World Sports Racing Prototypes - World Sportscar Championship

1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Drivers Makes Teams World Championship (info)

World Sportscar Championship

The World Sportscar Championship was usually an endurance series although during its existence it sometimes consisted of several sprint races and during 60s even hillclimbs. Unfortunately, the official title of the World Sportscar Championship was changed quite often, which did not help much its popularity. Some of title were: Sportscar World Championship, World Endurance Championship, World Championship of Makes (or of Manufacturers), and World Sports Prototypes Championship. During its history we can recognize several notable periods.

The first of them is dated from 1953 to 1961. Every season consisted of about 6 races, in which prototypes, serial sportcars and GT cars of all classes were allowed to start but points were awarded only to the top six finishers regardless classes they ran in.

The situation was totally changed in 1962-65 when the FIA decided to pay more attention to GT cars. They were grouped into three categories with separate classifications. Hillclimbs, sprint races and other smaller races expanded the championship, which had now about 15 races per year. The most famous races like Le Mans, 12 h Sebring, Targa Florio or 1000 km N�rburgring were counted toward the prototype championship. However, the points valuation wasn't very tabular so the FIA returned to the original form of the championship with about 6 to 10 races.

Possibly the most famous era of World Championship was between 1966 and 1971 when we saw such cars like Ford GT40, Ford Mk IV, Lola T70 Mk III, Ferrari 330 P4 or 512 S and a legendary Porsche 917.

Many sportscars were excluded in 1972 when 3 litre limit was established. Points were then awarded to the top ten finishers. There was also a separate classification for GT cars (1968-75). In this fourth period (1972-77) many manufacturers lost their interest (Ferrari - 1973, Matra - 1974, Porsche - 1976, Renault - 1976 and Alfa Romeo - 1977) and the championship died in 1978 as the European Sportscar Championship.

In 1976 a separate championship for GT and new silhouette (group 5 cars) was introduced. This was the fifth era of the World Championship (1976-81). Because of absolute Porsche domination, starting in 1978 points were awarded in two divisions. In 1979 prototypes were admitted to start again after canceling their own championship.

The last era was 10 years belonging to the group C cars. This was the period of the World Championship with the prettiest and quickest machines. In 1991 the FIA changed the rules to bring more attention of manufacturers to F1. The starting field decreased by four times and in the last race we saw only eight cars starting (but also 8 finishing). Many world manufacturers built group C cars - Porsche, Ford, Lancia, Jaguar, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, Aston Martin and Peugeot.

The most successful makes of World Championship were Porsche with most titles followed by Ferrari which was withdrawn after 1973 season.

Presented by WSRP Martin Krejci.

Last update: 14.12.2024