BPR Global GT Series

The BPR Global GT Series was a grand tourer based sports car racing series that ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. It was founded by Jurgen Barth, Patrick Peter and Stephane Ratel, whose surnames give the BPR name, as an international endurance racing series to fill the gap left when the World Sportscar Championship ended in 1992. The three men came from the Porsche and Venturi one-make series in Germany and France and combined them into one championship for production sports cars modified for racing, with races of about four hours. The first season in 1994 had eight rounds, including visits to Japan and China, and the calendar grew to twelve rounds in 1995 as manufacturers such as McLaren, Ferrari and Jaguar joined. Manufacturer interest peaked when Porsche built its 911 GT1, and the FIA then decided to run the series itself, reforming it as the FIA GT Championship while Ratel kept the commercial rights.