2019 Blancpain GT World Endurance

[gert]

Too much continuous green flag racing for today's standards.
Can't we have a yellow soon?

Haha Maro "we got squeezed off the track". Do you believe it yourself?

--

EDIT:
Luckily we have a FCY right now. Can't have too large green lap periods.

[Akrapovic]

125 minutes of racing so far.

50 of those under green.

[Akrapovic]

Oh ffs.

[bentley speed 8]

This has become a total farce

[bentley speed 8]

Has everybody forgotten how to drive?

[J Jay]

Originally Posted by bentley speed 8

Has everybody forgotten?

Fixed. And yes is the answer. From the race track, to the garages, to the stewards' office, this race has been modern Blancpain at it most obnoxious.

[tux]

Absolutely baffling driving standards

[Akrapovic]

That's one of the worst sports car races I've ever seen. Blancpain in general is at a very very low point.

[bentley speed 8]

Can't wait for the highlights reel...

[J Jay]

I don't remember TUSC, or even ELMS at its nadir, being as laughable as this race was.

[gert]

In the end the #4 got what it deserved IMO: after the bumping with the #98 even before the start, shortcutting the corner after the start and getting awawy with the advantage gained, the contact with the #519, and finally the contact with the 2#

--

Poor driving standards, poor stewarding, too many FCYs and SCs. A very fitting end to this year's Blancpain series.

[Anyopenroad]

In his very interesting long interview with Graham Goodwin recently, Stephane Ratel said several that he considered himself primarily “an entertainer”. This (and an argument on costs which I found convincing) was how he justified the micro-management of stints/stops etc.

There is no doubt that 40+ GT3 cars is a wonderful spectacle. They look, sound and go great, with huge variety. I have just spent a very enjoyable weekend watching and photographing these wonderful machines roaring and chittering and rasping and thundering around a very pretty track.

But somewhere in the midst of this, Ratel’s operation has lost sight of its primary purpose as an organiser of race meetings. The best entertainment is long periods of green flag, clean racing and Blancpain has not offered that at a single race this year. The driving standards are terrible, really bad. The stewarding is inconsistent and weak. Race direction make too many mistakes. The FCY->SC thing is a disgrace.

I left after less than an hour of the race today. It’s terrible to watch. I shot 3000 lovely pics from the practice sessions. Great spectacle that; awful racing today.

[Akrapovic]

His explanation on stint lengths and stops etc does make sense. Because you don't have to balance fuel tank sizes, refill rates and all that stuff. So it's much much easier to do it this way.

But as you said, it is not entertaining. And I'd say it's been on a decline for at least 2-3 years now. Part of that is the stint lengths. Part is the poor driving standards. Part of it is smaller, less impressive grids (Sprint). Part of it is the poor use of FCY -> SC. Part of it is the TV commentary.

There are a lot of things with problems. Some minor, some major. But it's all adding up to a declining quality product. Even just dropping FCY->SC, dropping Watson and having a go at a more natural stint length management would be a huge plus.

[Juntos]

Who cares about the driving standards? If you don't like it, go to watch another sport. Of course, any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

Superb piece of racing. Non-stop action until the chequered flag. Not one of those processional WEC-style races. If you like racing, you love Blancpain GT.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Who cares about the driving standards? If you don't like it, go to watch another sport. Of course, any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

Superb piece of racing. Non-stop action until the chequered flag. Not one of those processional WEC-style races. If you like racing, you love Blancpain GT.

What? Almost half the race was NOT racing, it was follow the neutralized leader. There was almost no action from the bits I caught and coverage. I guess if you think wrecks are action packed racing it was action packed. But I'd rather watch a procession than drivers dumping each other and stopping the pace of the race

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Who cares about the driving standards? If you don't like it, go to watch another sport. Of course, any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.

Superb piece of racing. Non-stop action until the chequered flag. Not one of those processional WEC-style races. If you like racing, you love Blancpain GT.

