The 1992 Sportscar World Championship season was the 40th and final season of FIA World Sportscar Championship motor racing. It featured the 1992 FIA Sportscar World Championship, which was contested over a six race series which ran from 26 April to 18 October 1992.Season: 1992 FIA Sportscar World Championship, www.racingsportscars.com Retrieved on 29 December 2012 The championship was open to Group C Sportscars.

The Drivers Championship was won jointly by Yannick Dalmas and Derek Warwick and the Teams Championship by Peugeot Talbot Sport.1992 Sportscar World Championship, www.teamdan.com, as archived at web.archive.org The FIA Cup for Drivers was awarded to Ferdinand de Lesseps and the FIA Cup for Teams to Chamberlain Engineering.

Pre-season From the start, the 1992 season was in doubt. The FIA planned to cancel the season due to a lack of entrants, as it was announced by Max Mosley, new President of FIA, at a meeting held in London on 11 November 1991, but pressure from Peugeot, who had poured a large sum of money into the design and build of their 905 model and did not wish to see that money wasted after only a year of competition, convinced the FIA that there would be enough entries to make the season worthwhile. The "rebirth" of the championship was announced at the FIA World council on 5 December 1991. With this, the FIA allowed the season to move forward, though with few participants.

The FIA's vision of a single unified formula for the Sportscar World Championship that would truly equal that of Formula One was finally into place following the development of 3500 cc sportscars in the previous seasons. This formula of engine equalisation took over the series, eliminating any previous engine that did not fit into the 3.5 L category. Thus every car had similar engines, and new subclasses were born: C1 for works supported teams with engines of 10 or 12 cylinders and usually backed by factory teams, and FIA Cup for privateer teams, usually running the Ford Cosworth DFR V8. FIA Cup cars were required to conform with Group C regulations with the exceptions of a lower prescribed minimum weight (700 kg v 750 kg), a limitation on engine revolutions and the prohibition of carbon disc brakes.FIA Cup Regulations, 1992 FIA Yearbook of Automobile Sport, page 215

With the elimination of the previous C2 class, it required manufacturers such as Mazda and Porsche to build entirely new engines, and due to the large change in engine dimensions compared to what they had used in 1991, all new chassis as well. Porsche already had an F1 engine in their 3512 unit used by Footwork, but the engine design was found to be lacking. Porsche, suffering financially at the time, decided that it was no longer worth not only improving the 3512, but also replacing the 962 chassis, and decided not to return.

Mazda, having accomplished their goal of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991 with their famed rotary engine, were left without the ability to use their rotary engine anymore in 1992. Since Mazda entered sportscar racing mostly to push their rotary designs, Mazda decided to continue on into 1992 for advancement of the overall brand, but with a less ambitious development programme. Mazdaspeed bought customer versions of the Jaguar XJR-14 and slightly modified them into the Mazda MXR-01 while the engines were customer Judd GV V10s. This effort saved large amounts of money for the company while keeping their name involved in the sport.

Of the teams that already had compliant 3.5 L cars racing in 1991, their continuation into 1992 varied.

Mercedes-Benz, alongside partner Sauber, pushed ahead with plans for a car in 1992. Development of the C292 was underway, as was construction of a new set of Flat-12s. However, after various faults in the construction of the engines in 1991, further problems led to large monetary losses for the company, forcing them not to return for 1992.

Jaguar, who had been in sportscar racing with the XJR project since 1985, and were not completely happy with the performance of the XJR-14 during the 1991 season, had already announced their departure from the series. Customer XJR-14s were promised for 1992 from newcomers RMR racing as well as Gee Pee Cars.

Of the smaller privateer teams, Brun Motorsport's development of the lacking C91 chassis cost them a great deal, and with the loss of cheap customer cars like the Porsche 962, they decided not to return. Other teams which had previously used the 962 also failed to return, including Kremer Racing and Team Salamin Primagaz. Courage Compétition was unable to find the money to continue development of their own chassis, and decided to instead concentrate solely on the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Konrad Motorsport, whose KM-011 chassis was also lackluster in 1991, claimed they were attempting to push on with Lamborghini backing into 1992. Euro Racing found enough cash to replace their ageing Spice chassis with the new Lola T92/10s with Judd powerplants, and promised to be on the grid immediately for 1992. Chamberlain Engineering also planned to continue as the factory backed Spice Engineering squad.

Peugeot and Toyota, who had campaigned their 905 and TS010s respectively, remained in the sport mostly unchanged. Both cars underwent evolutionary changes in preparation for 1992, while the basic chassis and engines remained the same.

A revival of the BRM name was also announced for 1992, using their own newly built P351 chassis and V12 engine. Unfortunately, even with the apparent addition of BRM, the grid in comparison between 1991 and 1992 was looking bleak, with the loss of a large number of privateer teams, as well as the loss of two major manufacturers (with a third being downgraded to privateer status) with only one possible new replacement.

Schedule When the 1992 season was provisionally approved in December 1991, the FIA published a ten race calendar for the season, composed of 1000 km and 500 km races, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Initial schedule Rnd Race Circuit Date 1 500 km of Autopolis Autopolis 5 April 2 1000 km of Monza Autodromo Nazionale Monza 26 April 3 500 km of Silverstone Silverstone Circuit 10 May 4 500 km of Jarama Circuito Permanente Del Jarama 26 May 5 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe 20 June21 June 6 1000 km of Donington Donington Park 19 July 7 1000 km of Nürburgring Nürburgring 2 August 8 1000 km of Suzuka Suzuka Circuit 30 August 9 1000 km of Mexico City Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez 13 September 10 1000 km of Jerez Circuito Permanente de Jerez 4 October

By January 1992, the FIA shortened the calendar to eight events, with the Monza and Donington events being cut down to 500 km. Magny-Cours was also brought in to replace some fly-away events.

