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FIA GT World Championship 2012


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#1 midgrid

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Posted 13 January 2012 - 17:07

Thought I might as well create the thread in advance this year, to avoid a potential panic later on...

Official website (this may be moved if/when the championship name is officially changed to GT from GT1)

Schedule (amended August 2012)
1. Nogaro - April 9
2. Zolder - April 22
3. Navarra - May 27
4. Slovakia Ring - June 10
5. Algarve - July 8
6. Slovakia Ring II - August 19
7. Moscow - September 2
8. Nurburgring - September 23

Teams and drivers
This is still quite sketchy at the moment. The big non-racing story of last year was series boss Stéphane Ratel's attempt to ensure a viable field for the 2012; this seems to be achieved by allowing GT3-spec cars to compete alongside existing GT1 machinery. The Balance of Performance will thus be extended to even out the speed differential between the classes, as well as those between the different types of cars.

At the moment, the current situation is as follows:

Hexis Racing will switch from Aston Martin to the McLaren MP4-12C GT3.

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport will also change allegiances, from Lamborghini to the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3.

The Belgian WRT team will step up from the FIA GT3 European Championship and Blancpain Endurance Series with their customary Audi R8 LMS Ultra.

2010 champions Vitaphone Racing will return to the championship after a year away with the BMW Z4 GT3.

This means that all of the fully confirmed entries will be running cars that have not previously competed in the championship.

JR Motorsport (2011 champions) and Young Driver AMR were also provisionally entered at the time of the Spa 24 Hours last year, but JRM has graduated to LMP1 in the World Endurance championship and will probably not defend its title. Marc VDS and its satellite team, Belgian Racing, were also entered at this time but have since withdrawn in favour of the Blancpain championship.

So far it looks to be an exciting season in prospect, with a plethora of new machinery (but with familiar faces driving it, no doubt). Securing the return of Vitaphone is a major boost for the series, in my opinion.

Edited by midgrid, 02 August 2012 - 14:02.


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#2 Fastcake

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Posted 13 January 2012 - 17:22

Thank you for a summary there Midgrid, I was quite interested with this championship in the past and would like to get back in to it. Hopefully they will be keeping free streaming on their website, means I can actually watch it! Will be interested to see who finally turns up and in what cars - in my opinion a good variety of machinery is important for a healthy series :)

Would like to see the new McLaren GT3 in action, purely because I'm already a Macca fan and I might as well follow them to GT Racing :)

#3 Andy865

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Posted 13 January 2012 - 17:34

Thank you for a summary there Midgrid, I was quite interested with this championship in the past and would like to get back in to it. Hopefully they will be keeping free streaming on their website, means I can actually watch it! Will be interested to see who finally turns up and in what cars - in my opinion a good variety of machinery is important for a healthy series :)

Would like to see the new McLaren GT3 in action, purely because I'm already a Macca fan and I might as well follow them to GT Racing :)


They did quite a few Blancpain Endurance rounds last year, Including an utterly disastrous attempt at the spa 24 hours. You can watch them at dailymotion, or on the Series website I think.

#4 SonnyViceR

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 10:12

Performance balanced GT3s, blah. There's a total lack on entries at the moment, even AF Corse just showed it's middle finger. So they might have to rely on GT3 euro and other series to boost the grid numbers. Btw the FIA presser pretty much still calls the championship FIA GT1 - even thou all of them are GT3s

Nice results here...
http://forums.autosp...howtopic=159702

Edited by SonnyViceR, 14 January 2012 - 10:13.


#5 pacificquay

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 10:40

Scandalous there is no round in Britain or Italy.

Without those a World Championship is not worthy of the name.

#6 SonnyViceR

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 11:08

Scandalous there is no round in Britain or Italy.

Without those a World Championship is not worthy of the name.


