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Originally Posted by theox05
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A few things to note here regarding this.
COVID19 has had major impacts on all sectors of the economy and brands who sell more expensive vehicles, like Porsche, would be hit harder by the economic impacts than others. Ultimately, I'm not surprised by this that much, I had a feeling we'd lose a manufacturer somewhere, although my money was on BMW to be the one to leave.
Another thing to consider is the potential LMDh entry by Porsche which would made their GTLM program expendable. Cost to run the two programs simultaneously would've been too big. Also, the writing is on the wall for GTLM/GTE as a class anyways. Large investments into the cars/teams for that class have kept manufacturers away and this pushes that notion. We'll probably still see GTE in the WEC but I doubt we'll see GTLM in IMSA within the next year or two.
I have a feeling BMW is the next manufacturer to leave GTLM, seeing that they've been on the fence about the program since the beginning of the year. Once they leave, Corvettes gone too and I bet it's for good unless GM ponies up the money to develop a GT3 car.
I'm curious what IMSA is going to do now to diversify the field or try and pull a new manufacturer in etc