Seems hard to believe now but there was a time when sports car racing was more advanced and more popular than Formula 1. In the late 60s, early 70s, at the time of prototype racing, it was the epic war between Ferrari, Porsche and Ford that kept people riveted. Inevitably with the growing importance of television, endurance racing did not fit the bill and faded away.
Back to the future, for 2010 the FIA has recognized the GT1 series as a "world" championship and the format has been changed from endurance to sprints, albeit with a mandatory driver and tire change. Ford, Maserati, Nissan, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and GM will each field four cars in GT1. GT2 and GT3 will remain as "local" European championships with BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Ascari, Audi continuing to slug it out there.
Here is the video from the official launch in Paris, I recognize Tiff Needell there, but was that Eric Clapton at the beginning?
At the end of the clip you can see the cars in action, testing at Paul Ricard.
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