International GT Open

International GT Open
Category Grand tourer sportscars
Country International
Inaugural season 2006
Drivers 63 (2013)
Teams 20 (2013)
Tyre suppliers Michelin[1]
Drivers' champion Russia Roman Mavlanov
Italy Daniel Zampieri
Teams' champion Netherlands V8 Racing(SGT)
Italy AF Corse(GTS)
Official website www.gtopen.net/
Current season

The International GT Open is a grand tourer-style sports car racing founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It is a spin-off of the Spanish GT Championship, and uses a similar format, except its races are held internationally.

Format

The series consists of events in various European countries which feature two races over a weekend. In its first year, the races had an identical format to the Spanish GT Championship, with two 200 km races, the first held on Saturday and the second the following Sunday. Three of the six rounds were joint events for the Open and the Spanish GT Championship.

In 2007, the first race, known as Pro-Am, covers approximately 200 km distance, while the second race is 150 km and known as GT Open. The only exception is the Open GT Barcelona, which is a single 300 km race. Since its inception, a few races have been a part of the World Touring Car Championship support package.

Regulations

Each race consists of a field of grand touring-style cars broken into different classes based on power and weight. For 2006, two classes were used, known as GTA and GTB. GTA is equivalent to the GT2 class used in the FIA GT Championship, but it also allows non-homologated cars provide they obey the FIA GT2 technical regulations. Most of the field is made up of Ferrari F430 GTs and Porsche 911 GT3-RSRs. Non-homologated cars like the Mosler MT900R and the SEAT Cupra GT are also competitive.

The GTB class consists of cars usually from a manufacturer's one-make cup series, like the Ferrari F430 Challenge, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, and the Marcos Mantis. A GTS class was created to house the FIA GT3 class, consisting mainly of Dodge Viper Competition Coupes and Lamborghini Gallardo GT3s. Ferrari 458 still remain the unbeatable car of the last four years: 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014.

Champions

Drivers

Year Overall GTA GTS GTB
2006 Italy Michele Bartyan Italy Michele Bartyan Italy Stefano Zonca
Italy Andrea Belicchi
Italy Fabrizio Gini
2007 Austria Richard Lietz
Switzerland Joël Camathias
Italy Andrea Montermini
Italy Michele Maceratesi
Italy Riccardo Romagnoli Italy Gianni Giudici
2008 Italy Andrea Montermini
Italy Michele Maceratesi
Italy Andrea Montermini
Italy Michele Maceratesi
Italy Marco Cioci
Italy Andrea Pellizzato
not held
Overall Super GT GTS
2009 Switzerland Joël Camathias
Switzerland Marcel Fässler
Switzerland Joël Camathias
Switzerland Marcel Fässler
Austria Philipp Peter
Poland Michal Broniszewski
2010 Spain Álvaro Barba
Germany Pierre Kaffer
Spain Álvaro Barba
Germany Pierre Kaffer
Italy Marco Frezza
2011 France Soheil Ayari France Soheil Ayari Italy Lorenzo Bontempelli
Italy Stefano Gattuso
2012 Italy Federico Leo
Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Italy Federico Leo
Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Italy Daniel Zampieri
Italy Michael Dalle Stelle
2013 Italy Andrea Montermini Italy Andrea Montermini Italy Giorgio Pantano
2014 Russia Roman Mavlanov
Italy Daniel Zampieri
Russia Roman Mavlanov
Italy Daniel Zampieri
Italy Giorgio Roda

Teams

Year Teams' Cup
2007 Italy Scuderia Playteam SaraFree
2008 Italy Scuderia Playteam SaraFree
Super GT GTS
2009 Italy Autorlando Sport Italy Villois Racing
2010 Italy AF Corse Switzerland Kessel Racing
2011 Monaco JMB Racing Switzerland Kessel Racing
2012 Italy AF Corse Switzerland Kessel Racing
2013 Netherlands V8 Racing Italy Bhai Tech Racing
2014 Netherlands V8 Racing Italy AF Corse

References

  1. "Michelin becomes the new tire supplier of the Euroformula Open". automobilsport.com. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to International GT Open.