23 June 2017
Le Castellet, 23 June 2017 - This weekend, the Blancpain GT Series returns with the third round of the Endurance Cup, the 1000 Km of the Paul Ricard in the South of France. A total of 10 Ferraris and eight official Prancing Horse drivers will be involved in GT competitions.
Pro Class. In the main category, the three Prancing Horse cars will again be seeking a place on the podium after an unsuccessful race at Silverstone. Fresh from the 24 Hours of Le Mans Michele Rugolo and Alessandro Pier Guidi will be joined at the wheel of AF Corse no. 50 alongside Pasin Lathouras. The 488 GT3 of Kaspersky Motorsport will be crewed by Giancarlo Fisichella, James Calado and Marco Cioci, all three of whom took part in Le Mans and will be trying for a problem free qualifying so they can go to attack right from the start. Last but not least, the Ferrari of SMP Racing will be crewed by Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina, and Victor Shaytar.
Pro-Am. Five Ferraris will compete in the Pro-Am class. We should keep a particular eye on the 488 GT3 of Rinaldi Racing driven by Daniel Keilwitz, Rinat Salhikov and Alexander Mattschull. The AF Corse car will be in the hands of Motoaki Ishikawa, Olivier Beretta and Lorenzo Bontempelli, while Niek Hommerson, Louis Machiels and Andrea Bertolini will be driving for Spirit of Race. Kessel Racing will be represented by Michael Broniszewski, Andrea Rizzoli and Matteo Cressoni, while the BBT team debuts in the series with Anthony Liu, Davide Rizzo and Toni Vilander, who is back from the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Am. Finally, there are two cars in the Am class. David Perel, Marco Zanuttini and Jacques Duyver will be behind the wheel of Kessel Racing's 488 GTE no. 888, while Rino Mastronardi and Pierre Ehret and rookie Rory Penttinen will be on track for Rinaldi Racing. The race will start at 6 pm on Saturday.