Originally posted on Racing.com
By Paul Matheny
News of the VRR Rolex GT Endurance series morphing into a new, multi-class series for 2018 produced a curiously mixed reaction throughout the Sportscar Racing world. Easily the most outspoken about the inclusion of LMP2 cars into the renamed "VRR International Endurance Championship" is Phantom Motors boss Jean-Claude Gabriel, who refused to mince words or pull punches in an exclusive telephone interview.
Speaking from his personal offices in Montréal, Quebec, Canada, Gabriel seemed to be in a harried mood at first, but opened up as the conversation went on.
"It's ridiculous. What am I going to say to my sponsors, whom I signed with the intention, the assumption that our team would be competing for overall victories? How do I ask them about increasing the agreed-upon budget by nearly 50% just to do one race? (The FICA 24 Hours of Le Mans) Let alone the amount needed to buy the extra spares, parts and pieces to make a GT3 car ready to run a true endurance race, or the danger that comes from multiple classes of car running all at once with such a huge disparity of closing speeds between them...
"As I said, it's ridiculous. To change the series up after all of the more fanciful entries turned into vaporware, after already delaying the start of the championship by a full year... It's short-sighted and reflects poorly on VRR's management. And honestly? It's enough to make me seriously reconsider my involvement -Phantom Motors involvement- in the series."
When asked about what would happen to the current Porsche program or any future involvement, Gabriel seemed a bit coy to divulge any hard details, but made it clear that Phantom Motors will not field an LMP2 car in 2018. "We (Phantom Motors) are a team that does things our way, with our people. I'm a rich man, sure, but I didn't get where I am today by throwing money away and I feel running an LMP2 car would be just that. I run things on a budget and unless a company came to me with the intention to run an LMP1 car at Le Mans, Prototypes are not on our agenda for 2018. As for our GT3 car, it would be almost an equally large waste of money to sell it off to another team, so as much as I hate to say it I am looking at the possibility of running that car in conjunction with another team..."
Gabriel seemed to be almost telepathic in our talk, because just as I was about to ask him about why he would expand into the VRR Toshiba Indy Lights series (As it seemingly runs counter to his personal line of thinking), he offered an answer with hardly any pause. "To be frank, our Indy Lights program in VRR Indycar only exists because of the two funded drivers coming along willing to make it happen (Katherine Hart & David Wessel) and the fact that those cars are similar-enough to the Dallara HV17 that it would've been better to train the mechanics, crew members and what-have-you with a year in Lights than entering Indycar directly."
With all of that said, Jean-Claude Gabriel did end our call on an optimistic note, though one that seemed a bit odd after I ran the tape again. "I do hope that the IEC takes off, because Le Man's is a race I would like to try and win someday. But, I don't have to money or the clout to go to Porsche and ask if our team can run a 919 Hybrid, let alone get an LMP2 running in time... Ah well, there's always other things to do in life, wouldn't you say?"
