Campeonato Mundial GT1 Adopta Formato GT3

[OscarF21]

PRESS RELEASE
02 December 2011

FIA GT1 World Championship to adopt unified GT3 technical specifications for 2012
The FIA GT Commission proposes to harmonize the FIA GT1 World and FIA GT3 European Championship’s regulations as well as their calendars in Europe to guarantee the growth of the FIA GT sprint platform.

With so many GT3 cars having been homologated since SRO first proposed the category in 2005, GT3 is the natural choice for the premier GT sprint series, and with most of the current GT1 generation coming to the end of their homologation period, a move to the GT3 category was the logical step.

“With the difficult economic climate and the ever-growing competition in motorsport we felt that the unification of the GT1 World and GT3 European Championships’ technical and sporting regulations was the best solution to guarantee the growth of the sprint format for GT cars and progress toward the ultimate goal of 10 teams representing 10 brands in the World Championship” said Stephane Ratel, founder and CEO of SRO Motorsports Group.

“We had a fantastic end to the 2011 season, meeting all our objectives in terms of coverage, spectator attendance and grids, with an extremely successful campaign in China, a grand finale in Argentina and an amazing GT3 finale in Zandvoort.

“As previously announced, the concept for the GT1 World Championship in 2012 is to have each team being the exclusive representative of one particular brand of car.

“By adopting the GT3 technical regulations, we are opening the way for the addition of a host of brands. Such a diversity of prestigious models in a single category would make the FIA GT1 World Championship unique in international motorsport.”

Besides the recent confirmation of World Championship winning team Hexis entering McLaren cars, teams bringing more prestigious brands are set to join the fray and are currently weighing up their options. A number of teams are expected to announce their participation shortly.

The unification of the sporting regulations will see the FIA GT3 European Championship adopt the exciting pit-stops and Qualifying/Championship Race format seen in GT1, while retaining the driver categorisation system. There will be no driver categorisation in GT1, aimed at the top professional teams and drivers, which will move over to the traditional-style qualifying seen in GT3. As always, the cars will be balanced by the FIA to ensure equal performance.

“The FIA GT3 European Championship has remained unchanged since 2006, and has given rise to many national series around the world, which have copied the format,” Ratel explained. “The European Championship needs to regain its own specific nature and be more professional. We have therefore decided to adopt the best of the World Championship, in order to turn the European Championship into the perfect training ground for GT1. The teams and drivers will also benefit from additional media and TV coverage.”

Ratel added that in the event of a worsening economic situation in Europe where a minimum of 20 full-season entrants would not be garanteed in each championship – FIA GT1 World and FIA GT3 European – a merger could be an appropriate solution, made possible by the harmonised format.
The calendar and revised sporting regulations will be submitted to the World Motor Sport Council in early December for ratification.

Cameron Kelleher
Head of PR and Media

[OscarF21]

Una lastima no ver mas los GT1 pero la GT3 ha demostrado ser la clave del exito para cualquier categoria como ya lo hemos visto con la Blancpain Endurance Series o la misma FIA GT3 Europea, muy dificil mantener los GT1 y si SRO no tomaba esta decision no hay duda de que de este 2011 no pasaba.

[OscarF21]

© Autosport Magazine

[OscarF21]

© Autosport Magazine

[Manuel Cambronero]

Creo q es lo mejor que pueden hacer. La GT1 se estaba quedando sin carros, mientras la GT3 crece como la espuma!

[ruiz]

Ya desde hace tiempo se veía venir este cambio, es lo más lógico que se podía hacer para mantener viva la categoría.

[MM.COM]

Buen tema Oscar!!!

[Manuel Cambronero]

Buen tema Oscar!!!

Vio Armando, como se dieron cuenta que en Forza fucionamos las categorias para hacer mas grande la parrilla, nos copiaron!

[OscarF21]

Muy buena columna por John Dagys para speedtv.com:

DAGYS: Farewell To GT1
The once all-mighty category takes its final bow after more than a decade...
John Dagys | Posted December 04, 2011 Chicago, IL


For many, GT1 will be remembered for the epic battles between Corvette and Aston Martin, both in the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans. (Photo: LAT)

When the FIA GT1 World Championship kicks off next April in Nogaro, France, it will be with a different breed of GT cars, in what will no doubt signal a changing of the guards in the international sportscar racing scene.

