The 1999 FIA GT Championship was the third season of

FIA GT Championship 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 ...

, an

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

series endorsed by the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...

(FIA) and organized by the

Stéphane Ratel Organisation SRO Motorsports Group (formerly the Stéphane Ratel Organisation) is an international sporting organisation best known for promoting and running a variety of racing events and series, including the Total 24 Hours of Spa, Intercontinental GT Chal ...

(SRO). The races featured

grand touring A grand tourer (GT) is a type of car that is designed for high speed and long-distance driving, due to a combination of performance and luxury attributes. The most common format is a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive two-door coupé with either ...

cars and awarded a drivers and teams championship. The season began on 11 April 1999 and ended 26 November 1999 after ten races in Europe, the United States, and China. Following the domination of

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

the previous two seasons, pre-season entries for the GT1 category were so few that the FIA and SRO chose to eliminate the class for 1999. The former GT2 class became the sole category of cars eligible for the championships, although cars from national championships were allowed to participate on an invitational basis at some events. Chrysler Viper Team Oreca dominated the championship for the entire season, winning all but one race en route to the Teams title.

Olivier Beretta Olivier Beretta (born 23 November 1969) is a professional racing driver from Monaco who raced in Formula One in 1994 for the Larrousse team, partnering Érik Comas. He participated in 10 Grands Prix, debuting on 27 March 1994. He scored no champi ...

won his second-consecutive championship, sharing the Drivers title with teammate

Karl Wendlinger Karl Wendlinger (born 20 December 1968) is an Austrian professional racing and former Formula One driver. Mercedes Juniors Born in Kufstein, Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 C ...

, earning six of Oreca's nine race victories.

Schedule

For the first time in the history of both the FIA GT Championship and its predecessor series, the BPR Global GT Endurance Championship, a endurance race was not part of the season as the 1000 km Suzuka was dropped from the schedule, instead all races were held to a distance. The Japanese event was replaced by a race at the

Zhuhai International Circuit Zhuhai International Circuit (ZIC) (simplified Chinese: 珠海国际赛车场; traditional Chinese: ) is located at Jin Ding town in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, China. Motorsport started in Zhuhai when it hosted a race on its street circ ...

, which the BPR series had visited in 1996.

Dijon-Prenois Dijon-Prenois is a motor racing circuit located in Prenois, near Dijon, France. The undulating track is noted for its fast, sweeping bends. Opened in 1972, Dijon-Prenois hosted the Formula One French Grand Prix five times, and the Swiss Grand ...

was also not retained from 1998, replaced by the

Zolder The Circuit Zolder, also known as Circuit Terlamen, is an undulating motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder, Belgium. History Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, ...

and Monza, which started the season. The series initially planned to retain the A1-Ring before the event was replaced by a second American event at Watkins Glen. The two American rounds were intended to be run in conjunction with the

United States Road Racing Championship The United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover rac ...

before the series was canceled in the summer of 1999, although American teams were invited to participate as non-scoring entries.

Entries

Results and standings

Race results

Points were awarded to the top six finishers in each race. Entries were required to complete 75% of the race distance in order to be classified as a finisher. Drivers were required to complete 20% of the total race distance for their car to earn points. Teams scored points for each of its cars which finished a race in a top six placing.

Drivers championship

Teams championship

References

External links

1999 FIA Championship Classifications, www.fia.com, as archived at web.archive.org

1999 FIA GT Championship points charts, www.fiagt.com, as archived at web.archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 Fia Gt Championship Season

FIA GT Championship seasons