Maserati S.p.A. is an Italian luxury vehicle manufacturer. Established on 1 December 1914, in Bologna, Italy, the company's headquarters are now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. The company has been owned by Stellantis since 2021. Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari. In May 2014, due to ambitious plans and product launches, Maserati sold a record of over 3,000 cars in one month. This caused them to increase production of the Quattroporte and Ghibli models. In addition to the Ghibli and Quattroporte, Maserati offers the Maserati GranTurismo and the Maserati Levante. Maserati has placed a yearly production output cap at 75,000 vehicles globally.
The Porsche 911 GT1 is a car designed and developed by German automobile manufacturer Porsche AG to compete in the GT1 class of sportscar racing, which also required a street-legal version for homologation purposes. The limited-production street-legal version developed as a result was named the 911 GT1 Straßenversion.
The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the Stephane Ratel Organisation since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 2017.
Super GT is a grand touring car racing series that began in 1993. Launched as the Zen Nihon GT Senshuken (全日本GT選手権), generally referred to as either the JGTC or the All Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, the series was renamed to Super GT in 2005. It is the top level of sports car racing in Japan.
Riccardo "Rocky" Agusta was an Italian race car driver and aristocrat. He was an heir to the Agusta and MV Agusta aviation and motorcycle firms, running the motorcycle racing team in the 1970s. He was responsible for funding the development of the Venturi 400 into a racing car, entering one for himself in the 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans and four cars in the 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans. He drove his own Callaway Corvettes in the BPR Global GT Series and the following FIA GT Championship in the 1990s. He returned for two races in 2004 with the Nash-Saleen team. He drove a Kremer K8 Spyder in the 1998 24 Hours of Le Mans, his last appearance in the race. He was also set to drive in the Le Mans Endurance Series for the Dallara-equipped Spinnaker team, but never raced. After his racing career, he lived in South Africa, investing in the mining industry.
Venturi is a Monaco-based automotive manufacturer. Founded in 1984 by French engineers Claude Poiraud and Gérard Godfroy as MVS , the company's purpose was to compete in the "Grand Tourisme" market. This was only the most recent post-war attempt at building a sporty luxury car in France, following in the footsteps of Facel Vega, Monica, and Ligier. As with its predecessors, Venturi was immediately faced with many challenges ranging from an unknown name to its under-capitalized and under-staffed state. Venturi did nonetheless manage to continue in production for nearly sixteen years, declaring bankruptcy in 2000. The same year, Monegasque Gildo Pallanca Pastor purchased Venturi, and decided to focus on electric-powered motors. This change of direction led to the limited-production Fétish, the first electric sports car in the world. Following the public's enthusiasm for this first electric model, the brand developed 5 other innovative concept cars.
The FIA GT Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) at the behest of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship was mostly concentrated in Europe, but throughout the years has visited other continents including Asia and South America. At the end of 2009, the championship was replaced by the FIA GT1 World Championship, which morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013.
The 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 63rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 17 and 18 June 1995 in one of the wettest races in the event's history with about 17 hours of steady rain. The race was won by the #59 McLaren F1 GTR driven by JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya entered in the GT1 category. This was the first Le Mans win for a driver from Finland and for a driver from Japan. It was also McLaren's first win, at its first attempt. Such was the marque's dominance that its cars filled four of the first five places - Ferrari did it with its two cars in 1949, but other manufacturers like Jaguar, Porsche, Ford or Audi achieved their Le Mans fame only after 2, 3 or more years attempting their first win.
The 1994 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 62nd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1994.
The 1993 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 61st Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 19 and 20 June 1993.
The Sepang 12 Hours, was a 12 Hours endurance racing event held annually between 2000 and 2016 at the Sepang International Circuit on December in Malaysia.
The Lotus Elise GT1 is a race car developed for grand tourer-style sports car racing starting in 1997.
The BPR Global GT Series was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The series was founded by Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter, and Stéphane Ratel as an international endurance racing series to replace the World Sportscar Championship which had ended in 1992.
The Venturi Atlantique was a mid-engined, fiberglass-bodied French sports car produced by Venturi Automobiles from 1991 to 2000.
Romain Iannetta is a French racing driver who last competed in the GT4 European Series, driving the No. 77 Audi R8 LMS GT4 Evo for Full Motorsport. He also competes part-time in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as the driver of the No. 46 Chevrolet Camaro for Marko Stipp Motorsport in the EuroNASCAR PRO class.
Group GT3, known technically as Cup Grand Touring Cars and commonly referred to as simply GT3, is a set of regulations maintained by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) for grand tourer racing cars designed for use in various auto racing series throughout the world. The GT3 category was initially created in 2005 by the SRO Group as a third rung in the ladder of grand touring motorsport, below the Group GT1 and Group GT2 categories which were utilized in the SRO's FIA GT Championship, and launched its own series in 2006 called the FIA GT3 European Championship. Since then, Group GT3 has expanded to become the de facto category for many national and international grand touring series, although some series modify the ruleset from the FIA standard. By 2013, nearly 20 automobile manufacturers have built or been represented with GT3 machines.
The 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship was the sixth season of the FIA World Endurance Championship, an auto racing series co-organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The series is open to Le Mans Prototypes and grand tourer-style racing cars divided into four categories. The season began at the Silverstone Circuit in April and will end at the Bahrain International Circuit in November, and include the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. World championship titles will be awarded to the leading prototype drivers and manufacturers, while for the first time in the World Endurance Championship the leading grand touring drivers and manufacturers will also be awarded a world championship.
The 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge was the fifth season of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The season again features five rounds, starting with the Liqui Moly Bathurst 12 Hour on 2 February and concluding with the Kyalami 9 Hours on 12 December. Dennis Olsen is the defending Drivers' champion and Porsche is the defending Manufacturers' champion.
The 2022 GT4 European Series is the fifteenth season of the GT4 European Series, a Sports car racing championship organised by Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO). The season began at Imola on 1 April, and will end at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on 30 September.
SRO GT2 is a class of Grand tourer racing cars aimed at gentleman drivers and maintained by the SRO Motorsports Group. Despite the name, this class slots between Group GT4 and Group GT3 in terms of performance. The class also shouldn’t be confused with the Group GT2 from the early 2000s. The class uses a Balance of performance to allow for close competition between competitors.
