.”
“But from 2024 on, we will have a new GT category, which will be based on the current GT3 platform.”
It is currently understood that the GTE Pro category will remain in place until 2022, with the final year of the class consisting entirely of GTE Am.
Further details are not available at the current moment, but Mille expressed that everything should be finalized prior to the FIA World Motor Sport Council gathering in the latter half of 2021.
“Our goal is to work on this topic in the second half of the year. We want all this to be finalized at the FIA World Motor Sport Council at the end of the year.”
GT3 competition is already a feature in the ACO-operated Asian Le Mans Series.
The inclusion of GT3 machinery at Le Mans opens the door for an influx of new manufacturers to potentially compete in the GT ranks in both the WEC and at Le Mans, including the likes of Lamborghini, Audi, Mercedes-AMG, BMW and more.
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