The Jerez round remained on the final calendar, but was cancelled during the middle of the season when track officials failed to update the track to the FIA's standards.

Final schedule Rnd Race Circuit Date 1 Trofeo F. Caracciolo (500 km) Autodromo Nazionale Monza 26 April 2 BRDC Empire Trophy (500 km) Silverstone Circuit 10 May 3 24 Hours of Le Mans Circuit de la Sarthe 20 June21 June 4 Triton Showers Trophy (500 km) Donington Park 19 July 5 Suzuka 1000km Suzuka Circuit 30 August 6 Championnat du Monde de Voitures de Sport (500 km) Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours 18 October

Prior to the BRDC Empire Trophy at Silverstone, race organisers attempted to convince teams to shorten the race distance to approximately 250 km in order to boost ticket sales. However, Toyota vetoed the decision and the race remained at its original distance.

Entries

Group C1

Entrant Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Peugeot Talbot Sport Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis Peugeot SA35-A2 3.5 L V10 1 Derek Warwick All Yannick Dalmas All Mark Blundell 3 2 Philippe Alliot All Mauro Baldi All Jean-Pierre Jabouille 3 31 Alain Ferté 3 Karl Wendlinger 3 Eric van de Poele 3 71 Éric Hélary 6 Christophe Bouchut 6 Euro Racing Lola T92/10 Judd GV10 3.5 L V10 3 Cor Euser 1–4 Charles Zwolsman 1–3 Jésus Pareja 3–5 Hideshi Matsuda 5 4 Stefan Johansson 1–2 Jésus Pareja 1–2 Heinz-Harald Frentzen 3–5 Charles Zwolsman 3 Syunji Kasuya 3 Phil Andrews 4 Cor Euser 5 David Tennyson 5 Mazdaspeed Mazda MXR-01 Mazda MV10 3.5 L V10 5 Maurizio Sandro Sala All Volker Weidler 1, 3 Johnny Herbert 2–3 Bertrand Gachot 3 Alex Caffi 4–6 Takashi Yorino 5 6 Yojiro Terada 3 Takashi Yorino 3 Maurizio Sandro Sala 3 Toyota Team Tom's Toyota TS010 Toyota RV10 3.5 L V10 7 Geoff Lees All Hitoshi Ogawa 1–2 David Brabham 3–5 Ukyo Katayama 3 Jan Lammers 5–6 8 Andy Wallace All Jan Lammers 1–4 Teo Fabi 3 Kenny Acheson 5 Masanori Sekiya 5 David Brabham 6 33 Pierre-Henri Raphanel 3 Kenny Acheson 3 Masanori Sekiya 3 BRM BRM P351 BRM 3.5 L V12 9 Wayne Taylor 2–3 Harri Toivonen 2–3 Richard Jones 3

FIA Cup Entrant Car Engine Tyre Drivers Rounds Bernard de Dryver with Action Formula Spice SE90C Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 L V8 21 Luigi Taverna 1–4 Alessandro Gini 1–4 John Sheldon 3 Bernard de Dryver 3 Chamberlain Engineering Spice SE89C Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 L V8 22 Ferdinand de Lesseps All Bernard Thuner 1 Will Hoy 2, 4 Olindo Iacobelli 3 Richard Piper 3 Nick Adams 5–6 Masahiro Kimoto 5 3641 Jun Harada 3, 6 Tomiko Yoshikawa 3, 6 Kenta Shimamura 3 Divina Galica 6 GeePee Argo Racing Argo JM19C Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 L V8 23 David Coyne 1 Georg Paulin 1 GSR Gebhardt C91 Ford Cosworth DFR 3.5 L V8 25 Almo Coppelli 1–2 Frank Krämer 1–2 Team SCI Spice SE90C Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 L V8 29 Ranieri Randaccio 1–4, 6 Stefano Sebastiani 1–4, 6 Vito Veninata 3 TDR Limited Spice SE90C Ford Cosworth DFZ 3.5 L V8 30 Chris Hodgetts 3 François Migault 3 Thierry Lecerf 3

Results and standings

Race results

Rnd Circuit Outright Winning Team FIA Cup Winning Team Reports Outright Winning Drivers FIA Cup Winning Drivers 1 Monza No. 7 Toyota Team Tom's No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Geoff Lees Hitoshi Ogawa Bernard Thuner Ferdinand de Lesseps 2 Silverstone No. 1 Peugeot Talbot Sport No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Ferdinand de Lesseps Will Hoy 3 Le Mans No. 1 Peugeot Talbot Sport No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Mark Blundell Ferdinand de Lesseps Richard Piper Olindo Iacobelli 4 Donington No. 2 Peugeot Talbot Sport No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Mauro Baldi Philippe Alliot Ferdinand de Lesseps Will Hoy 5 Suzuka No. 1 Peugeot Talbot Sport No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Derek Warwick Yannick Dalmas Ferdinand de Lesseps Nick Adams Masahiro Kimoto 6 Magny-Cours No. 2 Peugeot Talbot Sport No. 22 Chamberlain Engineering Report Mauro Baldi Philippe Alliot Ferdinand de Lesseps Nick Adams

Points system Points were awarded on the following basis:Peter Higham, The Guinness Guide to International Motor Racing, 1995, page 261 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 20 15 12 10 8 6 4 3 2 1

In order to be classified for points, a car had to complete 90% of the winner's distance. Further, drivers were required to complete at least 30% of their car's total race distance to qualify for championship points.

Drivers' World Championship