The Championship

Introduction

The FIA GT1 World Championship was launched in a blaze of publicity at the start of 2010. It continues in 2011 and follows the same innovative format to that of its inaugural year. This season sees five manufacturers represented: Nissan, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ford and Chevrolet, with the cars piloted by many of the world’s leading sports car drivers.
 
Proof that the Championship is a truly global affair is confirmed by its ten-round calendar, which sees teams visit some of the world’s most iconic tracks. Starting at the spectacular Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, the next six events all take place in Europe. The tour then heads to China for round eight, with the last two races of the season taking place in South America: one in Brazil and the other in Argentina.

The Championship

The FIA GT1 World Championship is a world championship sports car racing series, regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and promoted by the Stephane Ratel Organisation (SRO). Entrants compete in one-hour races on multiple continents, driving ‘grand touring’ race cars that are based on standard production road cars, and conform to strict GT1 regulations. Championships are awarded to teams and drivers each season.

Weekend Format

Each of the 10 events held in 2011 will feature two 60-minute races, one Qualifying Race and one Championship Race. Qualifying will take place over three periods, with the eight slowest cars dropping out after the first and second periods, leaving the final eight battle it out for pole position. The Qualifying Race will determine the grid for the Championship Race on the final day. There will be a mandatory pit stop for tyre and driver change in each race and success ballast will be added to the top four cars at the end of the weekend.

The events run over 3 days (except Round 1 in Abu Dhabi which is over 2 days).

• Free Practice 80-minute session
• Pre-qualifying 80-minute session
• Qualifying 60-minute session (see format below)
• Warm-up 30-minute session
• Qualifying Race 60-minutes
• Championship Race 60-minutes
  

Qualifying

A From 0.00 to 0.20 (Q1), all cars driven by the “Drivers 1” will be permitted on the track and at the end of this period, the fastest cars will proceed to Q2 and their lap times will be deleted. All eliminated cars will be prohibited from taking any further part in the session.
B From 00.27 to 00.42 (Q2), the remaining cars driven by the “Drivers 2” will be permitted on the track and at the end of this period, the fastest cars will proceed to Q3 and their laps times will be deleted. All eliminated cars will be prohibited from taking any further part in the session.
C From 00.50 to 1.00 (Q3), the remaining cars driven by the “Drivers 1” will be permitted on the track.

Success Ballast for Qualifying Race

The regulation regarding the allocation of success ballast during the race weekend has been changed with the top two cars in the Qualifying Race receiving 10kg and 5kg respectively and the 9th placed car removing 5kg and all cars placed 10th or less removing 10kg.  The success ballast allocated in the Championship Race has also been altered with 30kg, instead of 40kg, being awarded to the winning car. The weight from both races will be added to give the resulting increase or reduction in weight, which will take effect from the following Event in the Championship.

Qualifying Race Championship Race

1st +10kg +30kg
2nd +5kg +20kg
3rd 0kg +10kg
4th 0kg +5kg
5th 0kg 0kg
6th 0kg -5kg
7th 0kg -10kg
8th 0kg -20kg
9th -5kg -30kg
10th -10kg -30kg
11th -10kg -30kg

Points system

The number of cars and drivers eligible to score points in the Qualifying Race has been increased from the top 3 (in 2010) to the top 6 cars in every round of the 2011 FIA GT1 World Championship.

Qualifying Race/Championship Race
1st 8 pts/25 pts
2nd 6 pts/18 pts
3rd 4 pts/15 pts
4th 3 pts/12 pts
5th 2 pts/10 pts
6th 1 pts/8 pts
7th 0 pts/6 pts
8th 0 pts/4 pts
9th 0 pts/2 pts
10th 0 pts/1 pts

Tyres

The number of sets of new tyres each team can use during a race weekend have been increased from four to six from 2010.  As well as being able to use a used set from the previous race from the second race onwards, teams will be allocated two fresh sets of tyres for the two 80-minute Free Practice and Pre Qualifying sessions, as well as the 30-minute Warm Up, leaving teams and drivers with four new sets for Qualifying and the two 60-minute races.

Pit stops

A mandatory pit stop for changing drivers and all 4 tyres is to be carried out during each of the two races, between the 25th and 35th minutes.