A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, or ability.
31-820: The FIA GT1 World Championship was a world championship sports car racing series, developed by the SRO Group and regulated by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), that was held from 2010 to 2012. It featured multiple grand tourer race cars—based on production road cars and conforming with the GT1 (2010–2011) and GT3 (2012) regulations—that competed in one-hour races on multiple continents. All cars were performance balanced, with weight and restrictor adjustments, to artificially equalise their performance. Championships were awarded each season for drivers and teams. The FIA GT1 World Championship started in 2010 as
62-420: A 'world champion', who or which is commonly considered the best nation, team, individual (or other entity) in the world in a particular field, although the vagaries of sport ensure that the competitor recognised at the best in an event is not always the 'world champion' (see Underdog ). This may also be known as a world cup competition , for example cycling ( UCI World Championships and UCI World Cups ). Often,
93-564: A handful of former GT1 runners were willing to participate, the SRO Group decided that the 2012 season would be contested with GT3-spec cars only (yet retaining GT1 in the series' title). The series folded after the 2012 season due to the high costs, shrinking car counts, and issues with the calendar, and morphed into the FIA GT Series for 2013. The FIA GT1 World Championship held races in ten countries, with each event consisting of two races over
124-703: A round of the FIA GT Championship . The track was venue of a round of the World Series by Renault championship from 2003 to 2006, and replaced Zandvoort as site for the Masters of Formula 3 in 2007 and 2008. Zolder was featured on the car programme Top Gear in 2008. In the episode, the show's British hosts competed against their German counterparts from D MOTOR . Zolder hosted also the FIA WTCC Race of Belgium in 2010, 2011, and 2020. The last race they drove in 2011
155-595: A secret motor inside her bike. Since 2009, Circuit Zolder has hosted a cyclo-cross race in December for the World Cup . The circuit hosted the UCI BMX World Championships in 2015. In 2019 and for the first time ever the UCI BMX World Championships returned to Circuit Zolder. In the beginning of 2006, the track underwent safety adaptations. In 2007, the track hosted a Champ Car World Series Grand Prix , and
186-420: A successor to the FIA GT Championship , which had featured the GT1 category as well as a GT2 category. In 2012, the series originally planned to move away from exclusive use of GT1 cars by allowing 2009-spec GT2 cars from the former FIA GT Championship, as well as current performance-balanced GT3 specification cars, to compete alongside the series' GT1 cars. However, as there were no interested GT2 teams and only
217-464: A weekend. Qualifying involved a knockout racing system similar to Formula One , in which three sessions were held; and, following each session, the slowest cars were eliminated and grid positions set. The first race of each weekend was a qualifying race, the results of which determined the starting grid for a second race awarding full championship points. Each car was required to change tires and drivers at least once during each race. The points system for
248-662: Is an undulating 4.011 km (2.492 mi) motorsport race track in Heusden-Zolder , Belgium . Built in 1963, Zolder hosted the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix on 10 separate occasions in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as the 1980 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix . F1 moved to Zolder in 1973 and with the exception of a race at Nivelles-Baulers in 1974, Zolder was the location of the Belgian Grand Prix until 1982. That year, Canadian driver Gilles Villeneuve
279-424: Is decided by a "title match", not a tournament. In a title match system, the championship can only be won by directly defeating the incumbent, who in turn must continue to compete to retain their title or risk forfeiture . Still other competitions, most commonly in professional sports , may or may not have a true world championship but may designate the winners of a domestic competition to be "world champions". This
310-544: Is especially true of the "Big Four" major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada ; world cups and championships exist in all four of the major sports, but the domestic U.S. and Canadian leagues are generally known as the world professional championships (due to the best players worldwide being in the league itself) (as with the Stanley Cup , ostensibly an independent championship for ice hockey but under
341-580: The Circuit Zolder . For 2011 the series visited Asia, with a Chinese round at the Ordos International Circuit . Due to the cancellation of the round at Curitiba in 2011, the series elected to visit Goldenport Park Circuit at Beijing shortly after the round at Ordos, with a short exhibition street race afterwards. Six manufacturers were represented in the inaugural season of FIA GT1, with Chevrolet , Maserati , and Aston Martin retaining
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#1733093044013372-805: The Czech Brno Circuit ; the British Silverstone Circuit , where the winners were awarded the RAC Tourist Trophy ; the French Paul Ricard ; Portuguese Autódromo Internacional do Algarve ; and Spanish Circuito de Navarra . From 2010 to 2011, Germany 's races switched from the Nürburgring to the Sachsenring , while Belgium 's races moved from the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps to
403-761: The National Football League , is commonly nicknamed as the world champion by the players, the press and fans alike; the NFL itself explicitly marketed the contest as a world championship in its first iterations. Winners of the Major League Baseball 's World Series are also commonly called world champions. Outside of the Big Four leagues, winners of the Women's National Basketball Association , much like its men's counterpart , commonly call themselves world champions, as with
434-474: The de facto control of the National Hockey League through two trustees who since no later than 1947 have been NHL loyalists) or the equivalent of a world club championship. In American football , although an IFAF World Championship exists, the United States is so far above and beyond the other nations it faces that the winner of the U.S.-based Super Bowl , a competition limited to the 32 teams in
465-635: The Drivers' Championship while their Vitaphone Racing Team clinched the Teams' Championship. Aston Martin earned the SRO Trophy for Manufacturers. In 2011, the defending champions did not return and Maserati was no longer represented, leaving a field of 18 cars from five manufacturers. The series visited China for the first time, for two rounds. Germans Michael Krumm and Lucas Luhr , of the JR Motorsports team, won
