Karl Wendlinger will lead the Swiss Racing Team Nissan line-up in the new GT1 World Championship.

The 41-year-old Austrian is a former FIA GT champion and was a regular race-winner in the new GT1 series’ forerunner. His 2009 season was truncated when his K plus K Saleen team pulled out.

Wendlinger will be joined by 29-year-old Swedish driver Max Nilsson, who drove for Swiss Racing in German Formula 3 last year and also had a one-off FIA GT outing with K plus K.

Swiss Racing, which will run two Nissan GT-Rs, has yet to finalise the other two members of its line-up.

“We have not made a final decision yet because we want to find an equally strong team for the second car,” said team co-owner Erich Kolb.

“We get calls from pilots who want a place in the cockpit on an almost daily basis. However, we want to take our time to choose the right pilot.”

The other two Nissans in the GT1 series are set to be run by new British squad Sumo Power.

Darren Turner will race in the FIA’s GT1 World Championship in 2010, after being announced as one of the racers of the ‘Young Driver AMR’ team.

The German squad, new to the championship, will race an Aston Martin DBR9, reuniting Turner with the car with which he took victory in the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2007 and 2008.

“I’m really excited to be doing the full FIA GT1 World Championship,” Turner said. “Not only because we will be visiting some fantastic circuits but also because the level of competition will make it an intense and enjoyable season.

“I’m looking forward to working with the Young Driver AMR team. After visiting the team’s base in Paderborn (Germany) last week I can see that they have the infrastructure and resources to achieve great success.”

Turner was the man in charge of carrying out the first shakedown of the car back in 2004.

“This is the most exciting part for me,” he added. “To come all the way from the first shakedown to two Le Mans victories and now this, is very special.

“I drove the car briefly last week and even after I got home I was still buzzing from it. Just hearing the wail of the V12 again brought it all back to me. This is going to be great.”

The British driver will on track with his new team next week for the first official test at Portimao, Portugal.

The season gets underway in Abu Dhabi in mid-April.

Team US F1 is set to announce Jose Maria Lopez as its first driver for its maiden Formula 1 campaign at a press event in Argentina on Monday.

Lopez, a former Renault test driver, revealed several months ago that he had secured a US F1 seat provided he found the necessary funding. The 26-year-old’s spokesman Miguel Mattos confirmed to Reuters that the deal was now complete.

“Everything has been agreed and the official announcement will be made on Monday,” Mattos told the news agency.

AUTOSPORT understands that grand prix winner Carlos Reutemann, a close friend of US F1 boss Peter Windsor and now a leading politician in Argentina, has been instrumental in putting the funding package together for Lopez, who will receive a degree of government backing alongside other Argentinian sponsors.

Once part of Renault’s driver development programme, Lopez raced in Formula 3000 and GP2 between 2004 and 2006, taking a victory for DAMS at Catalunya in 2005.

He subsequently returned to race in Argentina, and has just claimed back to back titles in the domestic TC2000 series as well as winning last year’s TopRace V6 championship and finishing as runner-up in the Turismo Carretera series. Lopez also had a handful of races in Europe in 2008 as part of the ACA Argentina Ferrari project in the FIA GT Championship.

New British team United Autosports will run an Audi R8 LMS in the FIA GT3 series this year.

Yorkshire-based United Autosports is a partnership between Richard Dean and Zak Brown, with the latter also driving the car alongside Pablo Perez Companc. The team hopes to contest several British GT races, including the Oulton Park season-opener, and possibly also the Nurburgring 24 Hours alongside its FIA GT3 programme.

“The Audi proved itself as a major contender in Europe last season and we have every reason to believe that it will be a race winner again in 2010,” said Dean.

“Considering we’re a new team, we are very fortunate to be aligned with Audi. Their sportscar racing heritage is legendary and their premium global brand position compliments our own goals for United Autosports.”

Audi developed the R8 LMS for customer teams to run, and in the car’s first season of competition last year it took Phoenix Racing’s Christopher Haase and Christopher Mies to the FIA GT3 title.

Former Formula 1 driver and FIA GT2 champion Gianmaria Bruni is to contest the full American Le Mans Series for the first time after joining Jamie Melo in the Risi Ferrari line-up.

