Weekend notebook: victories and podiums in France

Visiom’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 number 1 claimed victory at the 4 Hours of Paul Ricard in the Kennol GT Endurance Cup – its first race and first win in the Ultimate Cup Series. There were also victories and placings across the various classes of the GT Sprint Cup.

Ferrari took a podium finish in the Pro-Am category on Saturday and a win as the sole entrant in the Am category at the opening weekend of the GT World Challenge Americas championship, at the gorgeous Sonoma Raceway.

Meanwhile, testing gets underway in Barcelona for the ELMS and Le Mans Cup championships, both set to begin next weekend at the same Catalan circuit.

GT WC America. The no. 16 AF Corse Ferrari 296 took 3rd in the Pro Am category in Saturday’s race. Drivers Marcello Hahn and Allam Khodair enjoyed a relatively calm race until the very end when the hard charging Mercedes of Isaac Sherman pressured Hahn aggressively in the closing laps. Ultimately, the podium was earned by just three tenths of a second. In Sunday’s race, the duo seemed set for a fourth place finish after a very competitive 90-minute contest that was only interrupted by one caution period, but this time the team’s defense was not quite strong enough and they fell back to fifth. 

The no. 163 Ferrari driven by Jay Schreibman and Oz Negri enjoyed a relatively straight forward run as the sole Am entrant. On Sunday’s race, however, the car went hard into the wall at the famous Sonoma hairpin with 25 minutes to go in the race and bringing out the only caution period of the weekend. 

Ultimate Cup Series. The opening round of the Ultimate Cup Series, contested at the Le Castellet circuit, ended with a win for the reigning champions from the Visiom team in the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, number 1 in the Kennol GT Endurance Cup class. Romain Iannetta joins the line-up this year alongside Jean Bernard Bouvet and Jean Paul Pagny – who have secured back-to-back titles over the past two seasons. After taking pole position, the trio were first to cross the line at the end of a race affected by an incident during the second lap, which required the stewards’ intervention to restore safety on the track. Due to the lengthy stoppage, the race was shortened and contested over a three-hour distance. 

In the GT Sprint Cup, which features four 25-minute races, the Prancing Horse cars delivered excellent results. Lyle Schofield secured third place overall in Race-4, driving the 488 Challenge Evo number 353 of SR&R – a result that also counted as a win in the UCTC class, where the F430 Challenge number 69 of Francorchamps Motors Racing Classic with Benjamin Mardeen finished second. Schofield repeated his class victory in Race-2, finishing fourth overall, while the Ferrari 430 GT3 number 96 of Francorchamps Motors Racing Classic with Grégoire Benedet claimed second place in the UCS1 class. In the UCTC class, Emilio Rocchi’s Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo number 353 also won Race-1 – ahead of Benjamin Mardeen, who later claimed victory in the third race. Grégoire Benedet’s 430 GT3 number 96 secured second place in the UCS1 class – in Race-1.

The next round of the Ultimate Cup Series championship runs at Mugello from 24 to 27 April.

ELMS. Testing for the European Le Mans Series will take place in Barcelona on 31 March and 1 April. The new season begins on 6 April at the Catalan track – with seven Ferrari 296 LMGT3s entered. They will be: number 50 from Richard Mille AF Corse with Custodio Toledo, official driver Lilou Wadoux and Riccardo Agostini; number 51 from AF Corse with Charles-Henri Samani, Conrad Laursen and official driver Davide Rigon; number 55 from Spirit of Race with Duncan Cameron, David Perel and Matthew Griffin; number 57 from Kessel Racing with Takeshi Kimura, Ben Tuck and official Daniel Serra; number 66 from JMW Motorsport with Scott Noble, Jason Hart and Gianmaria Bruni; number 74 from Kessel Racing with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda Mateos and official driver Miguel Molina and number 86 from GR Racing with Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Tom Fleming.

Le Mans Cup. Collective testing is scheduled for 2 April in Barcelona, ahead of the championship opening that weekend. Four Ferrari 296 GT3s will line up on the starting grid: the Swiss team Kessel Racing will present two cars – number 17, crewed by Lorenzo Innocenti and Andrea Belicchi, and number 33 with Murat Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli. Biogas Motorsport’s number 23 will see Josep Comadira Mayola and Marc Carol Ybarra at the wheel, while the AF Corse number 51 will feature Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno, the winner of the 2023 Ferrari Challenge Europe.