The 2010 FIA GT3 European Championship season was the fifth season of the
FIA GT3 European Championship
The FIA GT3 European Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Stéphane Ratel Organisation (SRO) and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It was a championship derived from the international FIA ...
. The season commenced on 1 May at
Silverstone and ended on 10 October at
Circuit Zolder. The season featured six double-header rounds, with each race lasting for a duration of 60 minutes. Most of the events were support races to the newly formed
FIA GT1 World Championship
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 ...
.
Despite FIA's efforts to slow down the
Callaway Competition-entered
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a two-door, two-passenger luxury sports car manufactured and marketed by Chevrolet since 1953. With eight design generations, noted sequentially from C1 to C8, the Corvette is noted for its performance and distinctiv ...
of
Christian Hohenadel
Christian Hohenadel (born 20 September 1976 in Dudweiler) is a German racing driver.
Together with Daniel Keilwitz, he won four races and the drivers championship of the 2010 FIA GT3 championship, driving a Callaway Corvette Z06.R GT3
In th ...
and Daniel Keilwitz via extensive performance balancing, the pairing finished the season as champions, taking four victories to secure the title with a meeting to spare; the second such championship crown for a team running a Corvette after the 2008 triumph of French duo Arnaud Peyroles and James Ruffier.
The championship-winning margin for Hohenadel and Keilwitz was 46 points over the
Prospeed Competition
Prospeed Competition is a sports car racing team based in Liège, Belgium. It was founded in 2006 by Rudi Penders and Luc Goris. It has been a factory-supported Porsche team since 2008.
The team debuted in the 2006 Belcar Endurance Champions ...
Porsche of Paul van Splunteren and
Marco Holzer
Marco Holzer (born 30 July 1988) is a German professional racing driver. He has competed in sports car competitions such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, American Le Mans Series and Le Mans Series as a Porsche works driver.
Care ...
, who took two wins over the course of the season at
Portimão
Portimão () is a city and a municipality in the district of Faro, in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,614, in an area of 182.06 km2. It was formerly known as Vila Nova de Portimão (). In 1924, it was ...
and Zolder. Another Corvette, run by Graff Racing, finished in third place with drivers Joakim Lambotte and Mike Parisy, who won both races at
Brno. Four other duos took race victories during the season;
Siso Cunill and Tim Bergmeister of Trackspeed won the season-opening race at Silverstone, Kenneth Heyer and Bernd Herdlhofer, and Csaba Walter and
Claudia Hürtgen
Claudia Hürtgen (born 10 September 1971 in Aachen) is a German race driver. Along with Ellen Lohr and Sabine Schmitz, she is one of Germany's best known female racers.
Hürtgen started her career in karting and moved to German Formula Three. I ...
won at
Jarama
Jarama () is a river in central Spain. It flows north to south, and passes east of Madrid where the El Atazar Dam is built on a tributary, the Lozoya River. It flows into the river Tagus in Aranjuez. The Manzanares is a tributary of the Jaram ...
for
Team Rosberg
Team Rosberg GmbH is a motor racing organisation that competes in single-seater and touring car disciplines in Europe. It was founded in 1994 by former Formula One world champion Keke Rosberg, of Finland. It is headquartered at Neustadt an der ...
and Schubert Motorsport respectively, with the other Schubert Motorsport car of Patrick Söderlund and Edward Sandström winning at Zolder.
Prospeed Competition
Prospeed Competition is a sports car racing team based in Liège, Belgium. It was founded in 2006 by Rudi Penders and Luc Goris. It has been a factory-supported Porsche team since 2008.
The team debuted in the 2006 Belcar Endurance Champions ...
won the Teams' Championship, but were only confirmed as champions in December following a hearing to the FIA International Court of Appeal. Van Splunteren and Holzer had been disqualified from a victory at Zolder, due to a technical infringement regarding the weight of the car's rear brake discs.
Ultimately, Prospeed were reinstated which allowed them to regain the teams title which Callaway Competition had assumed from the disqualification. Callaway finished second, ten points behind Prospeed, with Schubert Motorsport finishing third. In the Manufacturers' Cups, the top-two overall placings for Hohenadel and Keilwitz, and van Splunteren and Holzer helped to claim the cups for Corvette and Porsche respectively. The other cup, for Audi drivers, was won by Ireland's Seán Paul Breslin for the German Black Falcon team.
Entries and Drivers
The list below contains the confirmed teams and drivers that competed in the 2010 championship.
Calendar
On 23 October 2009, just before the final round of the
2009 season, the
FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spo ...
announced the 2010 calendar in co-ordinance with the
FIA GT1 World Championship
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 ...
.
Championships
The GT3 Championship adopted the new
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
points system, meaning points were awarded to the top ten finishers in both races.
Drivers Championship
Teams Championship
Manufacturer's Cups
The Manufacturer Cups were open to any manufacturer who supplied two or more teams in the full season. Points were awarded based on the driver's position within that manufacturer's class.
Audi
Corvette
Porsche
See also
*
2010 24 Hours of Spa
The 2010 Total 24 Hours of Spa was the 63rd running of the Spa 24 Hours. Following the break-up of the FIA GT Championship, the 2010 running of the Spa 24 Hours served as part of the FIA GT2 European Cup, with cars from the GT3, GT4, and nati ...
References
External links
Official Website of the FIA GT3 European Championship
{{DEFAULTSORT:2010 Fia Gt3 European Championship Season
FIA GT3
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 au ...
FIA GT3
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 au ...
FIA GT3 European Championship