FIA GT Championship

FIA GT: Citation Cup moves to GT2 for 2009

The SRO Motorsports Group today announced a new format for the Citation Cup, the race-within-a-race concept which aims to encourage the presence of ‘gentlemen’ drivers in the FIA GT Championship.

Talented amateur drivers were the driving force behind the revival of GT racing in the mid-1990’s, and even in the early days of the FIA GT Championship, they made up a good percentage of the grid. However, with the growing professionalism of the Championship, the chances of a true amateur climbing onto the podium in an FIA GT Championship race diminished considerably.

In order to remedy this situation, and to give the true amateurs a reason to continue to invest their considerable enthusiasm in the sport, the Citation Cup was launched two years ago in the GT1 category, with the support of world-leading private jet manufacturer Cessna-Citation.

Due to the ever-changing face of GT racing, it has been decided, for 2009, to move the Citation Cup to the GT2 category. It will be open to cars according to the specifications for 2008 or earlier, with a driver pairing where at least one driver has been classified as a ‘bronze’ driver by the GT Bureau. Such drivers are defined as those with little or no single-seater experience and who obtained their first race license over the age of 30. Tyre regulations are the same as for all other cars entered in the FIA GT Championship.

“We saw, in 2008, that the vast majority of GT2 driver pairings were made up of two professional drivers, including many former race-winners from GT1, including the reigning Champion, Thomas Biagi,” commented Stephane Ratel, Chairman of SRO, promoter of the FIA GT Championship. “We hope that the Citation Cup will encourage more of these talented and enthusiastic drivers, who are the backbone of our sport, to take part in the 2009 season.”

The GT2 Citation Cup will run at all rounds of the 2009 FIA GT Championship except for the Total 24 Hours of Spa. Points will be awarded at each round, with the leading Citation Cup pairing invited to the podium and press conference.