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The GT3 has just won its first WEC championship title this season, while its predecessor, Grand Touring Endurance, once reigned supreme in GT racing around the world. After a decade and a brief period of success, its fortunes began to decline.
The modern era of GT and endurance racing, particularly at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, dates back around three decades. This period began in 1994, when the collapse of Group C and the experimental 3.5-liter Sport category (which had given rise to the Peugeot 905) left endurance racing in limbo. With manufacturers withdrawing for fear of diluting the appeal of Formula 1, the ACO turned to the Grand Touring category, later renamed GT1, to rebuild the sport. Production cars suddenly found themselves pitted against specially designed prototypes, a clash highlighted by the surprise victory of the McLaren F1 GTR in 1995. However, the balance did not last. In 1998, Toyota's avant-garde GT-One, built according to rules that echo the current Hypercar regulations, marked the return of pure prototypes to the forefront. Originally, GT1 required a minimum production run of 25 road cars, but models such as the Porsche 911 GT1 and Mercedes CLK GTR were more like prototypes than road-legal machines. The natural distinction between prototypes and GTs became clearer after confusion between the LMGTP and LMP categories during the 1999 season. This led to the creation of LMP900 (later LMP1) and the eventual ban of GT1, paving the way for GT2 and then the GTE-Pro category. Rise to prominence The world championship has had several incarnations; becoming the WEC in 2012, but a year earlier, the LMGTE-Pro category was already proving its worth. The transition from GT2 to GTE was smooth, with most manufacturers simply updating their existing GT2 (Ferrari 458 Italia) or GT3 (Porsche 911) cars. BMW ran an official program in 2011, as did Lotus and Viper, before all of them withdrew at the start of the WEC. The GTE-Pro category quickly became the preserve of Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin. As the old GT2/GT3 cars aged, Ford entered the scene with a remarkable GTE effort in 2016. Its No. 68 car, entered by IMSA and driven by Sébastien Bourdais, scored a stunning victory at Le Mans on its debut, beating Risi Competizione's No. 19 Ferrari, which was running the latest 488 GTE. Ford even placed three of its cars in the top four, underscoring this symbolic reversal.
Meanwhile, the LMP1 class entered a period of decline after Audi's withdrawal, while Porsche stepped up its factory commitment, fielding a car that was significantly more powerful than the previous 911 RSR (991). But it wasn't enough to win Le Mans in 2017. Aston Martin claimed one last victory that year with its Vantage “GT2,” edging out a struggling Corvette in the final laps, while Ford narrowly missed out on a one-two finish. Porsche claimed just one factory victory, Ferrari finished a lap down, and BMW was preparing to make its comeback, setting the stage for an intense showdown in the premier GT class.
A brief golden age Starting with the 2018-2019 Super Season, the WEC experienced difficulties. The LMP1 category suffered two consecutive blows with the departure of Audi, followed by Porsche, leaving Toyota as the only manufacturer-backed prototype team. In contrast, the GTE-Pro category experienced remarkable growth over the two calendar years. Five manufacturers officially entered, with Ferrari represented by its historic partner AF Corse (named after its founder Amato Ferrari). Corvette appeared as a sixth competitor, but only at Le Mans. Throughout the season, Ford, Porsche, Ferrari, and Aston Martin battled fiercely for victories and the championship, while BMW lagged behind. Le Mans remained the ultimate prize. The 2018 GTE-Pro starting grid was spectacular, bolstered by guest entries from IMSA: Ford and Porsche each fielded four factory cars, Ferrari and AF Corse three, and Corvette, Aston Martin, and BMW two each. However, the overall standings looked bleak for the prototypes, with Toyota standing alone without any factory rivals in LMP1, leaving only the privateer teams to hope for a major upset. The curtain finally falls on an era that has defined endurance racing for more than a decade. As the 2023 season draws to a close, the once-vibrant GTE-Pro class has virtually disappeared, leaving behind a series of fierce duels, the departure of manufacturers, and a reluctant handover to the burgeoning GT3 platform. Seventeen GTE-Pro cars lined up on the starting grid, and the battle for the podium was anything but predictable. Porsche, celebrating its 70th anniversary, made this event a showcase, taking the top two spots with the No. 92 Porsche in the lead and the No. 91 and No. 93 cars occupying the other two podium positions. The German brand also claimed victory in GTE-Am thanks to the Project 1 team, underscoring its dominance even as the category declined. The battle for second place reflected the intensity of the season: the No. 91 Porsche and the No. 68 Ford battled for position, while the No. 51 Ferrari of the AF Corse team, driven by James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, took the overall GTE-Pro victory after a thrilling duel that also involved Corvette and Ford. This triumph was symbolic: the same chassis that had enabled the Hypercar to win the overall classification the previous year now earned it the GTE-Pro title.
But behind these exploits on the track, the category was losing manufacturers. Ford, whose return to GT racing had reignited the rivalry between manufacturers, announced its withdrawal at the start of the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans, despite three podium finishes out of a possible four in the Pro category and five overall victories in the WEC. BMW followed suit at the end of 2019, without ever having won a WEC victory despite two podium finishes, and withdrew its M8 GTE after a farewell tour that included two consecutive victories at Daytona in 2019 and 2020. Aston Martin's departure in 2020, motivated by a change in strategy in favor of Formula 1, left only Porsche and Ferrari on an increasingly depleted grid.
Corvette's sole entry in 2022 offered a brief lifeline, but the field never regained its former depth: five cars for the season, six at Le Mans. By the time the last GTE-Pro race rolled around, the category had been reduced to a handful of privateers, and the GTE-Am category, still run by independent teams, survived only one more season before giving way to the burgeoning GT3 formula.
GT3 has already proven itself in the WEC, delivering spectacular racing despite being slightly slower than its GTE predecessors. The cars, built on customer-focused platforms, retain the visual appeal of their road-going cousins while doing away with the prohibitive costs that doomed the manufacturer-dominated GTE-Pro and LMP1 categories. Yet the line between privateer and factory teams is becoming increasingly blurred: Ferrari continues its partnership with AF Corse, BMW works closely with WRT, Aston Martin teams up with Heart of Racing, Porsche co-owns Manthey, and McLaren runs United Autosport under the leadership of Zak Brown. The result is a GT3 grid that seems familiar to purists, even if it operates under a different regulatory philosophy. In the short term, manufacturers seem content to maintain their low-key GT programs, thus preserving the DNA of GT3, while the sport awaits a possible resurgence of full manufacturer involvement. For now, memories of the GTE-Pro battles—the bright pink livery of the 1971 Porsche 917/20, the last-minute overtakes, the fierce battle on every lap—remain etched in the memory as a reminder of what has been lost and what may one day return.