For over the last decade, the GT1 platform had been considered the leader of the pack in the production-based ranks. The fire-breathing brutes, packing more than 600 horsepower and featuring extravagant bodywork, had been through a slow and painful death since 2008 but continued on life support in Stephane Ratel’s globe-trotting championship. Until now.

With the GT1 World Championship’s regulations having been in flux since its launch in 2010, little had we known that last month’s season finale in San Luis, Argentina was the final time the thunderous beasts would race in anger, at least in a professional event.

Confirmation of the change came last week when SRO chief executive officer Stephane Ratel announced the GT1 World Championship would be run entirely under GT3 regulations for next year, although confusingly retaining the GT1 series name. Efforts to see a mix of old-spec GT1 and GT3 cars fill the grid next year were abandoned in favor of the simpler single-specification formula.

It was undoubtedly a matter of time until the category, which began as GTS in the late nineties, would come to an end, as manufacturers looked to the less-costly GT2 and GT3 ranks to develop and promote their brands. Chevrolet was one of the last holdouts, with its legendary factory Corvette program only shifting to the ACO’s thriving GT2 category in 2009.

Chevy was very much the face of GT1 through the years, first with the Corvette C5-R in 1999, which took the bow-tie back to Le Mans, racking up numerous class victories at La Sarthe. But the Pratt & Miller squad also claimed overall honors at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, an around-the-clock enduro not typically won by a production-based car. It made GM’s triumph, one year after Dodge pulled off the same feat, help gain even more notoriety for the increasingly popular platform at the time.

The early years saw the iconic Dodge vs. Chevy rivalry, with the venerable ORECA Viper GTS-Rs taking a hat-trick of class victories at Le Mans, before the Pratt & Miller squad pulled through for what was their first of six GTS/GT1 wins in 2001, the same year it snatched overall honors at Daytona.

Chrysler had pulled its factory involvement at the end of 2000, but new nameplates arrived to take on the Corvettes. While the fast, but notoriously unreliable Saleen S7R made its mark in only a handful of races, the toughest challenge came from Prodrive, first with its privately funded Ferrari 550 Maranellos followed by the factory Aston Martin DBR9 effort. Both had epic duals with Corvette in the American Le Mans Series and at Le Mans, first with the C5-R followed by the introduction of the C6.R in 2005.

While Prodrive earned three wins at La Sarthe, Corvette was left virtually unopposed in the ALMS by 2008, which triggered its eventual move to GT2 and the demise of GT1 as a category in the ALMS. Two years later, GT1 was no more in the remaining ACO-licensed series as well, with the final Le Mans class victory going to the Larbre Competition Saleen in 2010.

GT1 soldiered on in the FIA GT Championship, with the new-look World Championship initially adopting a new spec of cars from Nissan, Lamborghini and Ford to go along with grandfathered models from Corvette, Aston Martin and Maserati. The entertaining sprint race format produced some of the closest-fought battles the platform had ever seen, but high running costs, coupled with a growing shortage of spare parts, made the aging GT1 formula unsustainable.

The writing was clearly on the wall that GT1 would never last forever. The platform thrived on factory involvement and was in a downhill spiral for the last three years due to the lack of exactly that. So it comes as no surprise that the sportscar racing world has moved on, now embracing two distinct platforms for the grand touring race cars.

But as we’ve seen with GT1, the question comes if GTE and GT3 would both survive the long-haul? History may already be repeating itself, as the ACO’s GTE category, formerly known as GT2, appears to already be down a similar path to GT1 that could spell trouble in the years to come.

Through increased factory involvement, with no fewer than six manufacturers either supporting or fielding works teams, costs in GTE have been skyrocketing The same has been the case in GT3, as new cars such as the McLaren MP4-12C and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 have pushed others such as Aston Martin and Audi to produce or upgrade their existing machinery in order to keep up with their new, considerably more expensive competition.

