The 2009 FIA GT Championship season was the thirteenth and final season of the

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 ...

for

grand tourer 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 competing in the GT1 and GT2 categories. The season began 3 May, and ended 25 October after eight races. This was also the final season of a combined GT1 and GT2 championship before the launch of 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 to ...

in 2010.

Vitaphone Racing Team Vitaphone Racing is a German racing team who participate in the FIA GT Championship. The team is actually Bartels Motor & Sport GmbH but runs under the title of their primary sponsor, Vitaphone GmbH. In 2011 Vitaphone Racing was renamed Vita4One. ...

Maserati drivers

Michael Bartels Michael Bartels (born 8 March 1968) is a German professional racing driver. He is a multiple FIA GT champion and former Grand Prix driver who attempted to qualify for four races in with Lotus. Career Bartels was the 1985 German karting champi ...

and

Andrea Bertolini Andrea Bertolini (born 1 December 1973, in Sassuolo) 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 ...

successfully defended their GT1 Championships, pulling clear of the rivals in the final two events of the season after a close battle with the

Peka Racing Pekaracing NV, competing as PK Carsport, is a racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series as well as the Belcar Trophy in conjunction with Russell Racing. The team has previously competed in other series such as the FIA ...

Chevrolet team of Anthony Kumpen and

Mike Hezemans Mike Hezemans (born 25 July 1969, in Eindhoven) is a professional racecar driver from the Netherlands. Mike is the son of Toine Hezemans and brother of Loris Hezemans. Mike started in karting in 1981, and won the Dutch National Championship in 1 ...

. Bartels and Bertolini won races at Adria International Raceway and Hungaroring in the way to the title, a third championship each for the pair. With the assistance of

Miguel Ramos Miguel Pedro Caetano Ramos (born 26 September 1971 in Porto) 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 Ra ...

and Alex Müller in the team's second Maserati MC12 GT1,

also secured the Teams Championship. In the lower specification GT2 category, former Porsche Supercup champion

Richard Westbrook Richard Westbrook (born 10 July 1975) is a British professional racing driver noted for his success in racing Porsche and International sports cars. As a junior, he attended St Joseph's College, Ipswich. He has won both the Porsche Supercup i ...

won the GT2 championship, driving a Prospeed Competition Porsche. Westbrook won the title by just two points over

AF Corse AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...

Ferrari pairing of

Gianmaria Bruni Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni (born 30 May 1981) is an Italian Porsche factory auto racing driver who drove in the 2004 Formula One World Championship for Minardi. He is a GP2 Series race winner and is now racing in the FIA World Endurance Champion ...

and

Toni Vilander Toni Markus Vilander (born 25 July 1980) is a Finnish professional racing driver who currently drives for the Risi Competizione Ferrari team in various categories of sports car racing. After a single-seater career which reached the level of the ...

. Controversially Westbrook was split from his season long partner

Emmanuel Collard Emmanuel Collard (born 3 April 1971) is a French professional racing driver. He is a former member of the Porsche Junioren factory team, but also drives for other marques. Born in Arpajon, Essonne, Collard is the winner of the Le Mans Series f ...

at the final round, swapping cars with Brixia Racing driver

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 ...

in a successful attempt to maximise Porsche's chances of defeating the Ferrari pairing. AF Corse, with the help of the team's second car of

Álvaro Barba Álvaro Barba López (born 17 February 1984 in Seville) is a Spanish racing driver and brother to fellow racer Marco Barba. Career Formula Junior and Spanish Formula Three Barba began his single seater career in 2002 driving in the Spanish For ...

and Niki Cadei, did defeat Prospeed in the teams championship.

CRS Racing CRS Racing is a British auto racing team founded by British driver Andrew Kirkaldy and Canadian-Greek driver and entrepreneur Chris Niarchos. The team was founded in 2007, but is based on the former team of Kirkaldy known as Team AKA which comp ...

driver Chris Niarchos was awarded the Citation Cup for amateur drivers.

Schedule

The 2009 schedule was initially announced by the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

on 5 November 2008, with seven events consisting of two-hour races, the Bucharest City Challenge of two separate one-hour races, and the

Spa 24 Hours The 24 Hours of Spa is an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing event for cars held annually since 1924 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium. It is currently sponsored by TotalEnergies. History The Spa 24 Hours was ...

. Adria's event was once again scheduled to take place at night. However at a further meeting of the FIA on 17 March 2009 the calendar was set at eight rounds, with the cancellation of the Potrero de los Funes event and the inclusion of

Circuit Paul Ricard The Circuit Paul Ricard () is a French motorsport race track built in 1969 at Le Castellet, Var, near Marseille, with finance from pastis magnate Paul Ricard. Ricard wanted to experience the challenge of building a racetrack. The circuit has ho ...

. This decreased the number of two-hour races from seven to six. On 16 June the Bucharest Ring, Romania cancelled their planned FIA GT event. The series therefore replaced the fifth round with an event at the

Hungaroring The Hungaroring is a motorsport racetrack in Mogyoród, Pest County, Hungary where the Formula One Hungarian Grand Prix is held. In 1986, it became the location of the first Formula One Grand Prix behind the Iron Curtain. Bernie Ecclestone wan ...

in Hungary which would return to the normal two-hour race format.

Entry list

GT1

GT2

Season results

Overall winners in bold.

Championships

Points were awarded to the top eight finishers in the order of 10–8–6–5–4–3–2–1. Cars which failed to complete 75% of the winner's distance were not awarded points. Drivers who did not drive for at least 35 minutes do not receive points.

Driver championships

GT1 standings

GT2 standings

Citation Cup

New for 2009, the Citation Cup involved amateur drivers in the GT2 category rather than the GT1 category used since 2007. Drivers rated as bronze by the GT Bureau driver classification system were allowed to enter the Citation Cup if they competed in a car which was homologated before 2009. Points in the Citation Cup were awarded at every FIA GT round except for the Spa 24 Hours.

Team championships

GT1 standings

The Nissan Motorsports entry was not allowed to score championship points due to being run as a factory team.

GT2 standings

Manufacturers Cups

Results of the GT2 Manufacturers’ Cup were as follows. Although a GT1 Manufacturers’ Cup was listed in the Sporting Regulations for the 2009 FIA GT Championship, no points table for this award was published. An award was given only for the manufacturers in the GT2 category.

References

External links

FIA GT Championship

Official Live Stream Supplier

Sporting Regulations
as archived at www.webcitation.org on 21 December 2009
Technical Regulations for Grand Touring Cars – GT1
as archived at www.webcitation.org on 21 December 2009
Technical Regulations for Grand Touring Cars – GT2
as archived at www.webcitation.org on 21 December 2009
FIA Classifications
as archived at www.webcitation.org on 21 December 2009

{{FIA GT Championship Seasons FIA GT Championship seasons