An intense weekend of racing will see the German DTM series season opener at Oschersleben, which will feature a Ferrari 296 GT3 courtesy of the Swiss team Emil Frey Racing. Also in Germany, seven Maranello cars will compete in the Ultimate Cup Series at Hockenheim and there will likewise be a strong presence at Spa-Francorchamps, where the International GT Open will be held along with the GT Cup. Lastly, there will be the third round of the 2023 Britcar at Oulton Park with one Ferrari on the start line.
DTM. The 39th edition of the German series, the first of the new ADAC era, opens at Oschersleben, where the Motorsport Arena will host the first of eight rounds on the calendar which ends in October. Representing the Maranello manufacturer this year will be Emil Frey Racing. The Swiss team, for the first year with Ferrari, will field former Formula 1 driver Jack Aitken and 20-year-old Thierry Vermeulen in the new 296 GT3.
Ultimate Cup Series. Seven Ferraris will be on the track at Hockenheim for the third round of the series now in its fifth season. Two crews will be at the wheel of Prancing Horse cars in the Endurance GT - Touring Race. Reigning champions Visiom will take to the track in the number 1 488 GT3 Evo 2020 with Jean-Paul Pagny, Jean-Bernard Bouvet and David Hallyday. With two wins already under their belt, the French team is aiming to further extend their lead in the UGT3A category standings.
In UGT3B, another transalpine team, XP Racing, will field the crew of Karl Pedraza, Philippe Papin and Roland Marchix at the wheel of the number 92 488 Challenge.
The 4 Hours of Hockenheim GT-Touring Endurance will get underway on Sunday morning, starting at 9.20 a.m.
Three races are set to take place over the weekend for the Sprint GT - Touring Race with two 25-minute and one 50-minute race scheduled for Saturday 27th. The SR&R team, having produced an excellent start to the season, present a lineup of four cars in the UGT3B category: in the number 13 488 Challenge will be Lorenzo Cossu and Alessio Bacci; in the number 33, Francesco Atzori and Edoardo Barbolini; in the number 34 458 Challenge Manuel Menichini and Umberto D'Amato and, finally, in the number 43, Aramis. Also racing in the same category will be the French team Racing Spirit of Leman with Frédèric Lacore and Alexandre Delaye.
International GT Open. After last year’s experiment, the organisers are again holding an endurance event for round two of the championship in 2023: the Spa-Francorchamps track is set to witness a single 2-hour and 20-minute race. The GT Open and GT Cup Europe drivers will race together in a 35-strong starting grid. Each driver will be required to complete a minimum of two stints, in a race with three mandatory pit stops, with a double-points haul up for grabs.
In the Pro Am class, leaders in the standings Marco Pulcini and Eddie Cheever III will be present in the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. The Piacenza-based team will also field two old acquaintances from the championship, namely Jamie Stanley and Laurent De Meeus, the latter with several years experience in Challenge Europe already behind him. Also from the European series of the Prancing Horse single-marque series will be Kessel Racing’s Nicolò Rosi and Niccolò Schirò. The Swiss team will also field a second car handled by Frederic Jousset and David Fumanelli, while Racing One has a Ferrari 296 GT3 on the track with Omar Jackson and Axcil Jefferies at the wheel.
The Am class will feature four AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 entries, with the pairings made up of Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald; Giorgio Forgione and Andrea Montermini; Alessandro Cozzi and Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Nicola Marinangeli and Riccardo Agostini. The Olimp Racing, Racing One, Team Baron Motorsport and Kessel Racing teams all line up one car apiece, crewed respectively in the following order: Stanislaw Jedliński and Krystian Korzeniowski; “Jacob Schell” and Stefan Aust; Ernst Kirchmayr and Philipp Baron; Murat Ruhi Cuhadaroglu and Emanuele Maria Tabacchi.
GT Cup. The presence in the Pro Am class of leaders Ivàn Velasco and Jorge Cabezas for the Mertel Motorsport team has been confirmed, who achieved a double-win at Portimão aboard the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo. After a brilliant start to the season, the German team, making its championship debut this year, have also confirmed the red car of Stefano Bozzoni and Fernando Navarrete in the Am class and added a third Ferrari, also in the Pro Am class, with Luca Ludwig, an experienced German driver from the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Series, and Axel Sartingen, current leader of the Ferrari Challenge Europe Coppa Shell as well as runner-up in the world championship in 2022. Kessel Racing, finally, will field a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo with brothers Alexandre and Mikaël Bochez.
Britcar. Third round of the season for the British Endurance Cup, set to take place this weekend at the Oulton Park circuit in a 3-hour race kicking off Saturday 27 May from 1.45 p.m. Also competing in Class C will be the RNR Performance Cars-run Ferrari 458 Challenge driven by Chris Goddard and Charlie Hand (all times are local).