Back when the championship was still good ol' FIA GT with GT1 & GT2 machinery there was only one year in it's 13-season history without both UK and Italy on the calendar (1998). And even that particular season resembled more of a world champonship than the one we have nowadays. I so miss thed old series, now it's just... yawn

#7 SonnyViceR

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 11:12

The big non-racing story of last year was series boss Stéphane Ratel's attempt to ensure a viable field for the 2012; this seems to be achieved by allowing GT3-spec cars to compete alongside existing GT1 machinery. The Balance of Performance will thus be extended to even out the speed differential between the classes, as well as those between the different types of cars


All of the will be GT3s I'm afraid, GT1 is now officially dead from both FIA and ACO sanctioned racing. The only last place for the old cars to go are such B-class series as Dutch Supercar Challenge (which will in fact field three C6-Rs and two C5-rs this season) but they will be heavily tuned down.

#8 Ali_G

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 16:13

Back when the championship was still good ol' FIA GT with GT1 & GT2 machinery there was only one year in it's 13-season history without both UK and Italy on the calendar (1998). And even that particular season resembled more of a world champonship than the one we have nowadays. I so miss thed old series, now it's just... yawn


98 was a proper series with Merc vs Porsche.

Debateable to call those two cars GT1 cars though. They were basically prototypes. The thing was, back then there was no World Sportscar Championship like there is now again. The GT Championship back then was the closest thing there was to it. That championship also got decent coverage with Eurosport covering most races live. I remember them covering the Helsinki race live that year.

#9 Wi000

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 16:42

All of the will be GT3s I'm afraid, GT1 is now officially dead from both FIA and ACO sanctioned racing. The only last place for the old cars to go are such B-class series as Dutch Supercar Challenge (which will in fact field three C6-Rs and two C5-rs this season) but they will be heavily tuned down.

I'm not interested in some glorified GT3 championship, will maybe watch a round or two but not follow like when it was still a proper GT1 championship although with very short races.

ALMS and WEC it will be for 2012.

#10 MatsNorway

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 18:21

Im not watching neither series but i have seen a few posts about ALMS gt series and that series looks great.

#11 DanardiF1

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Posted 14 January 2012 - 18:26

Im not watching neither series but i have seen a few posts about ALMS gt series and that series looks great.


ALMS is different to the other big sportscar series in that really the GT's are the biggest draw. Works and Semi-works teams, great driver line-ups, fantastic tracks, it's got it all really.


#12 SonnyViceR

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Posted 15 January 2012 - 09:58

I remember them covering the Helsinki race live that year.


That was 1997.

I don't know, 2009 was the last good season of FIA GT for me. Massive downhill since then

#13 SonnyViceR

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Posted 15 January 2012 - 10:33

By the way, if that Russian race actually happens I'm gonna eat my hat. FIA attemps to race every year at that country but they always have to rely on some replacement round

#14 DanardiF1

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Posted 15 January 2012 - 13:56

By the way, if that Russian race actually happens I'm gonna eat my hat. FIA attemps to race every year at that country but they always have to rely on some replacement round


I don't get why they have to race twice in China either, when no-one goes to either round!?!

#15 SonnyViceR

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Posted 15 January 2012 - 14:09

I don't get why they have to race twice in China either, when no-one goes to either round!?!


Ratel's excuse is that China is important place for marketing. Yes that might be right with ILMC/WEC and their Zhuhai round where big factories are present, but all the teams in FIA GT are privateers with very little connections to manufacturers. Most of them were already bitching and complaining last year when they had to go to that crappy Goldenport circuit after Ordos

Also, from what I understand the remaining GT3 teams that are willing to race on this series this year don't really fancy the non-European rounds anyways

Edited by SonnyViceR, 15 January 2012 - 14:12.


#16 FSLIV

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Posted 15 January 2012 - 19:49

All of the will be GT3s I'm afraid, GT1 is now officially dead from both FIA and ACO sanctioned racing. The only last place for the old cars to go are such B-class series as Dutch Supercar Challenge (which will in fact field three C6-Rs and two C5-rs this season) but they will be heavily tuned down.



