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FIA GT: World GT1 Series Taking Shape
The first sportscar world championship in nearly 20 years will take the green flag next year. We introduce the man behind the effort and preview what’s to come.
John Dagys  |  Posted November 16, 2009   Chicago, IL
The FIA GT Championship will transform into the FIA World GT1 Championship next year. (DPPI/FIA GT)
For nearly 40 years, the World Sportscar Championship was home to the major endurance races. From the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans to the famed Twelve Hours of Sebring and Monza’s 1000km classic, it appeared sportscar racing always had its place in the international spotlight. But by 1992, escalating costs forced manufacturers to abandon the series, and WSC was no more.

While many of the iconic races continued under different organizers, the FIA had lost one of its flagship world championships. Barring Le Mans, sportscar racing had disappeared from the global stage, until now. Eighteen years after WSC’s demise, enter the FIA World GT1 Championship.

It’s been a long time coming for Stephane Ratel, whose SRO Motorsports Group organizes a dozen GT and open-wheel championships in Europe and South America, including the FIA’s newest World Championship. The French businessman co-founded the BPR Series in 1994, which evolved into the FIA GT Championship three years later. The two-tier GT-only formula began to prosper in Europe by the dawn of the decade, but Ratel’s vision for a World GT Championship was undeniable.

Ratel took FIA GT to exotic locals in China, Bahrain and Argentina, hoping to string up enough international interest for a full-on world championship. And despite the cancelation of a handful of proposed ‘fly away’ events over the last five years, compounded with the troubling economic conditions, he pushed ahead with his plans.

In what appeared to be the worst of times to launch a world championship turned into the perfect opportunity, according to Ratel. Following the announcement of a cost-cutting 2009 FIA GT season, which featured an eight-round all-European series, the FIA confirmed in June that the World GT1 Championship was a go for 2010.

“It’s been my goal for many, many years,” Ratel said. “I needed to put together many arguments and finalize a lot things to make it a reality. The first was to get the official world title from the FIA, and they don’t give that very easily. I was in long-term negotiations until they were convinced that we were strong enough and proven, even through the good and bad years.”

It could be considered a large risk, not only on the FIA’s part, but also for Ratel to deliver a new world championship in these difficult times. However, his unique approach, aimed at winning over fans and teams, is unlike anything seen in top-flight sportscar racing before.

The formula is quite simple. Six brands making up 24 cars will compete in the inaugural championship. Each privateer team must have two entries, with every brand having four cars represented. Twelve rounds are provisionally on the 2010 schedule, with each weekend comprising of two one-hour races.

While this format sheds away from the traditional ‘endurance’ and multi-class aspect of sportscar racing, it provides a new flavor to the sport that could be more appealing to mainstream motorsports fans, not to mention a better suited product for television. The sprint race format also helps differentiate the World GT1 Championship away from the 1000km/six-hour-long Le Mans Series races.
Ratel has spent over 15 years in auto racing, building his SRO empire into one of the most successful motorsports organizations in Europe. (LAT)

Manufacturers, teams and tracks alike have taken interest in the new formula. The FIA is close to officially announcing the six brands that will compete next year. Three new 2010-specification GT1 cars from Nismo (Nissan GT-R), Matech Concepts (Ford GT) and Reiter Engineering (Lamborghini Murcielago R-SV) have already been confirmed, while three current spec GT1 cars, the Corvette C6.R, Aston Martin DBR9 and Maserati MC12 are expected to be grandfathered in with air restrictor, weight, electronic and aerodynamic modifications to put them in line with the new regulations.

Unlike F1 or the World Rally Championship, the World GT1 Championship will not allow direct manufacturer involvement and instead depend entirely on privateer teams. Ratel has witnessed the rise, and fall, of sportscar racing when factory teams come and go from the sport. One needs to only look back to the early years of FIA GT, when Mercedes Benz and Porsche injected tens of millions of dollars into what was essentially a prototype program in GT clothing. Both manufacturers lasted two years before they withdrew.

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