After a meeting last week with the MSA and Stefan Ratel of SRO an agreement has been reached to allow Mosler to compete in British GT and more...click here for full story
The MSA has confirmed that GT3 race cars that have been homologated nationally by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium or other National Governing Bodies (ASN) may be eligible to compete within the British GT3 Championship, subject to championship regulations and MSA approval in each instance.
The decision has resulted from a meeting held last week between MSA Chief Executive Colin Hilton, Mosler Europe Managing Director Martin Short, SRO MD Stephane Ratel and BRSCC Chief Executive Bernard Cottrell, concerning the exclusion of Mosler from the 2009 British GT Championship.
Martin Short.
"I am delighted that Colin Hilton took this matter in hand, and got us all sat around a table to sort last years regulations mess within British GT. Last year, the MSA had to go by the written regulations and I had no problem with that.
Stephane, Bernard and myself all recognise that despite SRO's wishes that the Mosler should be in the Championship, the regulations were not in order. That has now been fixed, and whilst we are all waiting for the final regulations to be passed off by the MSA, it should now be a matter of course.
Colin Hilton said " The MSA had confirmed to SRO that the British GT Championship regulations may allow for the inclusion of cars that have been homologated by a national ASN. This allowance will be subject to approval in each instance by the MSA"
Further by Martin Short
" Last year, the British GT regulations were tested by the Ascari team, headed by the drivers and subsequent British GT Champions, the Jones brothers. They contested that despite the Mosler having been admitted specifically by Stephane Ratel, the regulations did not support the Mosler entry. The MSA Court agreed, and the Mosler was excluded from running in the points scoring GT3 part of the British GT, and a number of race results were removed from the record. Mosler immediately withdrew from the remainder of the British GT.
In November I had a meeting with Colin Hilton to discuss what had happened. Mr. Hilton thereafter called for a meeting to be held. Due to commitments by Stephane Ratel, that meeting could not take place until February 4th.
The result of that meeting is that GT3 cars homologated nationally by the RACB (and other ASN's) subject to approval by the MSA, can be admitted within the British GT3 Championship in a full points scoring and title contention position.
Last year was very traumatic for us, and had a negative effect nationally worldwide with the Mosler.
The British GT Championship is very important for Mosler. As a direct result of being part of it in 2009 we sold 5 cars into the Australian GT, then more into Asian GT and now Japan. This regulation change within British GT highlights that what happened was nothing to do with the car, and should give confidence to other ASN's around the world that the Mosler can continue to be accepted.
This decision is obviously extremely important for us, and my employees and present and future customers.
This action has further implications not just for Mosler. This means that other small car manufacturers now have the ability to Nationally homologate their cars with the RACB, or other MSA acceptable ASN's, and race head to head and equally against the 'Grand Marques' in the British GT. I believe that this is very important. Rollcentre Racing entered British GT in 2000 with a TVR that we built ourselves, and laid the foundations for TVR's eventual entry into the Le Mans 24 Hours. We subsequently entered Le Mans 24 Hours 5 times, as a direct result of our apprenticeship in British GT.
In my opinion, small manufacturers should be able to be allowed to race against the controlling powers of the 'Grand Marques'. At the moment, the FIA requirement for 300 cars to be made per year is what keeps Mosler and many other marques out of full FIA GT3 status. If this had been applied to racing 50 years ago, Ferrari and Aston Martin may not be where they are now."
It is a shame that it has taken until this time to get the problem sorted, as we have not been able to retain the services of the British GT find of last year, Dan Brown, but he has found himself a good seat for 2010, and we look forward to competing against him, and wish him all the very best for a successful season.
Rollcentre Racing, winners of the British GT title in 2003 in a Mosler, will be placing an entry for the 2010 British GT, and are now actively seeking drivers.