While GT3 has strictly been limited to customer teams, GTE strives off factory involvement, and one could only question what would happen to the category if the likes of Chevy, BMW, Porsche and Ferrari pull out or move their support elsewhere?

It will be interesting to see how the next few years unfold, especially now with both platforms on the world's stage. Is there room for both, or could one be headed down a similar road of its predecessor?

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/ ... ll-to-gt1/

Parte de este año le dimos seguimiento a la FIA GT1, asi que aqui les dejo el link por si quieren dar un repaso de todo lo acontecido y ver por ultima vez a los GT1 en pista:

[OscarF21]

Press Release
16 December 2011

FIA Announces 2012 Calendar with the FIA GT Championships Heading to New Venues

The global expansion of the FIA GT1 World Championship continues with the addition of new venues on the 2012 calendar announced by the FIA.

GT1 World will have rounds in Europe, supported by the FIA GT3 European Championship, visiting Nogaro and Zandvoort for the first time. There will be further rounds outside of Europe, with standalone events in Ordos, Beijing, Argentina and Russia.

The 2012 season will start at Circuit Paul Armagnac near Nogaro on April 9th at the traditional season opener at the circuit situated in south-west France.

Three weeks later the next joint event will take place at Zolder, with the GT1 World Championship returning to the Belgian circuit after a successful event last season.

Navarra in Northern Spain will once again play host to both series at the end of May. The drivers and team return to the Iberian Peninsula in July, racing at the Algarve circuit near Portimao in Portugal which has become firmly established on the calendar.

The first of the non-European rounds will be held in August with GT1 returning to China for back-to-back weekends, first in Ordos and then onto Beijing. The cars will return west and head to Moscow where the venue is the 2.5mile/4km Moscow Raceway located 75km from the Russian capital.

Then it’s back to Europe for GT1 World’s first visit to Zandvoort and then the championship finale in Argentina in November.

A tenth round of the FIA GT1 World Championship will be announced next month.

The FIA GT3 European Championship will support GT1. Nogaro and Moscow are two new venues and GT3 returns to Zolder for the first time since the 2009 season finale. GT3 will return to Navarra, Algarve and Zandvoort following highly successful events in 2011.

“The 2012 calendar is very exciting and, with six dates being joint GT1 and GT3 events, it will provide everyone – teams, drivers, sponsors and race fans – with a great weekend of GT racing,” said Stephane Ratel. “The mix of European and overseas events is the right balance and I’m very pleased that we will be going to Moscow next year, which, like China, is a very important market. It will mark another first for SRO and the FIA GT Championships.”

“In these tough economic times we have to plan each event carefully and all the GT3 European races will be held on the same weekend as GT1,” Ratel continued. “One of the advantages of this means we will give the race fans even more to see on each of these weekends. GT3 will also travel to Moscow, which promises to be one of the highlights of the season.

“The two races in China were very successful in 2011 and the events in Ordos and Beijing in 2012 promise to be even bigger and better. GT1 World will be seen at Olympic Park next year and we are working hard to get permission to stage a street race after the success of the demonstration night race held at the venue in September.

“This calendar, and the move to harmonized GT3 technical regulations, offers both the FIA GT1 World and FIA GT3 European Championships stability in 2012 and beyond.”

2012 FIA GT1 World Championship Calendar
8th April - FRA - Nogaro
22nd April - BEL - Zolder***
27th May - ESP - Navarra
8th July - PRT - Algarve
26th August - CHN - Beijing **
2nd September - CHN - Ordos **
16th September - RUS - Moscow *
7th October - NLD - Zandvoort
25th November - ARG - San Luis *
TBA - TBA - TBA

2012 FIA GT3 European Championship Calendar
8th April - FRA - Nogaro
22nd April - BEL - Zolder***
27th May - ESP - Navarra
8th July - PRT - Algarve
16th September - RUS - Moscow *
7th October - NLD - Zandvoort
TBA - TBA - TBA

* Subject to the ASN's confirmation and the FIA homologation of the circuit
** Subject to the confirmation from the ASN and to the contract with the promoter
*** Subject to the homologation of the circuit.