Bruni has contested several events with Risi over the past two years and was part of the team’s GT2-winning squad at the 2008 Le Mans 24 Hours. His main focus since switching from single seaters to sportscars has been on FIA GT and the Le Mans Series with the AF Corse and Virgo/JMW teams, but he will now replace Pierre Kaffer as Melo’s full-time partner in the ALMS.

Team boss Giuseppe Risi was delighted to unite two of the most successful Ferrari GT drivers of the modern era in his team.

“I’m delighted to be able to secure two such talented drivers and, together with Ferrari SpA, we have just one aim in mind: to reclaim the American Le Mans Series championship titles,” said Risi. “Jaime is very much part of the Risi family, and we are sure that Gianmaria’s extremely successful couple of seasons in Europe will transfer to the United States.

“This will be our fifth and final season with the F430 GT and, while we are all very much looking forward to the introduction of the new Ferrari 458 in the future, we want to close this particular chapter of the 430 book with style; by winning.”

Risi won the 2007 ALMS GT2 title with Melo and Mika Salo, but has lost out to the Flying Lizard Porsche team for the past two seasons.

The organisers of the new GT1 World Championship have released details of the teams set to contest the inaugural series, subject to FIA approval.

The Stephane Ratel Organisation’s revised category supercedes the FIA GT Championship this season, although several of its cars will be FIA GT machines modified to fit the new World rules. Each manufacturer entering the series must be represented by two private teams each running a pair of cars.

Nissan announced last week that the Swiss Racing Team and UK squad Sumo Power would race its new GT-R, while Aston Martin named GT3 graduate Hexis and new German outfit Young Drivers AMR as its representatives shortly before Christmas.

Modified FIA GT Corvettes will be run by two amalgamations of existing GT teams, with Selleslagh and DKR joining forces under the Madcroc title, and Phoenix and Carsport Holland also operating as an alliance.

The Matech and Marc VDS teams ran Fords built to the new rules within FIA GT last year, and both teams will continue their programmes into 2010.

Reigning FIA GT champion team Vitaphone stays with Maserati, with a new squad called Triple H Team Hegersport created by former driver Altfrid Heger to run the other two MC-12s.

Long-time Lamborghini entrant Reiter will spearhead Lamborghini’s fully-fledged return to GT racing, alongside a new team named Munnich Motorsport. Team boss Rene Munnich previously ran Reiter cars under the All Inkl banner.

The teams must be approved by the FIA before an official entry list is released. The 10-round world championship kicks off in Abu Dhabi on 4 April, and features races in South Africa, Brazil and Argentina as well as events around Europe.

Nissan has announced that British team Sumo Power GT will run two of its GT-Rs in the new GT1 World Championship this year alongside the pair of Swiss Racing Team entries.

The Japanese manufacturer had been searching for a new partner for its GT1 programme after Gigawave Motorsport closed its doors shortly before Christmas. Each brand entering the GT1 series is required to supply a pair of two-car teams with its cars.

Gigawave had conducted the initial development of the GT-R, which contested a handful of FIA GT Championship rounds last year in preparation for the new-look series, and had previously been expected to continue as Nissan’s lead squad in 2010.

The Sumo Power and Swiss outfits will each run two Nissan GT-Rs in GT1 with support from the company’s motorsport arm NISMO.

Entries for the new GT1 series close tomorrow. While Nissan, Matech Ford and Lamborghini have built cars to the new regulations, dispensation has been granted for teams to also run modified versions of the old-style FIA GT Maseratis, Corvettes and Aston Martins. A 24-car field is expected for 2010.

The British Formula 3 championship will make a maiden voyage to Magny-Cours this season after revealing its 2010 calendar today.

The series will race at the former home of the French Grand Prix on May 22-23, supporting a round of the third season of Superleague Formula.

The Magny-Cours date will be round three of 10 and form the first part of a planned foreign triple-header that includes Hockenheim the following weekend and ends with the non-championship F3 Masters event at Zandvoort on June 5-6.

F3 Teams Association [FOTA] boss Peter Briggs said: “The teams are excited about going to Magny-Cours. It’s a good circuit and a safe circuit, and I think the French Grand Prix might end up there again.”

British F3 will also return to Thruxton in 2010, after a year’s hiatus from the calendar. The track dropped off the schedule following an aborted attempt to switch British F3 onto the British Touring Car Championship’s TOCA package in 2009.

The series will visit the high-speed Hampshire venue on the first weekend of August, a week after supporting the Spa 24 Hours FIA GT event.

“I’m a politician and mending bridges is what I do,” added Briggs. “Thruxton will be interesting because it’s a great slipstreamer of a circuit.”

The Thruxton date replaces the beleaguered Donington Park on this year’s calendar. The future of the venue remains uncertain until a new leaseholder is found and repairs are made to get the circuit up and running again following Simon Gillett’s abortive attempt to host the 2010 British Grand Prix.

British F3 will also not return to the fledgling Algarve circuit in 2010. The Portuguese venue became a last-minute replacement for a race at the Bucharest street circuit in 2009, but Briggs said the cost of travelling, plus clashes with other dates, means British F3 will lose one of last season’s most popular rounds.

The season once again begins on April Bank Holiday weekend, with a round at Oulton Park, and ends with a September date on the Brands Hatch GP circuit. The series will also visit Rockingham, Snetterton and make two trips to the Silverstone GP circuit.

British F3 calendar 2010

3/5 April – Oulton Park

1 /2 May – Silverstone GP (supporting FIA GT)

22/23 May – Magny Cours (supporting Superleague Formula)

29/30 May – Hockenheim (supporting ADAC GT)

17/18 July – Rockingham

30/31 July – Spa (supporting FIA GT 24)

7/8 August – Thruxton

14/15 August – Silverstone GP

29/30 August – Snetterton

25/26 September – Brands Hatch GP

Nigel Mansell is targeting a drive in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours after buying into British sportscar team Beechdean Motorsport.

The 1992 Formula 1 world champion has formed Beechdean Mansell Motorsport to run a factory-backed Ginetta-Zytek Z09R in the LMP1 class of the Le Mans Series this year, and is hoping to receive an entry for the 24 Hours.

Mansell’s two sons, Leo and Greg, will share the car during the season with Nigel joining for selected races.

“I’m very happy to announce this partnership between myself and Beechdean,” said Mansell. “The team comes fresh to the LMS with an impeccable pedigree and full support from Zytek.

“I’m very excited about 2010 and the prospect of racing with both by sons for the first time. I can confirm that I will be racing with Leo and Greg during the season and, if we receive an entry, we will also be racing at Le Mans.”

Mansell shared a Ginetta-Zytek LMP1 with Greg in the LMS round at Silverstone last year. Greg also competed in Formula Renault 3.5, while Leo raced a Team Modena Ferrari F430 GT in the LMS and at Le Mans.

Beechdean Motorsport has raced in British GT since 2007, when it ran a Ferrari 360. It switched to and Aston Martin Vantage N24 for 2008 and has since become a partner team to Aston Martin Racing. It plans to run two Vantages in the FIA GT2 championship this year along with its LMP1 campaign.

“It has been an ambition of mine to race a Le Mans prototype ever since we started racing GTs,” said Beechdean boss Andrew Howard. “It’s a dream come true for our young team to enter into a partnership with one of the sport’s most famous names.

“Nigel brings a wealth of knowledge and experience, and Leo and Greg are already established as accomplished race drivers in their own right.

“We begin testing early in the new year and 2010 promises to be an exciting and dynamic year. We can’t wait to get started.”

The Gigawave Motorsport team, which was set to represent Nissan in this year’s new FIA GT1 World Championship, is to close down according to a report on this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine, published yesterday.

Gigawave was Nissan’s development partner on the V8-engined GT-R project in 2009, and was due to have coordinated sale of cars and spares for the Japanese manufacturer this year.

The company has not yet officially confirmed its decision, but AUTOSPORT understands that financial problems were behind the move.

Nissan, which is now looking for a new European agent and team to run a pair of its GT-Rs in 2010, still has two cars entered in the FIA GT1 World Championship with the Swiss Racing Team.