Wow it such a shame in my opinion that GT1 is dead. I will have to see if I can watch the Dutch SC challenge on-line. Would love to see the old Vettes still racing. The only Coverage of Vettes racing in the US is ALMS and now Grand Am. Yo SonnyViceR do you know if Callaway is gonna have Vette entries for the FIA GT3??

#17 SonnyViceR

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Posted 16 January 2012 - 14:09

Yo SonnyViceR do you know if Callaway is gonna have Vette entries for the FIA GT3??


Right now FIA GT3 is extremely bad option for Callaway Corvettes as the post-2010 BoP has put them in massive disavantage - they have the smallest air restrictors and biggest weight ballast of all the cars. That's why none were entered last year, instead they raced in german ADAC GT masters where the performance balancing is slightly (just slightly) fairer than in FIA GT3. I'd expect them to be there this season as well (without really doing any further research, but it would be logical)

GT2/GTE C6rs will continue to be run by the factory team in ALMS while Larbre Competition fields two cars in WEC (instead of one). As for the old GT1 vettes the only eglible place to run them is now DSC indeed and maybe some other club series no-one cares about. Too bad Dutch Supercar Challenge rules are kinda crappy, otherwise it would be a great five-car battle

Edited by SonnyViceR, 16 January 2012 - 14:20.


#18 FSLIV

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Posted 18 January 2012 - 17:23

Right now FIA GT3 is extremely bad option for Callaway Corvettes as the post-2010 BoP has put them in massive disavantage - they have the smallest air restrictors and biggest weight ballast of all the cars. That's why none were entered last year, instead they raced in german ADAC GT masters where the performance balancing is slightly (just slightly) fairer than in FIA GT3. I'd expect them to be there this season as well (without really doing any further research, but it would be logical)

GT2/GTE C6rs will continue to be run by the factory team in ALMS while Larbre Competition fields two cars in WEC (instead of one). As for the old GT1 vettes the only eglible place to run them is now DSC indeed and maybe some other club series no-one cares about. Too bad Dutch Supercar Challenge rules are kinda crappy, otherwise it would be a great five-car battle


THANKS !!!

#19 midgrid

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Posted 02 February 2012 - 14:04

Hexis Racing has announced its driver line-up for 2012: Frédéric Makowiecki and Stef Dusseldorp stay on, and will be joined by new signings Álvaro Parente and Grégoire Demoustier. Source

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#20 SonnyViceR

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Posted 02 February 2012 - 14:15

Only 8 cars entered right now, even last year when there was a serious shortage of GT1s they had more at this stage.

Expecting cancellation news sooner or later...

#21 midgrid

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 13:47

Only 8 cars entered right now, even last year when there was a serious shortage of GT1s they had more at this stage.

Expecting cancellation news sooner or later...


You may well be right; the series needs some additional entries pronto or it'll fold. Perhaps Ratel has something up his sleeve, but I'm sure if he had any good news he'd announce it right away.


#22 GX390

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Posted 03 February 2012 - 18:47

Only 8 cars entered right now, even last year when there was a serious shortage of GT1s they had more at this stage.

Expecting cancellation news sooner or later...


Ohh dear :down:

#23 midgrid

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Posted 08 February 2012 - 13:19

Two more pieces of news: Pirelli will supply tyres for the GT1 and European GT3 championships, and two Ferrari 458 Italias will be run by an as-yet unnamed team, to be announced later this week.

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.



#24 Skellen

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Posted 08 February 2012 - 13:21

Only 8 cars entered right now, even last year when there was a serious shortage of GT1s they had more at this stage.

Expecting cancellation news sooner or later...


Not looking well at the moment, indeed.

#25 midgrid

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Posted 13 February 2012 - 15:10

No word on who will run the Ferraris, but the final race of the 2012 season will be held in India, at the Buddh International circuit. More entries please!

The Argentine round has also been brought forward by a couple of weeks. I have updated the original post with the new schedule.

Edited by midgrid, 13 February 2012 - 15:15.