Cameron Kelleher
Head of Media

[OscarF21]

El equipo All-Inkl.com/Munnich Motorsport termina su relacion con Lamborghini y se prepara para participar el proximo año en la GT1 con un par de Mercedes SLS AMG GT3.


© Autosport Magazine

© DPPI

© DPPI

[OscarF21]

Mas sobre la nueva relación de All-Inkl con Mercedes

All-Inkl confirm switch to Mercedes

The All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport team has confirmed that they will carry the Mercedes brand into battle in the 2012 championship with two SLS AMG GT3s sporting the German team's livery.



"The two years of construction and the great success of the format for our team speak their own language. We will continue to be there and are convinced that the GT1 World Championship is also with the new regulations in 2012 a success story for everyone involved," says team founder Rene Munnich.

"We come back with two vehicles. However, we will switch to a premium manufacturer and this year with two Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 cars.

The Saxony outfit ran Lamborghini Murcielagos with quite a deal of success and were in the title mix throughout the 2011 season.

"The Lamborghini is a spectacular super car, but was also sometimes a little unpredictable," added Munnich.

"We expect our new racing cars, which are a mature product, another great success."

Marc Basseng, who partnered Markus Winkelhock in one of the All-Inkl Lamborghinis in 2011, said he was looking forward to the new challenge at the wheel of the Mercedes and as team manager.

Munnich added that the complete driver line-up for 2012 will be announced shortly.

Besides the All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport announcement, fellow-German Michael Bartels also confirmed today that his Vita4One team will run a pair of BMW Z4s in 2012.

They join Hexis who will field a pair of McLaren MP4s and the new Audi R8 LMS ultra, in the hands of Team WRT, as the latest teams to go public.

In 2011, Young Driver AMR confirmed their participation with Aston Martin for 2012. Besides the 2011 teams, a number of teams bringing the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes to the grid are poised to announce entries.

[OscarF21]

Resumen de la Temporada 2011 GT1


Youtube

Resumen de la Temporada 2011 GT3


Youtube

[OscarF21]

Mediante un comunicado de prensa se da a conocer que Ferrari llega al campeonato mundial FIA GT1 este año en compañia de Pirelli.

08 February 2012

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR FIA GT1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

· Pirelli confirmed as official tyre supplier

· Ferrari team joins the 2012 entry list

· Venue for 10th round to be revealed soon

The build-up to the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship season gathered momentum today with two significant announcements.

Stephanel Ratel, Founder and CEO of SRO Motorsports Group, confirmed that negotiations had been on-going on several fronts over the past few months and SRO was now in a position to begin announcing a number of key developments prior to the opening event in Nogaro on 9 April.

The first of those announcements is the confirmation of Pirelli as the official tyre supplier for the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2012.

In confirming Pirelli’s involvement, Ratel said: “We are delighted to confirm a partnership with Pirelli as the official tyre supplier for the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship for the 2012 season.

“Pirelli have an unrivalled reputation in global motorsport and we are pleased that our teams in both GT1 and GT3 will benefit from the technical expertise and experience the company brings. Their recent success in helping to create competitive racing in Formula One through their innovative approach underlines that point.”

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said the company was looking forward to linking up with the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship for the coming season.

“We have a long and rich history in all categories of motorsport, particularly GT racing,” he said. “GT racing is an important segment for us as a number of our customers drive the vehicles which compete in the GT categories, particularly our premium customers so the relationship makes a lot of sense.

“Even though we are involved in Formula One, we have also had a major involvement in a number of other categories of motorsport for over 100 years.”

The line-up of supercar brands for the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship has been bolstered by the confirmation that Ferrari will join the grid.

The identity of the team running the pair of Ferrari 458 Italias will be officially revealed later this week.

Ferrari joins Audi (Team WRT), BMW (Vita4One), McLaren (Hexis) and Mercedes (All-Inkl.com Munnich Motorsport) in an impressive line-up for the 2012 season. Additional teams are poised to announce their participation in the near future.

