WEC/IMSA: 2015 development freeze in place for GTE

With new GTE regulations on the way for 2016, the ACO and FIA have elected to freeze the current specification of its top GT category to curb spending on short-term development through next year's World Endurance Championship season.

"At this stage, yes, cars should be frozen," ACO sporting director Vincent Beaumesnil told RACER.

The TUDOR United SportsCar Championship's GT Le Mans (GTE) class will also adhere to the development freeze until the new 2016 cars arrive.

"We're going to follow what the [ACO/FIA] are going to do," said IMSA's Scot Elkins who serves as the series' managing director of technical regulations. Elkins expects the ACO/FIA/IMSA/WEC agreement to follow a similar path as seen with previous freezes. The TUDOR Championship ended its season last weekend at Petit Le Mans, leading its GTLM manufacturers to start the clock on the development ban, and the WEC will follow when it closes its calendar in Brazil on Nov. 30.

"The way we've done it in the past, since we start our season before theirs, we require manufacturers to submit a draft technical specification for the first few races, they submit it to the ACO, and then there's a deadline around 30 days before the first race where everything is finalized and locked in," Elkins explained. "With this freeze, we'll basically be working from what we just finished the season with and they'll do the same on their end (with GTE cars).

The only changes expected for 2015 in GTE/GTLM would involve three areas that will not influence lap times.

"They allow updates that are related to non-performance items – safety, reliability and cost," Elkins added. "The idea behind it all is bringing down the costs while the manufacturers work on their new 2016 cars. If it's something that will make the [current] cars safer, if there's something reasonable to increase reliability – maybe a part that needs a minor redesign, or if there's something that can be done to reduce the costs in some way, those are really the only things that would be considered. The rest of the cars won't be open for the usual development items."​