1997 FIA GT Championship season

The 1997 FIA GT Championship season was the first season of FIA GT Championship motor racing. It featured a series for Grand Touring style cars broken into two classes based on power and manufacturer involvement, called GT1 and GT2. The series began on 13 April 1997 and ended on 26 October 1997 after 11 rounds.

The FIA GT Championship replaced the BPR Global GT Series in 1997, although the rules stayed mostly the same.

Schedule

Rnd	Race	Circuit	Date
1	Hockenheim 4 Hours	Hockenheimring	13 April
2	British Empire Trophy (4 Hours)	Silverstone Circuit	11 May
3	Helsinki 3 Hours	Helsinki street course	25 May
4	Nürburgring 4 Hours	Nürburgring	29 June
5	Spa 4 Hours	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	20 July
6	Zeltweg 4 Hours	A1-Ring	3 August
7	POKKA Suzuka 1000km	Suzuka Circuit	24 August
8	Donington 4 Hours	Donington Park	14 September
9	Mugello 4 Hours	Mugello Circuit	28 September
10	Sebring 3 Hours	Sebring International Raceway	18 October
11	Laguna Seca 3 Hours	Laguna Seca Raceway	26 October

Season results

Rnd	Circuit	GT1 Winning Team	GT2 Winning Team	Results
		GT1 Winning Drivers	GT2 Winning Drivers
1	Hockenheimring	#8 BMW Motorsport	#51 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		J.J. Lehto Steve Soper	Olivier Beretta Philippe Gache
2	Silverstone	#9 BMW Motorsport	#52 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		Peter Kox Roberto Ravaglia	Justin Bell Tommy Archer
3	Helsinki	#8 BMW Motorsport	#56 Roock Racing	Results
		J.J. Lehto Steve Soper	Claudia Hürtgen Bruno Eichmann Ni Amorim
4	Nürburgring	#11 AMG Mercedes	#56 Roock Racing	Results
		Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Claudia Hürtgen Bruno Eichmann Ni Amorim
5	Spa	#8 BMW Motorsport	#52 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		J.J. Lehto Steve Soper	Justin Bell Marc Duez
6	A1-Ring	#12 AMG Mercedes	#57 Roock Racing	Results
		Klaus Ludwig Bernd Mayländer	Stéphane Ortelli Claudia Hürtgen Bruno Eichmann
7	Suzuka	#10 AMG Mercedes	#51 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		Alessandro Nannini Marcel Tiemann Bernd Schneider	Olivier Beretta Philippe Gache
8	Donington	#11 AMG Mercedes	#51 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		Bernd Schneider Alexander Wurz	Olivier Beretta Philippe Gache
9	Mugello	#8 BMW Motorsport	#52 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		J.J. Lehto Steve Soper	Justin Bell Luca Drudi
10	Sebring	#11 AMG Mercedes	#51 Viper Team Oreca	Results
		Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Olivier Beretta Philippe Gache
11	Laguna Seca	#11 AMG Mercedes	#56 Roock Racing	Results
		Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Stéphane Ortelli Bruno Eichmann

Drivers Championship

Bernd Schneider won the GT1 Drivers Championship at the wheel of a Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR

Points were awarded to the top 6 finishers in each class in the order of 10–6–4–3–2–1. Drivers who do not drive the car for a prescribed minimum distance were not awarded points.

GT1 Standings

Pos	Driver	Team	Rd 1	Rd 2	Rd 3	Rd 4	Rd 5	Rd 6	Rd 7	Rd 8	Rd 9	Rd 10	Rd 11	Total
1	Bernd Schneider	AMG-Mercedes		6		10	6	10	10	10		10	10	72
2=	Steve Soper	BMW Motorsport	10	4	10	4	10	4	3	4	10			59
2=	JJ Lehto	BMW Motorsport	10	4	10	4	10	4	3	4	10			59
4	Klaus Ludwig	Kremer Racing AMG-Mercedes				10	2	10	6	3		10	10	51
5=	Marcel Tiemann	AMG-Mercedes				6		6	10	6	6			34
5=	Alessandro Nannini	AMG-Mercedes				6		6	10	6	6			34
7	Pierre-Henri Raphanel	Gulf Team Davidoff	6	3	3	2		2	4	1	1	2	3	27
8=	Peter Kox	BMW Motorsport		10		3	3			2	2	6		26
8=	Roberto Ravaglia	BMW Motorsport		10		3	3			2	2	6		26
10	Alexander Wurz	AMG-Mercedes		6			6	3		10				25
11	Jean-Marc Gounon	Gulf Team Davidoff	6		3	2			4	1	1	2	3	22
12	Bob Wollek	Schübel Rennsport Porsche AG	1				4	1	2		4	3	6	21
13=	Bernd Mayländer	AMG-Mercedes						10	6	3				19
13=	Yannick Dalmas	Roock Racing Porsche AG	2				4				4	3	6	19
15	Thierry Boutsen	Porsche AG	3	2			4	1	2		3	1	2	18
16	Ralf Kelleners	Roock Racing Porsche AG	2		6						3		4	15
17	Hans-Joachim Stuck	Porsche AG	3	2					2			1	2	10
18	John Nielsen	Gulf Team Davidoff	4		4				1					9
19	Thomas Bscher	Gulf Team Davidoff	4		4									8
20=	Anders Olofsson	Gulf Team Davidoff						2	4				1	7
20=	Andrew Gilbert-Scott	Gulf Team Davidoff		3	3				1					7
22	Stéphane Ortelli	Roock Racing			6									6
23=	David Brabham	David Price Racing										4		4
23=	Perry McCarthy	David Price Racing										4		4
23=	Allan McNish	Porsche AG											4	4
26=	Ray Bellm	Gulf Team Davidoff		3										3
26=	Gary Ayles	Parabolica Motorsport		1		1	1							3
26=	Chris Goodwin	Parabolica Motorsport		1		1	1							3
29=	Andrea Boldrini	GBF UK Ltd.			2									2
29=	Mauro Martini	GBF UK Ltd.			2									2
29=	Ralf Schumacher	AMG-Mercedes					2							2
29=	Geoff Lees	Gulf Team Davidoff							1				1	2
33=	Pedro Lamy	Schübel Rennsport Porsche AG	1											1
33=	Christian Pescatori	BMS Scuderia Italia			1									1
33=	Pierluigi Martini	BMS Scuderia Italia			1									1

