Karl Wendlinger is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver.
The Maserati MC12 is a limited production two-seater sports car produced by Italian car maker Maserati from 2004 to 2005, to allow a racing variant to compete in the FIA GT Championship. The car entered production in 2004, with 25 cars produced. A further 25 were produced in 2005 after the FIA changed the rules and reduced the maximum length allowed. The second batch of 25 are 150mm shorter than the originals, making a total of 50 cars available for customers. With the addition of 12 cars produced for racing, a total of just 62 were ever produced.
Ryan Sharp is a race car driver and team manager. He raced in the FIA GT Championship in 2007 with JetAlliance Racing in their lead No. 33 Aston Martin DBR9 – with ex-F1 Driver Karl Wendlinger as his teammate. Ryan was also the 2003 German Formula Renault champion. He is currently the director of Hitech Racing.
The Aston Martin DBR9 is a racing car built by Aston Martin Racing, debuting in 2005 and racing actively in international sportscar racing until the end of GT1 category in 2011. The name DBR9 is derived from the original 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning DBR1 car, named for then-owner David Brown, which not only won the 24 Hour race in 1959 but also the World Sportscar title. The car is most famous for taking two LMGT1 class wins at Le Mans 24 Hours by the Aston Martin Racing factory team.
Philipp Peter is a race car driver from Austria.
Andrea Bertolini is an Italian professional racing driver currently driving for AF Corse in the FIA World Endurance Championship. He is the official test driver of the Maserati factory. Bertolini began racing at a young age, working as the youngest ever test driver for Ferrari at 19, followed by work in the experimental and development department. He also participated in the development of the Maserati MC12, in which he has enjoyed racing success winning for three times the FIA GT Championship in GT1 class, and also claiming the first edition of the FIA GT1 World Championship. He won the WEC championship in GTE Am category in 2015 and in the same year he won the 24H of Le Mans in the same class.
Vitaphone Racing, or Vita4One, was a German racing team who participate in the FIA GT Championship. The team was actually Bartels Motor & Sport GmbH, but operated under the title of its main sponsor, Vitaphone GmbH. They have successfully raced the Maserati MC12 GT1 since 2005, becoming one of the most successful GT teams in the series with five FIA GT1 Teams' Championship and four FIA GT1 Drivers' Championship. Their chief drivers are Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini.
The Chevrolet Corvette C6.R is a grand tourer racing car built by Pratt Miller and Chevrolet for competition in endurance racing. It is a replacement for the Corvette C5-R racing car, applying the body style of the new C6 generation Chevrolet Corvette as well as improvements to increase the speed and reliability on the track. Since its debut in 2005, it has continued on from the previous dominance of the C5-R in its racing class with multiple American Le Mans Series championships and race wins in the Le Mans Series, FIA GT Championship, and 24 Hours of Le Mans. There are two main versions of the Corvette C6.R: the GT1 version which has 590 HP, carbon-ceramic brakes, and aggressive aerodynamics, and the GT2 version which has 470 HP, cast-iron brakes, and relatively stock aerodynamics with respect to the road car. Unrestricted though, the LS7.R engine will produce around 800 hp. By 2012 the C6.R GT1 was retired from the competition while the GT2 version continues to race around the world.
The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand tourer race cars—based on production road cars and conforming with the GT1 (2010–2011) and GT3 (2012) regulations—that competed in one-hour races on multiple continents. All cars were performance balanced, with weight and restrictor adjustments, to artificially equalise their performance. Championships were awarded each season for drivers and teams.
The 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship was the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship, a motor racing competition reserved for FIA GT1 cars. The championship was a replacement for the FIA GT Championship which had been held annually from 1997 to 2009. It was the first sports car racing series to be sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as a World Championship since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of the 1992 season.
The 2009 FIA GT Tourist Trophy was the first round of the 2009 FIA GT Championship season and the 62nd running of the RAC Tourist Trophy. It was held at the Silverstone Circuit, United Kingdom on 3 May 2009. It featured the race debut of the Ford GT and the Nissan GT-R in the GT1 category in preparation for their entry in the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship.
Miguel Pedro Caetano Ramos is a Portuguese racing driver. He is a former Spanish and Italian GT champion, and has raced in the FIA GT1 World Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2012 he races for V8 Racing, driving a Chevrolet Corvette C6.R in the International GT Open. In 2015 and 2016 he races for Teo Martín Motorsport in the International GT Open.
The 2009 Total 24 Hours of Spa was the 62nd running of the Spa 24 Hours and the fourth round of the 2009 FIA GT Championship season. The race took place at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps between 25 and 26 July 2009. Joining the FIA GT Championship competitors were cars from numerous national GT series as well as competitors from the FIA GT3 European Championship. This was the last time GT1 machinery was eligible for the race, as well as the last Spa 24 Hours that was part of the FIA GT Championship.
The 2009 Budapest City Challenge was the fifth round of the 2009 FIA GT Championship season and was organised by City Challenge GmbH. It took place at the Hungaroring, Hungary on 30 August 2009. Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini won for the Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati after the disqualification of the K plus K Motorsport Saleen. Richard Westbrook and Emmanuel Collard of Prospeed Competition won in the GT2 category by passing the AF Corse Ferrari on the final lap of the event.
Christopher James Buncombe is a British racing driver who made his last appearance at the Le Mans 24 Hours was in 2011. He joined Aston Martin Racing at the end of the 2009 season when he drove in the Le Mans Series scoring a podium finish on his debut with the team at Nürburgring driving the 008 Aston Martin LMP1 car. Chris won the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class driving for Binnie Motorsports in their Lola B05/40-Zytek.
Alexander Müller is a German racing driver.
The 2010 RAC Tourist Trophy was an auto race held at the Silverstone Circuit, Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire, Great Britain from 30 April–2 May. The event, the second round of the 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship season, was among the first to use the revised 5.900 km (3.666 mi) Arena layout of the Silverstone Circuit that was completed in early 2010. The GT1 series was part of the larger Silverstone Supercar 2010 event, sharing the weekend with the FIA GT3 European Championship, GT4 European Cup, and the British Formula 3 Championship. The Championship race also served to award an annual champion for RAC Tourist Trophy, awarded by the Royal Automobile Club.
Strakka Racing was a British auto racing team founded by Nick Leventis. The team was based at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire. The team made history at the 2010 1000 km of Hungaroring when they became the first team in Le Mans Series history to win overall in an LMP2 class car. They also became the first team in LMS history to take overall pole position in an LMP2 class car.
Andrea Piccini is an Italian racing driver who is the part-owner and team principal of the Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab ELMS and Italian F4 team.
Nikolaus "Niki" Mayr-Melnhof is an Austrian racing driver currently competing in the Blancpain Sprint Series for Phoenix Racing (Germany). He previously competed in the FIA GT1 World Championship for Vita4one Racing