#26 midgrid

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Posted 23 February 2012 - 19:00

So, AF Corse will run the Ferraris, one of which will be driven by Francesco Castellacci and Enzo Ide, who finished first and third in last year's European GT3 championship. Source

#27 midgrid

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Posted 01 March 2012 - 18:04

Some more pieces of news:

1. Filip Salaquarda will be one of the drivers of AF Corse's other Ferrari.

2. The WRT Audis will be driven by Frank Stippler, Oliver Jarvis, Stéphane Ortelli, and Laurens Vanthoor.

3. Reiter Engineering will enter two Lamborghini Gallardo LP600s.

#28 midgrid

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Posted 12 March 2012 - 18:36

Ratel has his 18 cars and the series is go!

It looks pretty rushed, with various entrants and teams joining together to run the Porsches, Fords and Aston Martins. Hopefully the problems of last year, with teams missing rounds due to budget problems caused by accident damage, will be avoided. Furthermore I have my fingers crossed that all of these entries will actually be serious, and that some teams won't just run one car depsite entering two.

EDIT: Autosport.com article

Edited by midgrid, 12 March 2012 - 19:21.


#29 Tarzaan

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Posted 12 March 2012 - 20:28

Ratel has his 18 cars and the series is go!

It looks pretty rushed, with various entrants and teams joining together to run the Porsches, Fords and Aston Martins. Hopefully the problems of last year, with teams missing rounds due to budget problems caused by accident damage, will be avoided. Furthermore I have my fingers crossed that all of these entries will actually be serious, and that some teams won't just run one car depsite entering two.

EDIT: Autosport.com article



Imho Rathel is a very week series manager and this new field of cars are a joke compared to the former real GT1(former GT2) cars...

Edited by Tarzaan, 12 March 2012 - 20:30.


#30 midgrid

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 15:09

So, to recap, the full list of teams, cars, and confirmed drivers:

AF Corse - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 - Francesco Castellacci/Enzo Ide - Filip Salaquarda/?

China GT1 Team - Porsche 997 GT3 - Mike Parisy/Antonio Pizzonia - Ren Wei/?

Hexis Racing - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 - Grégoire Demoustier/Álvaro Parente - Stef Dusseldorp/Frédéric Makowiecki

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport - Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 - Marc Basseng/? - ?/?

Reiter Engineering - Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3 - Albert von Thurn und Taxis/Tomas Enge - Peter Kox/?

Team WRT - Audi R8 LMS ultra - Oliver Jarvis/Stéphane Ortelli - Frank Stippler/Laurens Vanthoor

Vita4One Racing Team - BMW Z4 GT3 - Michael Bartels/? - ?/?

Valmon Racing Team Russia - Aston Martin DBRS9/V12 Vantage GT3 - Mikhail Aleshin/? - ?/?

? (Indian team) - Ford GT GT3 - ?/? - ?/?

#31 Crusoe

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 15:50

So basically this is now GT3 world championship? Only the Aston (and Ford?) are GT1, and Aston will be changed with a GT3 later in the season.

Edited by Crusoe, 13 March 2012 - 15:51.


#32 Tarzaan

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 16:20

So basically this is now GT3 world championship? Only the Aston (and Ford?) are GT1, and Aston will be changed with a GT3 later in the season.



Yes. That's why I"m not too happy about this...

#33 SonnyViceR

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 18:39

So basically this is now GT3 world championship? Only the Aston (and Ford?) are GT1, and Aston will be changed with a GT3 later in the season.


DBRS9 and Ford GTs are also GT3s, so it's a 100% GT3 field... GT1 cars aren't eglible to race in FIA or ACO sanctioned series anymore

GT3 is probably the worst class in sportscar racing with all of it's ridiculous artificiality so I won't be bothering with this series anymore. 18 cars is also a pretty crappy outcome considering that there are 1000000 other series running same exact cars in same sprint format all around the world

Edited by SonnyViceR, 13 March 2012 - 18:40.


