Motorsport Championship unveils TV broadcast deal

International motorsport series the FIA GT Championship has unveiled its new TV broadcast partners, following the end of its exclusive deal with Eurosport.

In the UK, all races will be shown on the Flextech-owned channels Bravo and Player, and series promoter, the Stephane Ratel Organisation, is also in discussions with a UK terrestrial channel.

Sky Italia will cover the series in Italy, sports channel DSF in Germany and Motors TV elsewhere across Europe. Outside Europe, live races will be shown on Al Jazeera in the Middle East, The Speed channel in North America and Sport TV in Brazil.

Now in its fifth season, the FIA GT Championship features specially adapted sports car marques such as Aston Martin, Maserati and Ferrari, competing in three-hour endurance races.

The sport claims to have a global audience of more than 200 million and in 1997 became the third series to be endorsed by the FIA – the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile – motorsport’s governing body. The others are Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship.

The Stephane Ratel Organisation is currently bidding for the series to become a world championship in 2007, by adding races in the US, Australia and Japan. It is also in talks with two past F1 sponsors about the series’ first headline sponsorship, worth around &£5m (MW June 23, 2005).