1997: The FIA GT Championship is born… Mercedes, BMW McLaren, Porsche, Panoz, Lotus in GT1… Porsche, Marcos and Chrysler Viper in GT2… Europe, Japan and USA… Bernd Schneider of Germany and AMG-Mercedes CLK win in GT1, Justin Bell of Great Britain and Viper Team Oreca-Chrysler Viper GTS-R in GT2.

1998: Mercedes vs Porsche in GT1, Porsche vs Chrysler Viper in GT2… Europe, Japan and the USA... Ricardo Zonta of Brazil and Klaus Ludwig of Germany win the GT1 crown for AMG Mercedes LM... Olivier Beretta of Monaco and Pedro Lamy of Portugal win in GT2 with Chrysler Viper Team Oreca and the Chrysler Viper GTS-R.

1999: GT2 renamed GT… First race in Zhuhai, rounds at Homestead and Watkins Glen… Chrysler Viper vs Porsche vs Lister vs Marcos… Olivier Beretta wins second title, this time alongside Karl Wendlinger of Austria, driving for Chrysler Viper Team Oreca in a Chrysler Viper GTS-R.

2000: N-GT joins GT… The Ferrari 550 Maranello makes its debut appearance… Lister vs Chrysler is the big fight in GT, with Porsche dominating N-GT… Julian Bailey and Jamie Campbell-Walter of Great Britain win the title for Lister Storm Racing in a Lister Storm… Christophe Bouchut and Patrice Goueslard of France win the inaugural N-GT title for Larbre Competition Chereau in a Porsche 996 GT3-R.

2001: The Eurosport Super Racing Weekend series is born, with the FIA GT Championship racing alongside the FIA European Touring Car Championship… the Proximus 24 hours of Spa is run as a GT race… Christophe Bouchut and Jean-Phillipe Belloc of France win the GT title for Larbre title for Larbre Competition Chereau in a Chrysler Viper GTS-R… the team also wins at Spa… David Terrien of france and Christian pescatori of Italy win the N-GT title for JMB Racing in a Ferrari 360 Modena, after a year-long battle with RWS Motorsport.

2002: Renamed the LG Super Racing Weekend series… the GT category sees strong competition between the Ferrari 550 Maranello, the Lister Storm and the Chrysler Viper. But Christophe Bouchut of France won through to take his third title, with the Larbre Competition Chereau Chrysler Viper GTS-R. Stephane Ortelli was victorious in N-GT, in a freisinger Motorsport Porsche 996 GT3-RS. Freisinger and Larbre won their classes in the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa.

2003: The season started with a record-breaking run of five consecutive wins for rookies Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi of Italy, in a BMS Scuderia Italia Ferrari 550 Maranello. They went on to take the title, with BMS winning the Teams crown. In N-GT title, with the Porsche 996 GT3-RS… the Saleen S7 joined the Championship… the Ferrari 575 M Maranello made its debut, winning its first race in Estoril for JMB Racing.

2004: The Lamborghini Murcielago and the Maserati MC 12 joined the Championship, while the Nissan 350Z made its first appearances in N-GT, bringing the total number of makes represented up to seven… BMS Scuderia Italia continued to shine, with Fabrizio Gollin and Luca Cappellari taking the title in the Ferrari 550 Maranello… Vitaphone Racing gave the Saleen S7 its first win… followed by two more… JMB Racing won with the Ferrari 575M… the Championship headed back overseas, with successful race in Zhuhai and Dubai… Sascha Maassen and Lucas Luhr took the N-GT title in the final round, while Freisinger Yukos Motorsport won the Teams title… Lilian Bryner became the first woman to win a major international 24-hour race in the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa.

2005: The Corvette C5 and Aston Martin DBR9 are the latest beauties to join the ranks, while the Spyker and Mosler make their GT2 and G2 debuts. With four wins for the Maserati MC 12, three for the Ferrari 550 Maranello and two each for the Corvette and the Aston martin, the championship enjoys its closest season to date, with seven drivers fighting for the title at the final round in Bahrain. Larbre’s Gabriele Gardel (SUI) is victorious, while Vitaphone Racing Team take the Teams title. In GT3, British team GruppeM dominate proceedings, winning all eleven races, while their all-German duo Marc Lieb and Mike Rockenfeller claim the Drivers’ title. Vitaphone’s trio of Bartels (GER), Scheider (GER) and Van de Poele (BEL) give Maserati the win at Spa, as well as the inaugural Manufacturers’ Cup, win in GT2 by Porsche.