HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF AMATEUR RACERS
The Bathurst 12 Hour on 15 May will be a Pro-Am event, with each GT3 crew required to field a Bronze-graded amateur driver, due to the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will bring another dimension to the Australian enduro as company directors and entrepreneurs sharing with top professionals go for outright honours in the Intercontinental GT Challenge curtain-raiser.
Wealthy so-called ‘gentleman racers’ are the backbone of modern GT racing. Their support of the world’s biggest endurance races – 23 cars will contest the GTE Am class at the Le Mans 24 Hours this year – and the many championships run to the homogenised GT3 rules makes participation in sportscar racing viable for manufacturers and enriches the entire ecosystem by providing opportunities for teams and drivers alike to earn factory-aligned status.
But it’s a form of motorsport that is often derided, and its skillsets trivialised – largely due to misconceptions about what it involves. Rather than seeking the last tenth and pushing the envelope of what the car can do, Pro-Am racing is motorsport’s equivalent to a team pursuit in cycling – it’s about improving the performance of the team’s weakest link. The smaller the gap between the professional driver and their amateur team-mate, the more likely success is to follow. But it’s a highly specialised game that requires an acute understanding of driver psychology and a willingness for compromise that goes beyond
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