By all accounts, the LMGT2 class is likely to provide one of the closest battles in this year’s Le Mans Series and in June’s Le Mans 24 Hours. Ferrari, Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Aston Martin, Jaguar and Spiker have all pulled out as many stops as possible in their respective bids to secure the top prize.

Ferrari du Team AF Corse en GT2

A little more than a week ago, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) released a communiqué which described what it considers to be a rosy future for LMGT2 in endurance racing.

To this end, the ACO took three important decisions in 2009, namely a freezing of the regulations until 2011, trimmed performance levels and a bid to open up the category to other manufacturers. On top of that, the ACO has now announced the creation of an Intercontinental Le Mans Cup for the class, incorporating a Manufacturers’ title.

With a field of 17 cars entered for Le Mans, and 15 for this year’s Le Mans Series, LMGT2 effectively appears to have the wind in its sails and is attracting plenty of interest. Not only does it feature a long list of prestigious carmakers and top teams, but former Formula 1 stars like Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi have also found it sufficiently challenging for them to take on the established GT2 specialists.

In sporting terms, the class has little to envy the blue ribband LMP1 division. A timely illustration of this was provided by the opening round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series at Sebring where the early part of the race saw five different cars, four different carmakers and three different tyre manufacturers takes turns at the top of the GT2 leaderboard!

Meanwhile, Porsche has confirmed the presence of outgoing FIA GT champs ProSpeed Competition in the Le Mans Series with a GT3 RSR. Indeed, their car topped the timesheets at the recent LMS Tests Days at Le Castellet in France, and its fight with the Ferrari 430s and factory BMWs promises to be one of the highlights of a particularly thrilling 2010 campaign.

The equally fierce contest between tyre manufacturers shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Michelin has developed a range of new, wider tyres with a view to delivering longer tyre life for the same level of performance. The GT2 race cars are relatively similar to the showroom-spec grand tourers from which they are derived and consequently permit valuable technology transfer from motor sport to road tyres.

GT2, LMS, Michelin