There’s no denying the level of success GT3 has achieved across the globe. With over 15 different cars having been built and developed for the nearly dozen national and continental championships, it’s the fastest growing sportscar platform for customers today.
While a full-fledged North American championship doesn’t appear to be on the immediate horizon, a handful of popular brands may be headed to GRAND-AM. And some could take to the track as early as this year.
GRAND-AM Managing Director of Competition, Mark Raffauf, confirmed to SPEED.com that the series has been in negotiations with Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Lotus about adapting their GT3 and GT4-spec machinery to compete in the Rolex Sports Car Series’ GT category.
These latest developments are on the heels of Ferrari’s announcement in January that it will build a GT-specific version of its new F458 Italia GT3-spec machine for GRAND-AM competition.
While the Ferrari is likely to be the first to debut in the highly competitive GT category, currently populated by the likes of Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars and tube-frame Mazdas, Camaros BMWs, one of the most intriguing additions could be Mercedes’ new SLS AMG GT3.
Developed by AMG, the SLS made its European debut late last year in VLN, with over a dozen cars having since been sold for teams competing in various GT3 championships. And it's the strong customer base the gull-winged car already has attracted that’s pushing for it to be eligible in GRAND-AM as well.
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