FIA GT1 World Championship, Nogaro - Preview

It has been another difficult run in to the season start for the FIA GT1 World Championship – A late, late scrabble for entries, late, then VERY late calendar changes, including, controversially, the removal of the only round outside either Europe or Asia.

Thanks though to the unique wat that the Championship is funded there’s a 18 car (edit 17 car)  entry for the opening race weekend of the year at Nogaro.

It’s GT3 cars for the GT1 World Championship this year of course with Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Ferrari, Ford, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes and Porsche all represented this season.

#1 Hexis RacingFrédéric Makowiecki / Stef Dusseldorp McLaren MP4-12C GT3
#2 Hexis RacingAlvaro Parente/ Grégoire Demoustier McLaren MP4-12C GT3

2011 teams champions Hexis are back, but their Astons are replaced by McLarens, one of which will therefore carry the always coveted #1.

Frederic Makowiecki returns to Hexis and is paired with Stef Dusseldorp in the #1 car.  McLaren factory driver Alvaro Parente and Frenchman Gregoire Demoustier pair up in the team’s second car

#3 AF Corse Filip Salaquarda/ Toni Vilander Ferrari 458 Italia
#4 AF Corse Francesco Castellacci/ Enzo Ide Ferrari 458 Italia

AF Corse were asying as late as January that they would not be entering the Championship but yet here they are with a pair of 458 Italias.

European GT3 champion Francesco Castellacci joins the man who finished third in GT3 last year,  Belgian Enzo Ide in the #4 car whilst super experienced Ferrari GT man Toni Vilander partners young Czech Filip Salaquarda in the #3 car.

#6 Valmon Racing Team Russia Sergey Afanasyev/ Andreas Zuber Aston Martin DBRS9
#7 Valmon Racing Team Russia Alexey Vasilyev/ Maxime Martin Aston Martin DBRS9

Aston Martin’s entrants for the Championship were one of a trio of very late additions, assisted in no small part by the Championship organisers.

That lateness means that the new Aston Martin V12 Vantage is not yet available to the team, operated by LMS Motorsport, who will utilise their two DBRS9s for the time being.

Valmon Racing Team Russia will though field a pair of Russian drivers:

Sergey Afanasyev will share the #6 car with ex Corvette man Andreas Zuber and long time endurance racer Alex Vasilyev will share the #7 car at Nogaro with Maxime Martin who replaces full season signing Antonio Pizzonia for the first weekend of the season.

#8 Exim Bank Team China Ren Wei/ Benjamin Lariche Porsche 911 GT3 R
#9 Exim Bank Team China Mike Parisy/ Matt Halliday Porsche 911 GT3 R

Team China Exim Bank fielded GT1 Corvettes last season and they are back, sort of, with a different manufacturer and another team. Patrick Selleslagh replaced by Bernard Mühlner, the Vettes replaced by Porsche 997 GT3Rs.

The vice-champion in the 2011 FIA GT3 championship, Mike Parisy is paired with New Zealander Matt Halliday in one car with Chinese driver Ren Wei and Frenchman Benjamin Lariche in the other.

This is another late late show on the list, again thought to be financially supported by SRO.

#10 Sunred Milos Pavlovic/ Andy Soucek Ford GT
#11 Sunred Matteo Cressoni/ Emmanuel Moncini Ford GT

The opening race of the season is due to see a pair of Ford GTs entered by the Spanish SUNRED team.

Andy Soucek, Milos Pavlovic, Matteo Cressoni and Emmanuel Moncini are the four named drivers but delays in getting the cars through customes (from Brazil) have left the team chasing hard to get on track.

#17 BMW Team Vita4one Mathias Lauda/ Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof BMW Z4GT3
#18 BMW Team Vita4one Michael Bartels/ Yelmer Buurman BMW Z4 GT3

Vita4One Racing Team are previous Championship winners with their once dominant Maserati MC12s under the Vitaphone label.  They’re back in 2012 with a pair of BMW Z4 GT3s

Yelmer Buurman shone in the ELMS opener last weekend and will be looking to put on another impressive display as he links up with team boss Michael Bartels.

The second BMW sees former DTM driver Mathias Lauda driving together with ex-Reiter Lamborghini driver Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof.

#24 Reiter Engineering Peter Kox/ Darryl O'Young Lamborghini Gallardo LP600
#25 Reiter Engineering Albert von Thurn und Taxis/ Tomas Enge Lamborghini Gallardo LP600

Reiter Lamborghini were another team that joined the late late show, joining the grid at the last gasp with a pair of Gallardo LP600s.

Ex-Aston Martin factory man Tomas Enge is the big news on the driver front here, he’ll share with Reiter regular Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis.

Reiter’s main man Peter Kox anchors the other car together with Hong Kong based Darryl O'Young, who brings extensive GT and FIA WTCC experience to the party.

#32 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Stephane Ortelli/ Laurens Vanthoor Audi R8 LMS Ultra
#33 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT Oliver Jarvis/ Frank Stippler Audi R8 LMS Ultra

Audi were early adopters for the GT3 based regulations this year with crack Belgian squad Audi Club Team WRT stepping up from national and internation competition to the global stage.

They’ll field a pair of new Audi R8 LMS Ultras with a strong driver line-up:

Audi factory driver Oliver Jarvis will work with Frank Stippler in the #33 car whilst  the #32 car sees the hugely experienced Stephane Ortelli joined by young Belgian rider Laurens Vanthoor.

#37 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Nicky Pastorelli/ Thomas Jäger Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3
#38 All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport Marc Basseng/ Marcus Winkelhock Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3

All-Inkl.com Münnich Motorsport fielded Lamborghini's last year and are another team to switch makes, this time to Mercedes-Benz.

There’s less of a change on the driver front with three of the four spots unchanged.

Team manager Marc Basseng teams up with Marcus Winkelhock once again whilst fellow 2011 Munnich man Nicky Pastorelli rides with Thomas Jäger, he races for Munnich too, but back in 2010.

MtC and GG (Pics Markus Bern/ SRO)