Prancing Horse cars enjoyed further success, finishing on the podium in the DTM season-opener with the new 296 GT3 of Emil Frey Racing and with victories and placings in the International GT Open and GT Cup at Spa. The Ultimate Cup Series at Hockenheim was less rewarding, with the Visiom team relinquishing its lead in the Endurance GT, while SR&R notched up its third win in three races in the Sprint GT.
DTM. Emil Frey Racing scored its first success in the opening round of the 2023 championship, the first under ADAC, held at the Oschersleben circuit. Jack Aitken, the British driver with South Korean citizenship, came third on the podium with the new 296 GT3. In the weekend’s second race, Aitken and teammate Thierry Vermeulen finished at the back.
Ultimate Cup Series. The Prancing Horse cars suffered an unlucky weekend in the Endurance GT – Touring Race event at the Hockenheim circuit, the third round of the season. After taking pole position with Jean-Bernard Bouvet and Jean-Paul Pagny, the Visiom team, defending champion and leader in the standings, could not take to the track for the four-hour race because of the absence of David Halliday, who was unable to travel to Germany.
In the UGT3B class, Karl Pedraza, Philippe Papin and Roland Marchix of XP Racing had to give up their victory ambitions early, finishing in eighth place overall and second in their class.
The SR&R team scored a hat-trick in the UGT3B category of the Sprint GT-Touring Challenge, which it contested in two 25-minute races and one 50-minute outing on the German circuit. Francesco Atzori and Edoardo Barbolini won Race-1, finishing in fourth place overall, ahead of teammates Lorenzo Cossu and Alessio Bacci and French pairing Frédèric Lacore and Alexandre Delaye of Racing Spirit of Leman, both in Ferrari 488 Challenges. Cossu and Bacci had their revenge in Race-2, finishing in first ahead of the French pair and Barbolini and Atzori, who returned with a top-step finish in the endurance event ahead of the two Frenchmen and Cossu and Bacci.
The next round of the series will have to wait until after the summer, with the 8 to 10 September event at Estoril.
International GT Open. The Spa Francorchamps circuit saw a tight round two of the International GT Open in the endurance formula, with a two-hour race. The Americans Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald in the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of AF Corse secured the best result among the large contingent of Prancing Horse cars with victory in the Am class ahead of another Ferrari, the number 15 of Team Baron Motorsport crewed by Philip Baron and Ernst Kirchmayr. Another AF Corse car, driven by Gino Forgione and Andrea Montermini, rounded off an all-red podium. The US pair now leads the overall class standings. The Pro Am class also featured a podium finish, courtesy of the Kessel Racing pairing of Nicolò Rosi and Niccolò Schirò, who beat the AF Corse duo of Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley by just two and a half seconds. Finally, in the Pro class, AF Corse’s Nicola Marinangeli and Riccardo Agostini had to settle for fourth after a race marred by several collisions, one of which also penalised the pair in the number 51 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, and two Safety Car entries.
The third round of the series runs on 18 June at the Hungaroring circuit.
GT Cup. After their victory in the season’s first round in the Algarve, the Spanish pairing of Ivàn Velasco and Jorge Cabezas of Mertel Motorsport secured a second-place finish in the Pro Am class, keeping their lead in the overall standings. Despite various collisions, the brothers Alexandre and Mikaël Bochez of Kessel Racing matched this result in the Am class.
The third round of the GT Cup Europe will take place on 23 July at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France.