Home / Championships / GT1 Era
GT1 1994–1999 · BPR & FIA GT

BPR Global GT Series · FIA GT Championship

Late 90s GT1 &
The Supercar Wars

From 1994 to 1999, the BPR Global GT Series and then the FIA GT Championship produced the most spectacular and emotionally charged GT racing ever witnessed. Road-derived supercars from McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes battled in barely controlled fury.

600+
HP · GT1 Class
1994
BPR Series Founded
3
Epic Rivals
320
km/h+ Top Speed
1994
BPR Global GT Series Launched
Stéphane Ratel, Jürgen Barth and Patrick Peter create the BPR series, a pan-European championship for genuine GT supercars. The Ferrari F40, Porsche 911 GT2 and Venturi 600LM headline the grids, and the series becomes one of the most spectacular in the world.
1995
McLaren F1 GTR Conquers Le Mans
The McLaren F1 GTR, a racing version of a road car, dominates the BPR series and then wins Le Mans outright against purpose-built prototypes. JJ Lehto, Yannick Dalmas and Masanori Sekiya win a race with around 17 hours of rain, and McLarens finish 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
1996
Porsche 911 GT1 & The Rules Are Stretched
Porsche arrives with the 911 GT1, a purpose-built racer with only a few road versions made to satisfy homologation. It finishes 2nd overall at Le Mans on its debut. From now on, GT1 cars are race cars first and road cars second.
1997
FIA GT Championship & The Mercedes CLK GTR
The FIA takes over the BPR series and renames it the FIA GT Championship. Mercedes-Benz arrives with the V12 CLK GTR, and McLaren answers with the F1 GTR "Longtail". The two battle all year, and Bernd Schneider wins the title for Mercedes.
1998
Total Mercedes Domination
Mercedes wins all ten FIA GT rounds with the CLK GTR and the new CLK LM, and Klaus Ludwig and Ricardo Zonta take the title. At Le Mans, though, the Porsche 911 GT1-98 finishes 1st and 2nd overall.
1999
The End of GT1
With too few entries, the FIA drops the GT1 class and the Chrysler Viper GTS-R becomes the new top GT car. At Le Mans, Mercedes' CLR prototypes take off at speed, twice with Mark Webber and once with Peter Dumbreck in the race. Mercedes withdraws, and the wildest era of GT racing is over.

The GT1 Machines

McLaren F1 GTR
McLaren

F1 GTR

A road car that won Le Mans. Gordon Murray's McLaren F1 was never designed to race, but the GTR version with its BMW V12 won Le Mans in 1995 on its first attempt. In 1997 the 'Longtail' version arrived to fight Mercedes and Porsche. 28 racing chassis were built.

~600 hp
Power
6.1L
BMW V12
1995
Le Mans Win
28
Built
Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
AMG-Mercedes

CLK GTR

Built to win from a blank sheet of paper. The CLK GTR was developed as a racing car first, with road cars built afterwards to satisfy homologation rules. It won the FIA GT title in 1997, and with its CLK LM successor Mercedes won every race in 1998.

600 PS
Power
6.0L
V12
1997–98
FIA GT Titles
28
Road Cars
Porsche 911 GT1
Porsche

911 GT1

A 911 in name only. The GT1 put a water-cooled twin-turbo flat-six in the middle of the car and wore 911-style headlights. It finished 2nd at Le Mans on its 1996 debut, and in 1998 the GT1-98 gave Porsche a 1-2 finish and its 16th Le Mans win.

~600 PS
Power
3.2L
Twin-Turbo Flat-6
1996
Debut
1998
Le Mans Win

The GT1 cars of the late 90s were road cars in name only: some of the most extreme machines ever to race under GT rules.

The GT1 Legacy

↑ Back to Top