The Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli will this weekend become centre stage for the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup which, over the course of Saturday and Sunday, will see 23 machines battle it out in three different races. Two 488 GT3 Evo 2020 will line up – both in the Pro-Am class – in what promises to be a decisive season.
AF Corse. The crew made up of Andrea Bertolini, the official driver in Ferrari Competizioni GT, and Louis Machiels will enrich the story of their lengthy association with a further chapter. The Pro-Am champions from the GT World Challenge Europe will take to the track in car #52, aiming at replicating the success achieved in last year's Race 1.
Sky Tempesta Racing. After tackling the International GT Open and the Endurance Cup in the GT World Challenge, Chris Froggatt and Eddie Cheever III will be gunning for the title in Pro-Am class. The pair will hope to take up where they left off after some classy performances in the recent round of the Endurance Cup in Imola, where they finished in third place with support from Jonathan Hui. The English driver alongside his Italian team-mate will get to grips with the 4.2 kilometre Romagna track aboard car #93.
Winning memories. Last year the Misano stage of the Sprint Cup was dominated by Maranello machinery, with triumphs in Pro-Am class for Andrea Bertolini and Louis Machiels in Race 1 and with Rinat Salikhov and David Perel taking the honours in Race 2. In the Am category, HB Racing's 488 GT3 with Florian Scholze and Wolfgang Triller behind the wheel won both races.
Latest developments. The calendar reshuffle due to the pandemic has seen the schedule compressed into several weekends of racing. Among these are the Misano and Barcelona weekends, with the venues set to host three races instead of the usual two. Additionally, three qualifying sessions will be held, the first and the third of which will be tackled by the first driver nominated by the team. This driver will take the wheel of the car at the start of each race accordingly. Great attention to the choice of driver will have to be paid, as this format will be repeated, in reverse roles, later in Barcelona.
Schedule. Friday opens with the vehicles on track for the free practice, while Saturday will be the turn of the pre-qualifying session which will precede the official testing session due to get underway at 13:20. At sunset, the first of three one-hour races are scheduled to begin at 19:15. Sunday morning at 9:00, the third and final session of qualifying will take place, followed at 11:20 by Race 2 and then Race 3 at 15:00.