BPR Global GT Series

The BPR Global GT Series (sometimes referred to as the BPR Global GT Endurance Series or simply abbreviated as BPR.) was a grand tourer-based sports car racing series which ran from 1994 to 1996 before becoming the FIA GT Championship in 1997. The series was founded by Jürgen Barth, Patrick Peter, and Stéphane Ratel (their last names forming the BPR name) as an international endurance racing series to replace the World Sportscar Championship which had ended in 1992.

Following the demise of the World Sportscar Championship in 1992, there were no international sports car racing series in existence, only small national series or manufacturer cup races featuring nearly identical cars. Patrick Peter and Stéphane Ratel of the Venturi series in France along with Jürgen Barth of the German Porsche series entered into discussions to combine their one-make series into an international championship that would bring back endurance racing to most of Europe as well as the rest of the world.

The series began in 1994 with an eight race schedule, including visits to Japan and China, with races of approximately four hours in length. Fields were initially made of a variety of Porsche and Venturi racing cars from various racing series broken into a wide variety of classes before later being joined by a modified Ferrari F40, Lotus Esprits, and Callaway Corvettes.

In 1995 the series would expand to twelve rounds and the amount of manufacturer interest was increased as new supercars such as the McLaren F1 GTR, Ferrari F40 GTE, and Jaguar XJ220 would appear, as well as lower class competitors like the Porsche 911 GT2 and De Tomaso Pantera. By 1996, manufacturer involvement had driven out most of the smaller cup cars, leading to the series slimming down to a mere two classes.

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