The class, derived from the 1998-1999 GT3 class, debuted in 1999 under the name of 'GT' in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, American Le Mans Series and European Le Mans Series. It was known as 'N-GT' in the FIA GT Championship and in 2000 as 'GTU' in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and 'GTO' in the British GT Championship. In 2005, the class was renamed GT2, positioned below the faster GT1 class. Originally, the Porsche 911 GT3 in its R, RS and RSR versions dominated, but the Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari F430 and Panoz Esperante were also successful. The BMW M3 was successful in the United States. Other models entered included the Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Morgan Aero 8, Spyker C8 and TVR Tuscan.
After the GT1 class was dropped from ACO competitions for the 2011 season, the GT2 class was renamed LM GTE in Europe and as GT in the United States. The new main rivals for the Porsche 911 were the Ferrari 458 Italia, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Chevrolet Corvette, BMW M3, BMW Z4 (E89) and SRT Viper. Other less successful models in the early 2010s were the Jaguar XKR, Lamborghini Gallardo, Lotus Evora and Ford GT.
In 2015, the two dominant cars were the Porsche 911 RSR and the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2. In the 2018/19 season, the most competitive LM GTE cars were the Porsche 911 RSR, the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the Ford GT by points scored. In 2021, IMSA announced that the GTLM class would be replaced with a GT3-based 'GTD pro class'. The ACO also announced that GTE in the WEC would be replaced by GT3 in 2024, with the GTE Pro class seeing its final race in 2022 and the GTE Am class in 2023. The final race for the GTE regulations saw the Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR-19 take the win at the 2023 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The ACO defined limits and requirements for the LM GTE category to ensure that cars were legitimately production-based. The car had to have "an aptitude for sport with 2 doors, 2 or 2+2 seats, opened or closed, which could be used perfectly legally on the open road and available for sale." The ACO modified its regulations for “small manufacturers” (less than 2000 cars produced a year). To be eligible, a big manufacturer had to produce at least one car a week or a small manufacturer one car a month. Cars were eligible to race when 100 road cars for big manufacturers or 25 road cars for small manufacturers were produced. The car had to have an official launch campaign and sales network. The engine must have been used in a production car; while this was usually the engine from the road car, the ACO made exceptions for cars like the BMW Z4 GTE which used engines from other models. Carbon fiber, titanium, and magnesium were banned except for special parts like spoilers or wheels. Cars with carbon cockpits (that are not directly attached to the suspension) were allowed. The engine displacement was limited to 5.5L naturally aspirated or 4.0L turbo/supercharged. The SRT Viper was granted a special waiver to 8.0L. The minimum weight was 1,245 kg (2744 lbs) including driver, fuel, helmet, and liquids. Cars had to have working lights and windshield wipers at all times. To distinguish from faster Le Mans Prototypes at night, LM GTE cars had to use yellow headlights (not in WEC). Four-wheel drive was banned while engine-based traction control was allowed. Gearboxes were limited to six forward gears. All cars also had to have rear-view cameras in addition to side mirrors.
Cars were allowed one set of modifications every two years. Brand new cars were allowed one extra set of modifications in the first year of competition. Small aerodynamic modifications were allowed for 24 Hours of Le Mans each year. If the road car was upgraded with a new part, that part could also be used on the LM GTE car through updating the homologation. Manufacturers could also apply for waivers to allow the homologation of cars or parts that would normally be banned by the rules. Overall, the technical regulations were focused on keeping LM GTE cars relatively close to road cars in terms of parts and dimensions. Aerodynamic devices such as spoilers were heavily regulated. There were also minor requirements that were holdovers from the earlier era of Le Mans, such as requiring at least 150 cubic decimetres of luggage space. At Le Mans, LM GTE was divided into two classes: GTE-Pro and GTE-Am. GTE-Am cars had to be at least one year old or be built to the previous year's spec, and had limits on the qualification of drivers allowed in the lineup. The Endurance Committee of the ACO had the absolute right to modify the Balance of Performance between LM GTE cars through adjusting the weight, engine, or aerodynamics. Air restrictors were used with default values for specific engine capacities.
At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, the ACO announced a range of changes for the LM GTE class for the 2016 season. The aim of the changes was to increase the performance of the cars relative to the GT3-spec machinery that they competed against in certain series, whilst reducing cost and improving the safety of the cars. The regulations became restrictive, so there was a reduced reliance on waivers to allow certain cars to compete. One example of this was the increased freedom of aerodynamic development within specific regions of the car. The new cars were able to compete in LM GTE Pro from 2016 alongside the 'old' specification of the car, before becoming available for LM GTE Am in 2017. In 2018, the 'old' specification of the car was out of competition.
Autosport magazine reported that on 20 August 2021 the ACO had announced that they would be dropping the GTE class in favour of GT3 cars from the 2024 season onwards. The GTE class was to remain in place for the 2022 and 2023 WEC seasons, including Le Mans, following the decline of GTE racing with only four cars in the WEC Championship and three in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in 2021.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.