Bentley's return to GT3 racing may smack of brand strategy, but it can only prove beneficial for the marque and for motorsport fans
It would be easy to be slightly cynical about Bentley's decision to return to racing next year, 10 years after it won Le Mans. After all, GT3 racing can appear all a bit gentlemanly and a good excuse for exotic car makers to flog a few cars.
But while the project is unquestionably commercially driven – what self-respecting car company wouldn't act that way? – there's also an infusion of passion about the way the men at the top are going about their business that befits a brand with the heritage of the Bentley Boys.
Ahead of today's Los Angeles motor show, Rolf Frech, the firm's technical boss, talked about the passion racing projects instil in a car company, and how much can be learned from them that can be put back on to the production line. "The road car guys can learn from the racing guys, and vice versa," he said. "The speed at which racing teams solve problems and react is invigorating, and we took the decision to run the project in-house because we wanted to take those skills back in to the company."
And for all the equalisation in performance figures among GT3 competitors – after all, how else could a wide-nosed Bentley ever take on a McLaren? – the technical challenge is very real. Brian Gush, Bentley's go-to racing man as well as director of chassis and powertrain on the road car side, talks about taking 1000kg out of the racer, moving the engine and ancilliaries around to get optimum performance and running a semi-works operation to set the car up perfectly, iron out problems and then take Bentley back to racing.
I'd guess he has a queue of professional and wannabe professional racing drivers knocking down his door – as well as a strong list of potential amateur customers. That certainly seemed to be the case when they showed the car in America for the first time last night, following its initial unveiling at the Paris motor show.
My view is that it's great to have a brand with Bentley's heritage back in racing. Great, too, that it sees a relevance in modern motorsport for promoting it brand and sales. And it'll be better still if it really whets the company's appetite for another crack at motorsport at the very top.