The FIA GT Championship is a sports car motorsport series organized by the SRO at the behest of the FIA. The championship is mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents, most lately visiting Asia. GTP sports cars racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 1991 Sports car racing is a form of circuit racing, with purpose-built cars that nevertheless have enclosed wheel wells and often have closed cockpits. ... Auto racing (also known as automobile racing or autosport) is a sport involving racing automobiles. ... The Fédération Internationale de lAutomobile, commonly referred to as the FIA, is a non-profit association established in 1904 to represent the interest of motoring organisations and motor car users. ...

FIA defines two categories of GT cars: GT1, or Grand Touring Cars, and GT2, or Series Grand Touring Cars. Each category has an annual driver champion, team champion, and manufacturer champion. Both categories are based on production road car designs, which must be produced in a minimum quantity of 25 examples to qualify. Both types may undergo significant modifications from the road car they are based on, but GT1 allows the use of exotic materials, better aerodynamics, larger brakes, wider tyres and larger engine admission restrictors. Homologation is a technical term, derived from the Greek homologos for agree, which is generally used in English to signify the granting of approval by an official authority. ... Aerodynamics is a branch of fluid dynamics concerned with the study of gas flows, first analysed by George Cayley in the 1800s. ... A brake is a device for slowing or stopping the motion of a machine, and to keep it from starting to move. ... For a wheel tyre, see the article under the US English spelling of the word, tire. ...

The FIA defintes a GT car as "an open or closed automobile which has no more than one door on each side and a minimum of two seats situated one on each side of the longitudinal centre line of the car; these two seats must be crossed by the same transversal plane. This car must be able to be used perfectly legally on the open road, and adapted for racing on circuits or closed courses."

All races in the FIA GT Championship are of endurance type, a full race distance lasting a minimum of 500 km or a maximum of three hours, with the exception of the Spa 24 Hours and the Mil Milhas Bresil, which is run over a thousand miles and will be a round of the championship from 2007. Endurance racing can refer to races involving persons running in events such as marathons or triathlons, long cross-country skiing events, the racing of horses or other animals, or motorsport. ... The Spa 24 Hours is an automobile race held annually in Belgium at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. ...

Champions

• 1994: No championship attributed
• 1995: Thomas Bscher/Ray Bellm - DPR McLaren F1
• 1996: Ray Bellm/James Weaver - GTC Competition McLaren F1
• 1997: Bernd Schneider - AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR (GT2: Justin Bell - Oreca Chrysler Viper GTS-R)
• 1998: Klaus Ludwig/Ricardo Zonta - AMG Mercedes-Benz CLK-LM (GT2: Olivier Beretta/Pedro Lamy - Oreca Chrysler Viper GTS-R)
• 1999: Olivier Beretta/Karl Wendlinger - Oreca Chrysler Viper GTS-R
• 2000: Julian Bailey/Jamie Campbell-Walter - Lister Racing Lister Storm (N-GT: Christophe Bouchut/Patrice Goueslard - Larbre Competition Porsche 911 GT3-R)
• 2001: Christophe Bouchut/Jean-Philippe Belloc - Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper GTS-R (N-GT: Christian Pescatori/David Terrien - JMB Racing Ferrari 360 Modena
• 2002: Christophe Bouchut - Larbre Competition Chrysler Viper GTS-R (N-GT: Stéphane Ortelli - Freisinger Porsche 911 GT3-RS)
• 2003: Thomas Biagi/Mateo Bobbi - Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello (N-GT: Stéphane Ortelli/Marc Lieb - Freisinger Porsche 911 GT3-RSR)
• 2004: Fabrizio Gollin/Luca Cappellari - Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello (N-GT: Sascha Maassen/Lucas Luhr - Freisinger Porsche 911 GT3-RSR)
• 2005: Gabriele Gardel - Larbre Competition Ferrari 550 Maranello (GT2: Marc Lieb/Mike Rockenfeller - Gruppe M Porsche 911 GT3-RSR)

Thomas Bscher (pronounced BEE-sher) is an automobile race car driver, manager, and banker. ... McLaren F1 chassis number 007 Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1996 McLaren F1 The McLaren F1 is a supercar, manufactured by McLaren Cars, a British company. ... James Baird Weaver James Baird Weaver (June 12, 1833 – February 6, 1912) was a United States politician and member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Iowa as a member of the Greenback Party. ... Bernd Schneider was a Formula One driver from Germany. ... Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach or AMG is the tuning arm of the Mercedes-Benz car company. ... Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR, recorded as the most expensive production car ever built, with a price of £1,100,000 it certainly deserved its title. ... Oreca is a french racing team, founded and run by Hughes de Chaunac, former team manager of F1 team AGS. Oreca has had success in many areas of motorsport since the early 90s, running the works BMW operation in the French Supertourisme Championship, winning the FIA GT Championship and the... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Klaus Ludwig (born May 5, 1949 in Bonn, Germany) was probably Germanys best race driver that did not enter Formula One. ... Zonta qualifying in place of an injured Ralf Schumacher at the 2005 United States Grand Prix Ricardo Zonta (born March 23, 1976 in Curitiba) is a Brazilian Formula One race car driver. ... Olivier Beretta (Montecarlo, November 23, 1969) was a Formula One driver from Monaco who raced for the Larrousse team. ... José Pedro Lamy Viçoso, better known as Pedro Lamy, is a professional racing driver from Portugal, notable for being the first Portuguese driver to score a point in a World Championship event, in the 1995 Australian Grand Prix, for Minardi. ... Karl Wendlinger is an Austrian motor racing driver. ... Julian Bailey (born 9 October 1961 in Woolwich, England) was a Formula One driver who raced for the Tyrrell and Lotus teams. ... Lister Cars was a manufacturer of sports cars in the United Kingdom. ... The Lister Storm was a homologated racing car built by Lister Cars of the United Kingdom beginning in 1993. ... 996 Turbo Cabriolet 996 Turbo The Porsche Type 996 is a sports car, and the version of the Porsches 911 Carrera model sold from 1998 (as a 1999 model) through 2005. ... Ferrari 360 is the name given to three models of Ferrari cars: the Ferrari 360 Modena, an enclosed two-door coupe; the Ferrari 360 Spider, a two-door convertible; and the Ferrari Challenge Stradale, the bare-bones version of the 360 Modena. ... Dallara was a Formula One constructor from 1988 through 1992. ... The Ferrari 550 Maranello and 550 Barchetta were 2-seat Gran Turismo automobiles. ...

External links

• FIA GT Championship official site
• FIA International
• 2005 FIA GT Championship Course Dates
• GT Rules and Regulations