GT2 Standings

Justin Bell won the GT2 Drivers Championship driving a Chrysler Viper GTS-R for Viper Team Oreca.

Teams Championship

AMG Mercedes won the GT1 Teams Championship

BMW Motorsport placed second in the GT1 Teams Championship

Porsche AG placed fourth in the GT1 Teams Championship

Points were awarded to the top 6 finishers in each class in the order of 10–6–4–3–2–1. All results obtained by a maximum of two cars per team were taken into account.

GT1 Standings

Pos	Team	Car	Engine	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Rd11	Total
1	AMG Mercedes	Mercedes-Benz CLK-GTR	Mercedes-Benz 6.0L V12		6		16	8	19	16	19	6	10	10	110
2	BMW Motorsport-Schnitzer	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW 6.0L V12	10	14	10	7	13	4	3	6	12	6		85
3	Gulf Team Davidoff	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW 6.0L V12	10	3	7	2		2	5	1	1	2	4	37
4	Porsche AG	Porsche 911 GT1 Porsche 911 GT1 Evo	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6 Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	3	2			4	1	2		7	4	12	35
5	Roock Racing	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	2		6									8
6	David Price Racing	Panoz Esperante GTR-1	Ford (Roush) 6.0L V8										4		4
7	Parabolica Motorsport	McLaren F1 GTR	BMW 6.0L V12		1		1	1							3
8	GBF UK Ltd.	Lotus Elise GT1	Lotus 3.5L Turbo V8			2									2
9=	Schübel Rennsport	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6	1											1
9=	BMS Scuderia Italia	Porsche 911 GT1	Porsche 3.2L Turbo Flat-6			1									1

GT2 Standings

Pos	Team	Car	Engine	Rd1	Rd2	Rd3	Rd4	Rd5	Rd6	Rd7	Rd8	Rd9	Rd10	Rd11	Total
1	Viper Team Oreca	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10	16	14		6	16	10	14	14	10	16	10	126
2	Roock Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	4	6	10	10	1	10	8	9	11	4	10	83
3	Konrad Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	2			4			3	2	3	1		15
4=	Krauss Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	1		4	3		3					2	13
4=	Marcos Racing International	Marcos LM600	Chevrolet 5.9L V8			6		4					3		13
6	Karl Augustin	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6			2			2			2	2		8
7	Chamberlain Engineering	Chrysler Viper GTS-R	Chrysler 8.0L V10			3								3	6
8=	Rennsport Italia	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6	3	1										4
9=	Kremer Racing Kremer Racing	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6		3				1						4
11=	G-Force Strandell	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6					3							3
11=	Agusta Racing Team	Callaway Corvette LM Porsche 911 GT2	Chevrolet 6.3L V8 Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6					2			1				3
13=	RWS-Brun Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6		2										2
13=	Stadler Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6				2								2
15=	Proton Competition	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6			1									1
15=	Seikel Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6				1								1
15=	Larbre Compétition	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6							1					1
15=	Dellenbach Motorsport	Porsche 911 GT2	Porsche 3.6L Turbo Flat-6											1	1

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1997 in FIA GT Championship.

• Official FIA GT homepage
• 1997 FIA GT Championship race results
• 1997 FIA GT Championship images Retrieved from www.racingsportscars.com on 24 August 2009
• 1997 FIA GT Championship Classifications Retrieved from web.archive.org on 24 August 2009
• 1997 FIA GT Championship points tables Retrieved from web.archive.org on 24 August 2009
• Grand Touring Car Technical Regulations Retrieved from web.archive.org on 25 August 2009