Italian Gran Turismo Championship

The Tresor Attempto Racing’s drivers set the pace in the 3 Hours of Misano and took a convincing victory in the opening round of the endurance series. The victory in GT Cup trionfo went to Gai-Fontana (Ferrari 296 Challenge).

The first weekend of the Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship, which concluded in the late afternoon at the Misano World Circuit, belonged to Audi. Thanks to an impeccable performance built from the free practice sessions, the Tresor Attempto Racing team, at the wheel of the Audi R8 LM, climbed to the top step of the podium at the end of the 3 hours that saw a total of five driver changes. They finished ahead of Denes-Cola-Guidetti (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-Imperiale Racing) and Jackson-Azzam-Jefferies (Audi R8 LMS-Haas RT), who were also first in the GT3 PRO-AM sub-class.

In the GT3 AM class, Ambrose-McDonald-Castellacci (Ferrari 296 GT3-AF Corse) prevailed, while the GT Cup class saw victories for Gai-Fontana (Ferrari 296 Challenge-AF Corse) in the 1st Division PRO-AM, Locanto-Segù (Lamborghini Huracan-DL Racing) in the 1st Division AM, Piria-Russo (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup-SP Racing) in the 2nd Division PRO-AM, and Prestipino-Micale-Giacon (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup-ZRS Motorsport) in the 2nd Division AM.

GT3: It was a truly convincing victory for Mazzola-Rauer-Cazzaniga, which had been building since the free practice sessions where the Tresor Attempto Racing crew consistently were among the fastest. This was further confirmed in the three official qualifying sessions that earned them the first pole position of the season. However, the 3 hours were not easy for the Audi team, mainly due to the numerous safety car periods that repeatedly brought their rivals back into contention. The high number of retirements also made the race even more unpredictable, significantly affecting the final standings.

Starting from pole position with Cazzaniga at the wheel, the Tresor Attempto Racing crew maintained the lead in the first stint, only losing the top spot after the first driver change when Rauer had to give way to Testa. The return to the lead came in the third stint with Mazzola, who capitalized on the off of Frassineti – who had taken over from Testa – after he went off track due to an oil slick. From then on, the Audi crew managed the second part of the race with composure, crossing the finish line to secure their first victory of the season, ahead of the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Denes-Cola-Guidetti.

The Imperiale Racing crew, who started with Cola from the second row of the grid, had a tricky start that saw them drop to ninth position. Despite the difficult beginning, both Guidetti and Denes, as well as Cola himself in his second stint, staged a splendid comeback, bringing their Lambo up to the second step of the podium, ahead of the Audi R8 of Jackson-Azzam-Jefferies.
The Haas RT team put on a very high-level performance, climbing from sixteenth on the grid to third place, which they conquered three laps from the end thanks to an overtake on Colavita-Badawi-Vidales (Ferrari 296 GT3 – AF Corse), who were later demoted one position due to a 2.478s penalty for an irregularity during a driver change. Benefiting from this penalty were Coluccio-Gorini-Tamburini (Ferrari 296 GT3 – Easy Race), who finished fourth overall and second in GT3 PRO-AM, after a good recovery from 11th on the grid, preceding the two sister cars of AF Corse.

Ferrari-Raghunathan-Ponzio finished behind Colavita-Badawi-Vidales at the end of a splendid comeback. After a brilliant start in fifth position by Ponzio, the AF Corse crew lost ground due to contact suffered by the driver from Abruzzo, which dropped them to 14th position before they climbed back into the points zone, finishing the race in sixth place ahead of the third 296 of AF Corse driven by Ambrose-McDonald-Castellacci, who were first in GT3 AM.

Completing the top ten were Gai-Fontana (Ferrari 296 Challenge-AF Corse), first in GT Cup PRO-AM 1st Division, in eighth place overall, ahead of the Honda NSX GT3 (Nova Race) of Massaro-De Luca-Berton, and the fourth Ferrari 296 of AF Corse driven by Mann-Borelli-Ulrich, who were second in GT3 AM. The first race of the season was marked by numerous retirements, including those of the BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Caglioni-Comandini-Guerra and the Audi R8 LMS of Cantu-Bracalente-Lopez. The misfortune for the BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team crew came as early as the seventh lap, after a lightning start that had seen Comandini climb from sixth to second position, before being forced to retire due to the loss of a wheel caused by incorrect tightening.

Audi Sport Italia also suffered an unfortunate fate: on lap 46, Bracalente ended up in the gravel at the Curvone after losing control of the car on an oil patch, prematurely ending a race that had been very convincing up to that point. There was also a lot of bad luck for Pavlovic-Spengler-Lommahadthal (Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo-Star Performance) and for Magnoni-Rocca-Bodellini (Honda NSX GT3 Evo-Nova Race), who were forced to retire in the early stages of the race due to contact in the frantic opening laps. GT CUP: The race reserved for single-make configuration cars also delivered excitement and plenty of competitive spirit, but one crew stood out above all: Stefano Gai and Fabrizio Fontana.
The AF Corse color-bearers finished eighth overall, protagonists of a long duel not only with the much more powerful GT3 cars but also with their direct rivals in the fight for the PRO-AM 1st Division title, namely Forenzi-Cossu-Bonduel.

