The Stephane Ratel Organisation has confirmed seven teams for their 2012 GT World project, a global series with single-brand teams competing worldwide based on the current FIA GT1 Championship.
Young Driver AMR (Aston Martin), Team WRT (Audi), Marc VDS (BMW), Vita4One Racing (Ferrari), Belgian Racing (Ford), All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport (Lamborghini), JRM Motorsport (Nissan) have been confirmed by Stephane Ratel, CEO of the race event organiser.
Ratel is pleased to have secured the teams so early and is hopeful more top class manufacturers will join the exciting venture.
He said: “We are fully in line with our declared objective to have nine, 10 teams – 11 in an ideal world – representing nine, 10, 11, different makes in the ultimate GT world championship.
“To welcome Audi, BMW and Ferrari cars in addition to the brands we had already – Aston Martin, Corvette, Ford, Lamborghini, Nissan – is a major achievement.
“We are convinced that other teams around the world will recognise the potential of this unique opportunity to become the exclusive representative of a given brand in an exciting and truly global series for GT cars.
“The 2012 concept will be an evolution of the current FIA GT1 World Championship building on the qualified success of the exciting one-hour sprint format. We are all in agreement about this.”
As for the racing calendar due to be revealed in October, Ratel is looking to take the series all over the globe to gain a worldwide audience.
He added: “A number of our 2011 events will continue, but to further underline the global status of the championship we need to expand into other territories like we have done with China in 2011.
“Europe Argentina, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates will be on the 2012 calendar. We have had very good discussions on four corners of the globe including Australasia, North America and Russia.
“The FIA GT1 World Championship has proven its ability to provide teams and sponsors with global reach and the capacity to provide teams with total support – financial and logistical – on overseas events.”
The announcement comes as the Total 24 Hours of Spa kicks off with the biggest line-up of cars on the grid courtesy of the Blancpain Endurance Series run by SRO.
The SRO chief is delighted with the impact that the Blancpain series has had and is hoping the success continues into 2012 and beyond.
He explained: “The Blancpain is the most outstanding instant success since the launch of the BPR in 1994 as witnessed by this marvellous Spa race weekend. The Total 24 Hours of Spa is more than ever the crown jewel of GT endurance around the world.
“There is no doubt by the number of teams that have indicate this weekend their intention to do Spa and the series next year that it is going to be a growing success.”
As for the remainder of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship, Ratel confirmed that the intention was to have two races in China in September where further details of the 2012 global series will be unveiled.
He concluded: “We are all set now for a second race in China which is only pending an FIA homologation of the Goldenport Circuit which will take place next week.”
