1997 FIA GT Championship

The 1997 FIA GT Championship comprised a total of eleven races in eight countries.

Race calendar and results

No.	date	Race name / circuit	team	Overall winner	vehicle	championship
1	April 13th	4-hour race from Hockenheim Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg	Team BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Steve Soper	McLaren F1 GTR	Drivers and teams
2	May 11th	British Empire Trophy Silverstone Circuit	BMW carvers	Roberto Ravaglia Peter Kox	McLaren F1 GTR	Drivers and teams
3	25. May	Helsinki 3-hour race Helsinki Thunder	Team BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Steve Soper	McLaren F1 GTR	Drivers and teams
4th	June 29th	4-hour race on the Nürburgring Nürburgring	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams
5	20th of July	4-hour race of Spa-Francorchamps Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps	Team BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Steve Soper	McLaren F1 GTR	Drivers and teams
6th	20th of July	4-hour race from Zeltweg A1-Ring	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig Bernd Mayländer	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams
7th	August 24th	Suzuka 1000km race Suzuka International Racing Course	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Alessandro Nannini Marcel Tiemann	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams
8th	August 24th	4 hour race of Donington Donington Park	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Schneider Alexander Wurz	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams
9	September 28th	4-hour race of the Mugello Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello	Team BMW Motorsport	JJ Lehto Steve Soper	McLaren F1 GTR	Drivers and teams
10	October 18	Sebring 4 hour race at Sebring International Raceway	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Scheinder Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams
11	October 26th	4-hour race of Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway	AMG Mercedes	Bernd Scheinder Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR	Drivers and teams

championship

Hockenheim

The first run of the season was held on April 13, 1997 at the Hockenheimring ( Germany ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR
2	GT1	Jean-Marc Gounon Pierre-Henri Raphanel	McLaren F1 GTR
3	GT1	Thomas Bscher John Nielsen	McLaren F1 GTR

British Empire Trophy Silverstone

The second round of the season was held on May 11, 1997 at the Silverstone Circuit ( Great Britain ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Peter Kox Roberto Ravaglia	McLaren F1 GTR
2	GT1	Bernd Schneider Alexander Wurz	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR

Thunder in Helsinki

The third run of the season was held on May 25, 1997 on a street circuit in Helsinki ( Finland ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR
2	GT1	Ralf Kellener's Stéphane Ortelli	Porsche 911 GT1
3	GT1	Thomas Bscher John Nielsen	McLaren F1 GTR

Nürburgring

The fourth round of the season was held on June 29, 1997 at the Nürburgring ( Germany ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
2	GT1	Marcel Tiemann Alessandro Nannini	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR

Spa Francorchamps

The fifth round of the season was held on July 20, 1997 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps ( Belgium ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Alexander Wurz	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
2	GT1	Thierry Boutsen Bob Wollek Yannick Dalmas	Porsche 911 GT1

A1 ring

The sixth round of the season was held on August 3, 1997 on the A1-Ring ( Austria ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig Bernd Mayländer	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
2	GT1	Marcel Tiemann Alessandro Nannini	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR

1000 km Suzuka

The seventh round of the season was held on August 24, 1997 on the Suzuka International Racing Course ( Japan ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Marcel Tiemann Alessandro Nannini Bernd Schneider	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
1	GT1	Klaus Ludwig Bernd Mayländer	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Unlike Olofsson Jean-Marc Gounon Pierre-Henri Raphanel	McLaren F1 GTR

Donington

The eighth run of the season was held on September 14, 1997 in Donington Park ( Great Britain ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Alexander Wurz	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
2	GT1	Marcel Tiemann Alessandro Nannini	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR

Mugello

The ninth round of the season was held on September 28, 1997 at the Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello ( Italy ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Steve Soper JJ Lehto	McLaren F1 GTR
2	GT1	Marcel Tiemann Alessandro Nannini	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
3	GT1	Yannick Dalmas Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1

Sebring Oktoberfest

The tenth round of the season was held on October 18, 1997 at the Sebring Raceway ( USA ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
1	GT1	Peter Kox Roberto Ravaglia	McLaren F1 GTR
3	GT1	David Brabham Perry McCarthy	Panoz GTR

Laguna Seca

The eleventh round of the season was held on October 26, 1997 at the Laguna Seca Raceway ( USA ).

space	class	driver	vehicle
1	GT1	Bernd Schneider Klaus Ludwig	Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR
2	GT1	Yannick Dalmas Bob Wollek	Porsche 911 GT1
3	GT1	Allan McNish Ralf Kelleners	Porsche 911 GT1

Championship results

Driver standings GT1

1.	Bernd Schneider	72
2.	JJ Lehto Steve Soper	59

Driver standings GT2

1.	Justin Bell	66
2.	Bruno Eichmann	65
3.	Philippe Gache Olivier Beretta	60

Team classification GT1

1.	AMG Mercedes	110
2.	Team BMW Motorsport	85
3.	Gulf Team Davidoff	37

Team classification GT2

1.	Viper Team ORECA	126
2.	Roock Racing	83
3.	Konrad Motorsport	15th

Web links

Commons : FIA GT Championship 1997  - collection of images, videos and audio files