Ferrari Joins the GT1 Series

Ferrari will fight McLaren, as well as the three German premium brands for the world championship. Ferrari and McLaren are going head-to-head on the racing circuit all around the globe in the next eight months. And it's not only going to be in 20 Formula 1 races, but also in 10 rounds of the GT1 World Championship and six rounds of the GT3 European Championship.The addition of Ferrari joining the GT1 championship was just announced by series organizer Stephane Ratel. The defending champion, the Aston Martin DB9, will not return to defend its title, thereby opening the way for a four-way scramble for victory.McLaren will have their all-new MP4-12C GT1 racer run by the German Helix team while Ferrari will be entering the 458 Italia GT1, which will be run by a team that has yet to be revealed. Two Ferrari 458 Italia's have been built to accommodate the GT1 regulations.The new cars on the grid will now have to fight against the more tested racing machinery from German competitors Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. "The addition of Ferrari to the 2012 line-up makes for a mouth-watering array of supercars racing in one world championship," Ratel said."The Ferrari team brings to five the number of confirmed teams and we are in advanced talks with a number of other teams. For reasons of confidentiality, we are respecting the wishes of those teams to announce their participation in their own time."