SRO Pulls Out of FIA GT1, GT3 Championships

Audi R8s, McLaren MP4-12Cs, BMW Z4s are just some of the exotic GT machinery competing in the FIA GT1 World Championship—this year. FIA has yet to release any word on who might promote and operate the series next year, or if it will run at all. GT1world.com

SRO Motorsports will not be promoting and operating the FIA GT1 World Championship or FIA GT3 European Championship in 2013, founder and CEO Stephane Ratel told the FIA GT Commission on the 17th.

A low number of entries, caused or at least contributed to by the worsening economic conditions in Europe, have made the two series unsupportable, Ratel said on the GT1world.com website. The situation was made worse by the plethora of competing series: many countries have national GTE and GT3 series, Blancpain runs a hugely popular GT3 series, and ACO has GTE-Pro and GTE-Am classes.

SRO began organizing and promoting the FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010. After struggling for two years, the series was reorganized around GT3 rules, on the theory that GT3 cars were cheaper to buy and operate, and more manufacturers produced bespoke GT3 versions of their popular sports cars.

The GT1world website says that SRO Motorsports will announces changes to the structure of its GT and F3 series at the Total 24 Hours of Spa on July 27.

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