Rolex 24 Hr Daytona GTLM VS GTD

Mopar Steve

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Why are the Vipers racing in two different classes?

The SRT cars are running in the GTLM (GT Lemans) and Ben Keating (Riley Motorsports) is running in the GTD (GT Daytona) class. I Know there is a SRT GTS-R and the Viper SRT GT3-R, but what is the difference in the cars?

Looking forward to a Over all sweep like in the old days, when Viper took the win overall. This year with the combination of the two different divisions of racing (Grandam and ALMS) both together this year should mix things up quite a bit. Mixing the classes gives no-one a definite advantage. from what I understand everyone has had to make changes to their cars.

Only a week or so. Should be quite a show.
 

Bobpantax

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[h=1]SRT Viper GT3-R Gets Positive First Impressions[/h]
Last weekend’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship tests at Daytona and Sebring marked the public on-track debut of SRT’s new customer weapon of choice, the Viper GT3-R.
Following a roll-out at Carolina Motorsports Park last month, the new GT3-based contender turned its first laps in anger and showed encouraging results, according to Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen, who will drive the Riley Motorsports-entered entry in the GT Daytona category next year.
“To run with no major issues, I feel was quite an accomplishment,” Keating told Sportscar365. “Any time you bring out a new car that’s never been run at speed, you have to expect some issue pop up. And we didn’t have anything pop up, which is pretty incredible.”
With the same V10 grunt and a near identical set of bodywork, it’s hard to tell the GT3-R apart from its big brother, the GTS-R, which will continue to run as a two-car factory effort next year in GT Le Mans.
While being based off the GTE car, the new Viper GT3-R features a production-based 8.4-liter engine instead of the race-prepped 8.0-liter, while there’s also differences in the transmission, as well as the GTD class mandated rear wing.
The two types of Vipers, however, share the same chassis, suspension and basic aerodynamics, which has helped accelerate the usually steep learning curve of a new car.
For Bleekemolen, who makes the switch from racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in the ALMS for the past four years, the two-time GTC champion has already noticed some big differences between the two platforms.
“In the end, lap time wise, I think it’s going to be pretty close. But it’s just a completely different way of driving,” he said. ”Luckily I’ve driven so many different cars, even this year.
“I’ve driven the [Mercedes] SLS, Corvette, V8 Supercar, LMP2… For me it’s not hard to jump in a new car but it’s very different from the Porsche.”
Both Bleekemolen and Keating said they already encouraged by the early pace and balance of the GT3-R. The team evaluated different air restrictors at Sebring, in order to help IMSA with the Balance of Performance process.
“The team is so experienced,” Bleekemolen said. “I was really impressed working with them for the first time. You can see it’s a factory team. I think we should be able to optimize everything on our own.
“I think we should be looking at a really strong season but you have to wait and see how they will balance all these cars. If we get a really bad balance, there’s nothing you can do. It might not be easy to balance them all early on but I think they’ll get it right eventually and then it will be one of the nicest classes to be in, in all of endurance racing.”
While only one car is expected to contest the TUDOR Championship next year, Bill Riley said that an announcement is imminent for its first European customer.
They’ve also received a considerable amount of interest for teams wanting to race the GT3-R in the Pirelli World Challenge, which will permit the car to run in full FIA GT3 spec.
“I think the sales are going to take off a little slow but I think when people start to see the performance and the handling and how long the suspension, engine and driveline can last, because it’s all very durable, we’ll get some pretty good customers,” Riley said.
“It should be a really affordable car to operate. We have such a good reputation on service with our other products. So we should be able to support it quite well.”
 
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Mopar Steve

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Bob, Thanks.

But this presses the question further, other than the GTD mandated rear wing, negligible differences in engine, why run a different class? "Nearly identical bodywork" and "The two types of Vipers, however, share the same chassis, suspension and basic aerodynamics,..." sounds pretty much the same to me.

Thanks again for finding that.
 

bluestreak

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Much tougher, faster competition, and many more politics. And a lot more expensive to run. If you are a private team, gtd is a better class to get into.
 

VIPER GTSR 91

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Big difference in the two and SRT so far will not sell the GTSR to privateer teams, only factory teams. The GTD class is slightly slower and replaces the ALMS GT class.
 

swexlin

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I saw a preview special on FS1 network last night about the race, and it's history. There was a small segment on the Viper, and one SRT commercial. Overall, a good hour of television, and a good introduction to the race.
 
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Mopar Steve

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Saw the same show. "Road to Rolex 24" good show. Scheduled to come on a couple more times. I recorded it.
 

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