#34 black magic

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 22:49

where did the gtr nissans go?

#35 theTruth

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 22:52

Yes. That's why I"m not too happy about this...

Ditto. High quality sports cars racing equals F1 in my book, but this ain't it. . . .

Edited by theTruth, 13 March 2012 - 22:54.


#36 midgrid

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 22:57

Ditto. High quality sports cars racing equals F1 in my book, but this ain't it. . . .


Indeed, more like expensive touring cars at the moment, but hopefully the racing will be good. A lot of decent drivers are signed up already.


#37 SonnyViceR

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Posted 13 March 2012 - 23:10

where did the gtr nissans go?


Probably weren't too happy with the way FIA handled the whole mess, after all their very expensive GT1-spec GT-Rs only got to run for two years (plus 2009 in old, proper FIA GT series). They have the GT3 variant now but Nismo elected not to return for obvious reasons

Edited by SonnyViceR, 13 March 2012 - 23:12.


#38 midgrid

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 15:40

OK, there's some more information in today's Autosport. The three lastest teams to sign up are all receiving various levels of technical support from SRO, and the unnamed Indian team's cars will be run by SUNRED. Ratel also acknowledges that the current specification is not sufficiently spectacular, and the series will take steps to increase performance over the coming years, aiming for "GT3+" in 2013, "GT3++" in 2014, and possibly an all-new rulebook for 2015 which will be equivalent to the old GT1. He wants the cars to become "monsters".

#39 theTruth

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Posted 15 March 2012 - 15:47

OK, there's some more information in today's Autosport. The three lastest teams to sign up are all receiving various levels of technical support from SRO, and the unnamed Indian team's cars will be run by SUNRED. Ratel also acknowledges that the current specification is not sufficiently spectacular, and the series will take steps to increase performance over the coming years, aiming for "GT3+" in 2013, "GT3++" in 2014, and possibly an all-new rulebook for 2015 which will be equivalent to the old GT1. He wants the cars to become "monsters".

Good news. Cost be damned, we want spectacular. . . . Thanks for the update.

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#40 midgrid

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Posted 02 April 2012 - 18:42

Another revised championship schedule has just been released: Zandvoort and San Luis are out; Slovakia and Korea are in. Not happy about losing San Luis! :mad:

EDIT: I've updated the original post with the new calendar.

Edited by midgrid, 02 April 2012 - 18:45.


#41 midgrid

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Posted 02 April 2012 - 18:51

Another driver update (new information in bold, minor changes in italics) :

AF Corse - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 - Francesco Castellacci/Enzo Ide - Filip Salaquarda/Toni Vilander

Exim Bank Team China - Porsche 997 GT3-R - Mike Parisy/Matt Halliday - Ren Wei/?

Hexis Racing - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 - Grégoire Demoustier/Álvaro Parente - Stef Dusseldorp/Frédéric Makowiecki

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport - Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 - Marc Basseng/Markus Winkelhock - Thomas Jäger/Nicky Pastorelli

Reiter Engineering - Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3 - Albert von Thurn und Taxis/Tomas Enge - Peter Kox/Darryl O'Young

Team WRT - Audi R8 LMS ultra - Laurens Vanthoor/Stéphane Ortelli - Frank Stippler/Oliver Jarvis

Vita4One Racing Team - BMW Z4 GT3 - Michael Bartels/? - ?/?

Valmon Racing Team Russia - Aston Martin DBRS9/V12 Vantage GT3 - Mikhail Aleshin/? - ?/?

? (Indian team) - Ford GT GT3 - ?/? - ?/?


The first round of the championship will take place this weekend at Nogaro.

Edited by midgrid, 02 April 2012 - 18:52.


#42 ezequiel

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Posted 02 April 2012 - 19:27

Another revised championship schedule has just been released: Zandvoort and San Luis are out; Slovakia and Korea are in. Not happy about losing San Luis! :mad:

EDIT: I've updated the original post with the new calendar.


San Luis is out? That's unexpected!