Normally I'd think this is trolling. But given it's you who posted it, I know this is trolling.

1hr 25mintes of the track being neutralised. A further 25 minutes of local yellows. 1hr 10 minutes of full green flag racing. Tell me again how brilliant it was.

[Juntos]

Akrapovic, it's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying.

Originally Posted by broadrun96

What? Almost half the race was NOT racing, it was follow the neutralized leader. There was almost no action from the bits I caught and coverage. I guess if you think wrecks are action packed racing it was action packed. But I'd rather watch a procession than drivers dumping each other and stopping the pace of the race

Coming from an American I feel your comment strange. Compared to a regular Indy500 race this Barcelona race had plenty of green time running. The race was definitely fun and if you do a survey, the fans would agree with me. To watch processional races, we have the WEC.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Akrapovic, it's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying.







Coming from an American I feel your comment strange. Compared to a regular Indy500 race this Barcelona race had plenty of green time running. The race was definitely fun and if you do a survey, the fans would agree with me. To watch processional races, we have the WEC.

Sorry but the vast majority of Indy 500s have not run at 50% cautions so your comparison falls flat. And I've ONLY seen *****ing and crying about how bad the racing was. I haven't seen a single article or post honestly stating it was a great race. In fact most of the teams complained to the media about how bad so who in fact enjoyed it?

And sorry, but no one dismissed your ability to have an opinion. But of us directly challenged WHY you started what you did, that's a conversation Trump. It's what grownups do.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Akrapovic, it's okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn't give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don't like what they are saying.

Says the man who posted "go watch another sport" and calls someone a fool who criticised that absolute disaster of a race.

Juntos, it's ok to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. Especially when everyone disagrees with you.

[MaskedRacer]

Barcelona was a calamity for sure. The Blancpain GT Endurance season was a joke in 2019. Worst by far. Driving standards are as bad as ever. Not sure what to do about that though. Don't these guys understand it is an "endurance" race. Stop being heroes, keep the car on pavement, and get it to the next driver. I don't drive and I F'ing know that!

And yeah the safety car thing has got to go. That is obvious. As bad as the Endurance cup was this year. The Blancpain Sprint cup has been just fine this year. Also the ICGT races outside of Spa were good. Well...Bathurst was decent. Too many yellows there again. But Laguna Seca was cool, and THE BEST GT3 race in 2019 globally (SRO based) has been the Suzuka 10 hours. That is a very good watch. Got high hopes for Kylami too. Emphasis on SRO only. Got to mention Nürburgring was great this year. IMSA GTD at Lime Rock was incredible too.

But yeah, Blancpain GT endurance needs major overhauls. Bad bad stuff. Thumbs down to all. Drivers and race officials.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

THE BEST GT3 race in 2019 globally (SRO based) has been the Suzuka 10 hours. That is a very good watch. Got high hopes for Kylami too. Emphasis on SRO only. Got to mention Nürburgring was great this year. IMSA GTD at Lime Rock was incredible too.

Did you watch British GT from Spa? That one was a ton of fun too!

[MaskedRacer]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

Did you watch British GT from Spa? That one was a ton of fun too!

No did not think of that series, but thanks for the tip. Will give it a watch.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

No did not think of that series, but thanks for the tip. Will give it a watch.

You'll enjoy it. It's like Blancpain with less nonsense.

[W2Motorsport]

Late to this but based on my understanding the initial penalty made sense to me -

Costa made part of that pass in the pit lane, which is outside of track limits. Then Engel ran wide missing the chicane but gave the spot back which, especially on lap one when the track is crowded happens often. The rest of the race was a mess no doubt but I wasn't up in arms about that, more so about all of the pacing around.

[W2Motorsport]

Originally Posted by MaskedRacer

No did not think of that series, but thanks for the tip. Will give it a watch.

British GT is great! Awesome grids wiith GT3 and GT4 on the same track. Definitely adds to the drama.