Such a diversity of prestigious brands in a single category makes the FIA GT1 World Championship unique in international motorsport.

“The addition of Ferrari to the 2012 line-up makes for a mouth-watering array of supercars racing in one world championship,” Ratel said. “The Ferrari team brings to five the number of confirmed teams and we are in advanced talks with a number of other teams. For reasons of confidentiality, we are respecting the wishes of those teams to announce their participation in their own time.”

The final deadline for entries is next month, as per the decision laid down by the FIA GT Commission in November, 2011.

The venue for the 10th race on the 2012 calendar will be revealed in the coming days along with further team announcements.

Meanwhile, the opening date for entries for the FIA GT3 European Championship is 15 February.

Cameron Kelleher
Head of Communications
SRO Motorsports Group

[OscarF21]

El Campeonato FIA GT1 incorpora a su calendario 2012 el nuevo circuito de la India, conocido como Buddh International Circuit, y es ahí precisamente donde se estará llevando a cabo la última fecha de la temporada.


Fuente

[ruiz]

El Nissan GT-R.


Youtube

[OscarF21]

El conocido piloto de Audi en el DTM, Oliver Jarvis, estará este año corriendo en el Campeonato Mundial FIA GT1 con el equipo WRT en un Audi R8 LMS en conjunto con Stephane Ortelli, el también ex DTM Frank Stippler y Laurens Vanthoor, sin embargo en el equipo aún no han decidido como van a conformar las parejas en los dos Audi R8's.


Fuente

[OscarF21]

- El equipo Reiter Engineering participará este año en el Campeonato Mundial GT1 con dos Lamborghinis LP 600+, el equipo aún no tiene una lista definitiva de pilotos pero se espera que Peter Kox quien ya ha trabajado con ellos años atrás estará con ellos nuevamente.

- AF Corse representará a Ferrari este año en el Campeonato Mundial GT1 Ver Nota Completa

- El actual campeón de FIA GT1 con Nissan (JRM), Michael Krumm, regresa al campeonato japonés Super GT donde ya fue campeón en 1997 y 2003, esto luego de que el equipo JRM tomara la decision de no ir este año al Campeonato Mundial GT1 y enfocarse en su programa dentro de la categoria LMP1 en el WEC. Krumm estará junto a Satoshi Motoyama en uno de los Nissan GT-R

- Filip Salaquarda se convierte en el tercer piloto que confirma el equipo AF Corse para esta temporada en FIA GT1, luego de Francesco Castellacci y Enzo Ide. Fuente

[OscarF21]

Michael Bartels está de vuelta con su equipo Vita4One Racing en el Campeonato Mundial FIA GT1, esta vez de la mano de BMW, ya que estarán corriendo con un par de BMW Z4's GT3, eso si, aún no está claro con cuales pilotos contará el equipo. Fuente

[OscarF21]

Así van quedando los nuevos McLaren MP4-12C GT3 del equipo Hexis


Youtube

[OscarF21]

- El equipo Reiter Engineering participará este año en el Campeonato Mundial GT1 con dos Lamborghinis LP 600+, el equipo aún no tiene una lista definitiva de pilotos pero se espera que Peter Kox quien ya ha trabajado con ellos años atrás estará con ellos nuevamente.

Via Autosport

[OscarF21]

18 autos inscritos para la temporada 2012 del Campeonato Mundial GT1

Entry list revealed: Aston, Ford, Porsche join the grid

Foto © WRT

The entry list for the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship has been revealed with 18 cars representing nine brands on the grid for the first race in France (Nogaro) on 6-9 April.

Besides the six teams that have already announced their participation – AF Corse (Ferrari), All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport (Mercedes), Hexis (McLaren), Reiter Engineering (Lamborghini), Vita4One (BMW), WRT (Audi), the SRO Motorsports Group has engineered the entry of three additional teams to promote the championship in key markets.

China GT1 Team, which campaigned Corvettes as Exim Bank Team China in 2011, will run a pair of Porsches with renowned Belgian team Mühlner Motorsport.

