2012 FIA GT World Championship season

2012 FIA GT World Championship season
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The 2012 FIA GT World Championship will be the third season of the SRO Group's FIA GT World Championship, an auto racing series for grand tourer cars meeting Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) World GT regulations. The championship features two titles awarded to the highest scoring entries over the course of the season: The GT World Championship for Drivers and the GT World Championship for Teams. The series undergoes regulation changes in 2012 that introduce new cars, replacing the GT1 category machines formerly used in the previous two seasons of the World Championship. German drivers Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr are the defending Drivers' World Champions, while Hexis AMR are the defending Teams' World Champions.

Contents 1 Calendar 1.1 Calendar changes 2 Entries 2.1 GT World regulations 2.2 Entries 2.3 Team and driver changes 3 References

Calendar

Stéphane Ratel, CEO of the SRO Group, stated during the course of the 2011 FIA GT1 season that the 2012 calendar will include rounds in Europe, as well as Brazil, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates. Ratel has also been in discussions with venues in Australasia, North America, and Russia for possible additions to the championship calendar,^[1] as part of Ratel's plan to limit the calendar to only four European rounds. During the 2011 season finale, Ratel confirmed that the 2012 season will open at the Circuit Paul Armagnac in Nogaro, France, a departure from the opening round of the past two seasons at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi.^[2] A nine-round calendar was released on 15 December, with a tenth round subject to confirmation.^[3]

Event	Circuit	Date
1	Circuit Paul Armagnac, Nogaro, France	8 April
2	Circuit Zolder, Heusden-Zolder, Belgium	22 April
3	Circuito de Navarra, Los Arcos, Spain	27 May
4	Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão, Portugal	8 July
5	TBA, Beijing, China	26 August
6	Ordos International Circuit, Ordos City, China	2 September
7	Moscow Raceway, Volokolamsk, Russia	16 September
8	Circuit Park Zandvoort, Zandvoort, Netherlands	7 October
9	Potrero de los Funes Circuit, San Luis, Argentina	25 November
TBA	TBA	TBA

Calendar changes

• After both the GT1 and GT3 series raced at Paul Ricard in 2011, the GT World series will move to Paul Armagnac for 2012.
• Two races in China have been confirmed, though the circuit hosting the first of these races is yet to be decided.
• The GT World Championship will become the first major international motorsport series to visit Russia, with a race to be held at the Moscow Raceway in Volokolamsk.
• Zandvoort will make its GT series debut, having been carried over from the GT3 calendar.
• The series will not visit Abu Dhabi, Silverstone or the Sachsenring from the GT1 calendar; nor will it visit the Slovakiaring from the GT3 series.
• The calendar holds a provision for a tenth round to the championship, which, at the time of the calendar's publication, remains to be confirmed.

Entries

GT World regulations

In an attempt to attract more manufacturers to the World Championship, the new GT World regulation set was devised by the SRO Group in an attempt to allow cars from a variety of racing classes to compete together in a single championship. The GT World category allows for cars meeting GT1 and GT3 specifications to be modified to ensure balanced competition. The Automobile Club de l'Ouest's GTE category was also considered for inclusion in the GT World regulations, but was withdrawn due to manufacturers in the GTE category also building GT3 specification cars.

As part of the equalization process, GT3 specification cars will be allowed upgrades to increase their speed, as well as the adoption of carbon brakes and less restrictions on exhaust noise levels. Anti-lock braking systems utilized on GT3 cars will not be allowed under GT World regulations. Manufacturers will be able to offer the upgrades as kits rather than requiring the purchase of new cars specifically built for GT World regulations in order to help lower costs. As in the previous two seasons, all cars will still receive Balance of Performance modifications during the course of the season to help ensure an even field.^[4]

Entries

As part of the new GT World regulation set, manufacturers will now only be allowed one private team to campaign their cars in the Championship instead of the two teams required in previous seasons. This will allow the championships to include ten or more manufacturers instead of the previous five and six. Seven teams and manufacturers were initially announced by Stéphane Ratel during a press conference at the 2011 Spa 24 Hours in July 2011. These included 2011 teams and manufacturers Young Driver AMR, continuing to campaign for Aston Martin; Münnich Motorsport, entering as Lamborghini; JR Motorsport, racing on behalf of Nissan; and Belgian Racing, competing with Ford.

Team	Manufacturer	Car	Engine	Tyre	No.	Drivers	Events
Hexis Racing[5]	McLaren	McLaren MP4-12C GT3[5]	McLaren M838T 3.8 L Turbo V8	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport[1]	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3[6]	Mercedes-Benz M159 6.2 L V8	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
Team WRT[7]	Audi	Audi R8 LMS Ultra[7]	Audi 5.2 L V10	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
Vita4One Racing[1]	BMW	BMW Z4 GT3[8]	BMW 4.4 L V8	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
JR Motorsport[1]	Nissan	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
Young Driver AMR[1]	Aston Martin	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA
					TBA	TBA	TBA
						TBA	TBA

Team and driver changes

• Belgian Racing, a satellite team of Marc VDS Racing Team, were initially included as an entry and would continue to race a Ford,^[1] but were later withdrawn from the championship.^[9]
• At the July 2011 annoucement of the series, Marc VDS was initially included, representing BMW, but later withdrew in order to concentrate on the Blancpain Endurance Series in 2012.^[9]
• In November 2011, defending FIA GT1 World Teams' Champions Hexis Racing announced their purchase of McLaren MP4-12C GT3s for use in the GT World Championship.^[10]
• Vita4One Racing, formerly known as Vitaphone Racing Team when they won the2010 FIA GT1 World Teams' Championship with Maserati, will enter a BMW.^[1]
• Team WRT will enter the series, representing Audi^[1] and using the new R8 LMS Ultra.

References