#43 Dispenser89

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Posted 02 April 2012 - 19:36

Another revised championship schedule has just been released: Zandvoort and San Luis are out; Slovakia and Korea are in. Not happy about losing San Luis! :mad:

EDIT: I've updated the original post with the new calendar.

Oh hell no!



#44 SonnyViceR

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Posted 03 April 2012 - 16:13

You can argue whether or not the championship deserved the title of world championship for the last two years (you know, when the actual GT1s were racing), but now FIA is even breaking their own rules... this messy, C-grade calendar only goes to two continens while you're required to have minimum of three to receive the status of world championship!!!

Epic fail on every front, SRO. Just give up on this and concentrate on improving the BEC, I still hate the artificiality of GT3 but there is some strength in that championship

Edited by SonnyViceR, 03 April 2012 - 16:15.


#45 hunnylander

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Posted 03 April 2012 - 16:25

Slovakia Ring




#46 SonnyViceR

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Posted 03 April 2012 - 17:00

Btw FIA GT3 Europe entry list has just 14, I MEAN 14 cars entered for the upcoming weekend. You know, that series which uses the exact same cars as the GT3 World... I mean GT1 World. Merging the two series would've been far too logical thing for FIA to do, clearly!

#47 EightGear

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Posted 03 April 2012 - 17:06

Moving to Korea instead of Zandvoort. That is just hilarious....

#48 hunnylander

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Posted 03 April 2012 - 17:59

Moving to Korea instead of Zandvoort. That is just hilarious....

Not if you look at the GT3 Europe calendar.

#49 midgrid

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 13:47

The World GT1 Championship website has been revamped. Somewhat worryingly, last year's GT1 TV link no longer works, and has been replaced by a link to the series' YouTube channel, so I don't know if the races will be streamed live over the internet this year. It will, however, still be broadcast on Bloomberg and ESPN, with highlights programmes on Channel 4 in the UK.

Today's Autosport features an interview with Ratel, in which he is very candid about the lengths the SRO has had to go to in order to keep the series alive (i.e. putting together three of the teams). It's clear that this is something of a year of transition and survival.

There's also a separate report in Autosport which states that the switch from Argentina to Korea is the result of a change of the provincial governor in the San Luis area. As this counts as a case of force majeure, the series will continue to be designated "World", despite only taking place on two continents this year (below the FIA-mandated minimum of three).

#50 midgrid

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Posted 05 April 2012 - 13:56

Another update courtesy of the newly updated website:

AF Corse - Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 - Francesco Castellacci/Enzo Ide - Filip Salaquarda/Toni Vilander

Exim Bank Team China - Porsche 997 GT3-R - Mike Parisy/Matt Halliday* - Ren Wei/Benjamin Lariche

Hexis Racing - McLaren MP4-12C GT3 - Grégoire Demoustier/Álvaro Parente - Stef Dusseldorp/Frédéric Makowiecki

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport - Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 - Marc Basseng/Markus Winkelhock - Thomas Jäger/Nicky Pastorelli

Reiter Engineering - Lamborghini Gallardo LP600+ GT3 - Albert von Thurn und Taxis/Tomas Enge - Peter Kox/Darryl O'Young

Team WRT - Audi R8 LMS ultra - Laurens Vanthoor/Stéphane Ortelli - Frank Stippler/Oliver Jarvis

Vita4One Racing Team - BMW Z4 GT3 - Michael Bartels/Yelmer Buurman - Mathias Lauda/Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof

Valmon Racing Team Russia - Aston Martin DBRS9/V12 Vantage GT3 - Mikhail Aleshin**/Andreas Zuber - Alexey Vasilyev/Sergey Afanasiev

Sunred - Ford GT GT3 - Matteo Cressoni/Emmanuel Moncini - Milos Pavlovic/Andy Soucek

Notes:
*Today's Autosport still lists Antonio Pizzonia as Parisy's team-mate.
**Aleshin is missing from the website, but has been confirmed for some time.