The Great Shake-Up of 2012/13

[Jonerz]

Originally Posted by Salamus

If you watch enough DTM, ALMS, and WEC, then of course you're going to know those drivers the best. I'm sure if you start watching GT Masters, then you'll get to know the drivers in that series as well. You don't have to be a "star" to be a "pro". There are a bunch of super-fast drivers out there that aren't stars.

And along the lines of a discussion that's been held recently, the big events help build stars. ALMS drivers for instance, are stars for their feats at Le Mans, Sebring and Petit. It's harder to make yourself a star in a sprint race at Lausitzring. Small crowd (compared to ~200 000 fence-side, and millions worldwide) and small appeal (we all know how much more special racing into the night, over long distances, at unique race tracks is), equates to small "star" growth.

Chris

[helgi]

Maybe, a fast driver = a star? Martin, Jager, Treluyer. I'd never say that an average autosport fan (e-em, F1 mostly) even heard of them.

[cmk]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

I never heard of David Arnold and Dino Lunardi. All pro is Ortelli-Kristensen, Vilander-Fisichella, Rockenfeller-Dumas.

To echo what others have said, not being aware of drivers as a single viewer does not make them worse. Lance David Arnold was a Porsche Junior. Dino Lunardi won the first Peugeot spyder cup thingy and earned himself a 908 test. Lots of drivers take slightly less conventional routes to the spotlight, or come up through open wheel formulas with speed but not as much money and then get themselves in the right sportscars (Toni Vilander...).

Drivers mentioned here from GT Masters like Schwager (a lot of time in Japan), Huertgen (a fast journeywoman for a a couple of decades), Rast (difficult to work with according to some, but wickedly fast in a 911 Cup car) etc. may not be household names, but that doesn't make them amateurs. They may not be 'stars' but quite frankly your 'average' fan might have heard of Fisi but likely hasn't heard of any other driver from those 'all-pro' lineups either.

[Speed-King]

Looks like some one is having a go at reviving GT4 on the European scene:

Source in Dutch

Italian promoter Nova Race plans to organize a series of 4 or 5 races in France, UK, Benelux, Germany and/or Italy. The format is suppossed to be a copy of that of the Blancpain Endurance Series.

Seems like GT4 is finally getting a good format to work with, question is if it's too little, too late.