Valmon Racing Team Russia, has entered two Aston Martins and trusted 2011 FIA GT3 European team LMP Motorsport to run the cars in partnership with Aston Martin Racing.

The third team will run Ford GTs, possibly under an Indian license with the technical backing of Spain’s Sunred Engineering.

Stephane Ratel, Founder and CEO of SRO Motorsports Group, said the entry list had come together after months of behind-the-scenes effort.

“I am glad we can finally confirm the 2012 entry list. It is the result of many hours of hard work on the part of a number of people with a desire to ensure the FIA GT1 World Championship maintains its place as the most exciting global GT race series on the motorsport calendar,” he said.

“I am grateful for the original teams which remained loyal to the championship and I am delighted that SRO Motorsports Group was able to orchestrate the establishment of the three additional teams to bring the grid number up to 18.

“Our dream of bringing together the best sportscar brands in two-car teams, competing in a calendar featuring some very important markets for the luxury car industry has come to fruition.”

Ratel reiterated that there were still some approval processes and agreements to be finalized before team structures and final driver line-upscould be officially confirmed.

There will be some star names among the driver line-ups.

The Hexis foursome, charged with defending the teams’ title in the McLaren MP-4-12C includes two regulars Frederic Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp and two newcomers Alvaro Parente and Gregoire Demoustier.

At the wheel of the two WRT Audi R8 LMS ultras are the former DTM racer Frank Stippler (Germany) and Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis (Great Britain), former Le Mans winner Stephane Ortelli (Monte Carlo) and Belgium’s Laurens Vanthoor.

AF Corse have confirmed Francesco Castellacci and Enzo Ide along with Filip Salaquarda as their first three drivers who will pilot their Ferrari 458 Italias.

The make-up of the All-Inkl Münnich Motorsport Mercedes quartet will be revealed in the coming days and is likely to be similar to the 2011 line-up with team principal Marc Basseng leading a strong and experienced combination.

Vita4One team boss Michael Bartels has yet to name the three drivers that will drive alongside him in his new BMW squad.

Reiter Lamborghini will soon confirm Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Tomas Enge in one car and Dutch veteran Peter Kox with a driver yet to be named in theother Lamborghini LP 600.

China GT1 Team will feature Frenchman Mike Parisy, who has a distinguished record in GT racing and was runner up in the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2011. He is likely to be joined by former Formula One driver Antonio Pizzonia of Brazil. Chinese driver Ren Wei will race the second car with a team-mate to be announced shortly.

Valmon Team Russia has rising Russian star Mikhail Aleshin, who has progressed through the open-wheeler ranks with impressive results. In 2010, he was the Formula Renault 3.5 Series champion. His partner will be announced shortly.

The second car is likely to bring together the talented Spaniard Andy Soucek, a former FIA Formula Two champion and the experienced Austrian Andreas Zuber, who drove for Corvette in the 2010 and 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship.

Due to logistical matters, and strong interest from an additional non-European market, there are likely to be some adjustments to the 2012 calendar. Those alterations will be made official shortly.

The first event of the 2012 championship runs over four days as part of the French Easter Cup at Nogaro, France from 6-9 April.

[ruiz]

Hoy se anunció un nuevo cambio en el calendario, quedaron fuera los eventos en Zandvoort (Holanda) y San Luis (Argentina) y se cambian por eventos en Corea del Sur (en el mismo circuito donde corre la F1) y en Moscú, Rusia. Éste nuevo calendario debe ser confirmado a más tardar el 15 de abril.

El nuevo calendario.

2012 FIA GT1 World Championship Calendar

6th - 9th April: Nogaro, France

20th - 22nd April: Zolder, Belgium

26th - 27th May: Navarra, Spain

8th - 10th June: Slovakia Ring, Slovakia

6th - 8th July: Algarve, Portugal

24th - 25th August: Beijing Goldenport, China

30th August - 2nd September: Ordos, China

14th - 16th September: Korean International Circuit, Korea (*)

29th - 30th September: Moscow, Russia (*)

30th November - 2nd December: Delhi, India

(*) To be confirmed by April 15th at the latest