496-592: The Olympic Games, though each year ITF (International Tennis Federation) designates a World Champion based on performances throughout the year). There are some sports that already had a 'world championship' in the 18th or 19th century, although it was variable how 'world-wide' these competitions really were. The French player Clergé is considered to be the first international champion in real tennis , since 1740. In chess , international matches have been held for centuries, often resulting in certain players considered
527-667: The SRO provided free transport for cars and equipment as well as airline tickets for ten personnel per team. The world tour visited three continents: Europe, Asia, and South America. Yas Marina Circuit of the United Arab Emirates represented the series' only Middle East round. South America featured the Potrero de los Funes Circuit in Argentina and Interlagos in Brazil . European races included
558-502: The best of all, with the first multiplayer tournament held in London in 1851 , but Wilhelm Steinitz in 1886 was the first chess player generally recognized as the world chess champion . Other sports with early 'world championships' were English draughts (1840) and speed skating . The following lists for the various sports with a world championship include: Circuit Zolder The Circuit Zolder , also known as Circuit Terlamen ,
589-709: The grandfathered Corvette C6. R , MC12 , and DBR9 cars they had respectively utilized in the FIA GT series. Ford , Nissan , and Lamborghini all brought new or modified vehicles developed specifically for FIA GT1: the Ford GT1 , Nissan GT-R , and Lamborghini Murciélago R-SV . After the qualifying race on 5 December 2010, the champions of the 2010 season were crowned at the San Luis street circuit in Argentina. Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini , three-time FIA GT Champions, clinched
620-561: The race carrying Villeneuve's #27 on his car. Since 1985 , the Belgian Grand Prix has permanently moved to Spa. Zolder has also been used for cycling events including the UCI Road World Championships twice in 1969 and 2002 and the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in 1970, 2002 and 2016 . The latter saw the first confirmed use of mechanical doping when Femke Van den Driessche was found to have
651-674: The season in Zolder since 2015 . In 2019, for the first time in 17 years, the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters returned to Circuit Zolder. But the circuit lost its place in the DTM calendar to Spa-Francorchamps in 2022 . In general Circuit Zolder has a noise limit of 96 dbA, which is measured at 2 points along the track. One is just after turn 4 (Bianchi) and the second one is between turn 7 and 8. These can be recognised by blue poles. During international test days and most racing weekends,
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#1733093044013682-518: The series was identical to that adopted by the FIA in 2010 with the top ten finishers in the second race earning points; only the top three finishers in the qualifying race earned points. The series initially penalized cars that won races with Ballast weight , but that practice was removed for 2012. With the rules changes in 2012, there was no limit to the number of manufacturers in the series. Each manufacturer could only be represented by one team, and each team
713-601: The tournament to include the champion from other continents - from the AFC Champions League ( Asia and Australia ), CAF Champions League ( Africa ), CONCACAF Champions League ( North America and Caribbean ) and OFC Champions League ( Oceania ) and created the FIFA Club World Cup . The first edition in 2000 ran concurrently with the 2000 Intercontinental Cup , and in 2004 the Intercontinental Cup
744-444: The use of the term cup or championship in this sense is just a choice of words. Some sports have multiple champions because of multiple organizations, such as boxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling. Certain competitive exercises do not have a world championship or a world cup as such, but may have one or several world champions. Professional boxing , for example, has several world champions at different weights , but each one of them
775-660: The winners of the National Lacrosse League and Drum Corps International . On the other hand, association football (soccer) has more parity between national leagues and even continental tournaments has seen the birth of one true "world championship". The first such tournament was the Football World Championship disputed from 1876 to 1904 between the winners of the FA Cup and Scottish Cup . After that, there have been many tournaments between teams from around
806-548: The world, but it wasn't until 1960 when the Intercontinental Cup was established, competed between the winners two greatest and most important continental championships: the UEFA Champions League from Europe and CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores from South America, the cup was endorsed by both UEFA and CONMEBOL but had no involvement from FIFA , the governing body for world football. As such, FIFA wanted to expand
837-545: The year's Drivers' Championship in the penultimate race of the season, while Hexis AMR (Aston Martin) won the Teams' title in the final race of the year. World championship The title is usually awarded through a combination of specific contests or, less commonly, ranking systems (e.g. the ICC Test Championship ), or a combination of the two (e.g. World Triathlon Championships in Triathlon ). This determines
868-487: Was killed during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix . Villeneuve's Ferrari 126C2 collided at speed with the March 821 of Jochen Mass . The Ferrari was torn up in the accident and when rolling, Villeneuve was thrown from the car. After Villeneuve's death, the Belgian Grand Prix was held at Spa-Francorchamps in 1983 , before returning to Zolder one final time in 1984 . Fittingly, Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto won
899-447: Was merged with the CCW, which has been ongoing since 2005 with yearly editions. Finally, certain competitions do not have a world championship or world cup, but rather hold a series of events recognised as the elite level in their field (e.g. tennis and golf have a series of four Grand Slam events recognised as the pinnacle of the game, in addition to key team events, world tour finals and
930-436: Was required to bring two identical cars to enter the championship; single entries or entries with more than two cars were not allowed. To ensure close competition, each model of car was tested by the FIA to determine any mandatory adjustments (such as extra weight ballasts and restrictor tweaks) for performance balancing. Performance adjustments were also made between races during the season. To defray costs for individual teams,
961-636: Was won by Rob Huff in a Chevrolet and Gabriele Tarquini in a SEAT. The WTCC then disappeared from the Belgian circuits until in 2014 the circus returned to Spa. At this time, mainly the Blancpain Sprint Series and the BRCC national championship hosted a race in Zolder. The 24 Hours of Zolder endurance event is also held as a stand-alone event around the end of August or the beginning of September. NASCAR Whelen Euro Series have hosted their final race of