The Invictus Corse crew, at the wheel of the Lamborghini Huracan ST Evo2, had a solid race, even taking the lead for a few laps before having to yield to the supremacy of the AF Corse duo. It was a convincing seasonal debut for the Modena-based team, which, in addition to the young Forenzi and Cossu, also fielded the 2023 Lamborghini world champion, the Belgian Amaury Bonduel, who demonstrated his talent with an impeccable drive.

Megna-Barbolini-Scarpetta were on the third step of the PRO-AM podium, but the AF Corse standard-bearers cannot be fully satisfied with the result. The crew at the wheel of the Ferrari 296 Challenge was forced to retire 13 laps from the end due to a technical problem, after having remained in the lead of the sub-class for several laps.
Lamborghini was successful, however, in the GT Cup AM, with Locanto-Segù bringing the DL Racing Huracan ST Evo2 to the top step of the podium, ahead of the Ferrari 296 Challenge of Levy-Mari-Bucci (Best Lap).

In the 2nd Division, reserved for Ferrari 488 Challenge and Porsche 992 GT3 Cup cars, victory went to Vicky Piria paired with the Argentinian Matias Russo, at the wheel of the SP Racing Porsche. Behind them, the twin Porsches of Navatta-Olivieri-Palma (Raptor Engineering) and Calcagno-Corradi-Valori (Racevent) completed the podium. There was a lot of bad luck, however, for the Ferrari 488 of Bontempelli-Di Fabio-Postiglione (Easy Race), forced to end the race prematurely due to a double puncture, which caused their retirement 17 laps from the end.

Porsche also triumphed in the AM 2nd Division with Prestitpino-Micale Giacon (ZRS Motorsport) on the top step of the podium ahead of the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Marulla-Ercoli-Risitano (Double TT Racing) and the 992 of Fabiani-Bergonzini-Deverikos (SP Racing). The all-female crew composed of Federica Levy, Emma Segattini, and Jenny Sonzogni (Porsche 992 GT3 Cup-Faems Team) finished fourth, ahead of the sister car of Raport Engineering driven by Di Benedetto-Nicolosi-Carboni.

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Due Porsche 992 GT3 Cup saranno allestite nella serie di durata per Piria-Russo e Deverikos-Fabiani-Bergonzini, mentre nella Sprint una vettura sarà affidata a Zanini-Abbati.

Ci sarà un duplice impegno nella stagione che sta per aprirsi per il Team SP Racing. La squadra di Eugenio Pisani, infatti, sarà al via di entrambe le serie del Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo con due Porsche 992 GT3 Cup nell’ Endurance e una vettura nella Sprint.

Nella serie di durata saliranno sulla vetture della casa di Stoccarda Vichy Piria, conosciutissima commentatrice della F1 su SKY, in coppia con l’argentino Matias Russo (PRO-AM) e l’equipaggio AM composto dal greco Dimitris Deverikos assieme a Fabio Fabiani, vincitore del Jay-Ten Trophy del Campionato del Mondo WTCC 2011, e Matteo Bergonzini, vice campione italiano TCR DSG e vincitore della Coppa Italia Turismo TCR.

Nella serie Sprint per il momento è confermata una Porsche 992 GT3 Cup per Stefano Zanini e Massimo Abbati, ma un secondo equipaggio è in corso di definizione: “Sono contento dei tre equipaggi che ho allestito tra Sprint ed Endurance perché sono tutti molto competitivi – ha commentato Pisani – Matias ha fatto ben tre 24 ore di Le Mans, ha corso con AF Corse ed è arrivato a una virgola dalla F1, l’ultima volta in Italia ha corso con Audi Sport Italia in coppia con Zonzini, mentre Vicky la conosciamo tutti, è sicuramente una eccellente pilota, insieme formeranno un equipaggio PRO-AM. In AM Endurance, invece, schiererò Fabiani-Bergonzini-Deverikos. Fabio, che conosco dal lontano 2006, anno in cui abbiamo corso insieme nel karting, è con me dal 2022 e penso che quest’anno con due compagni veloci e costanti come Bergonzini e Deverikos, altra vecchia conoscenza GT, possa fare bene e raggiungere un bel risultato in AM. Per la Sprint – ha concluso il Team Principal ligure – ho messo insieme due gentleman veloci, Zanini e Abbati, che sono uno al terzo e l’altro al quarto anno con me, entrambi estremamente veloci, costanti e grintosi. Pertanto, sono molto fiducioso e orgoglioso di essere riuscito a creare queste line-up.”