Corvettes complete World GT1 field
The 2011 GT1 World Championship grid has been completed with the announcement that four Corvettes will be in the field, run under the DKR Engineering and Exim Bank Team China banners, bringing the entry up to 20 cars
A series of team pull-outs at the end of the 2010 season had led to a busy winter of rearranging to ensure that a full grid could be provided for 2011.
Under World GT1 rules, each sportscar brand must be represented by a pair of two-car teams. With second Maserati team Hegersport among those withdrawing, champion squad Vitaphone Racing is also absent and there will be no MC12s on the grid.
The four Aston Martins, Lamborghinis, Fords and Nissans were confirmed earlier in the winter, but the identity of the remaining entrants was uncertain until the championship announced the Corvettes on Friday night.
This week's AUTOSPORT magazine revealed that GT1 regular Mike Hezemans would be in one of the Corvettes for at least the first two rounds, with Renault Megane Eurocup champion Nick Catsburg joining him for the Abu Dhabi opener next weekend.
Aston is the only manufacturer that goes into the second year of World GT1 with an unchanged team line-up, having retained Hexis and Young Driver.
Swiss Racing Team replaces Reiter as the second Lamborghini entrant alongside Munnich, while Sumo Power has set up a sister squad under the JR Motorsports banner to run the other Nissans following Swiss Racing's move away from the brand, and new Marc VDS-affiliated team Belgian Racing will field two Fords after Matech closed its racing arm.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments