The Martini Trophy and the International Supersports Cup will join forces in 2012 to create an even stronger race series for 2-litre sports-racing cars under the management of the Historic Sports Car Club.

Following a meeting in London between Silvio and Angela Kalb from Supersports and Grahame White from the HSCC, an agreement was reached to bring the two series together and offer a superb programme of racing for the coming year.

The revised series, to be titled the Martini Trophy with Supersports, will enjoy a five-event, 10-race schedule at high-profile historic race meetings. The series will be managed by the HSCC from its office at Silverstone, while the Kalbs will remain actively involved and Silvio plans to race his March 75S in the new series.

The cut-off date will remain as per the Martini regulations, for 2-litre sports-racing cars produced prior to the end of 1978. As previously announced, closed cockpit cars will be encouraged in 2012, notably Chevron B8s, B16s and cars like the Ferrari Dino 206S, Ligier JS1, Lotus 47/62 and the Porsche 906/907/910 range. For the Hockenheim race only Can-Am and big-engined sports will be eligible to race, but from then on it will be restricted to 2-litre cars only.

“This is best news for a long time for 2-litre sports car racing,” said White. “We have been talking about working together for some time so I’m delighted that agreement has been reached, the future looks really bright.”

The provisional calendar for the Martini Trophy with Supersports is:

Hockenheim Jim Clark Memorial (Germany) 14/15 April

Silverstone International Trophy 19/20 May

Brands Hatch Super Prix 30 June/1 July

Oulton Park Gold Cup 26/27 August

Dijon (France) 6/7 October