Weekend preview: chasing victories on three continents

From North America to Asia, and Oceania, the first weekend of August features Ferraris competing in three championships across three continents: the IMSA SportsCar Championship, Super GT Japan, GT World Challenge Australia.

IMSA. The American IMSA SportsCar Championship goes to Road America for the eighth event of the season. Three Ferrari 296 GT3s will compete in a two-hour and 40-minute race on Wisconsin’s 6,515-metre Elkhart Lake track. In the GTD Pro class, Conquest Racing fields the number 35 car with Daniel Serra and Giacomo Altoè. In the GTD, the same team lines up its number 34 car on the track, crewed throughout the season by Manny Franco and Albert Costa Balboa, who sit fifth in the championship. Triarsi Competizione’s number 23 will also take part in the GTD with Onofrio Triarsi and official driver Alessio Rovera.

The programme kicks off on Friday 2 August, with the first 90-minute free practice session at 1.55 p.m. It continues on Saturday 3, with a second 90-minute session at 9.55 a.m. and qualifying for the GTD and GTD Pro classes at 4.20 p.m. The two-hour and 40-minute race kicks off on Sunday, 4 August, at 2.10 p.m.

Super GT Japan. Round four of the Japanese Super GT series will run on the 4,563-metre Fuji track over a distance of 350 km. Two Ferrari 296 GT3s will compete in the GT300 category, with Ponos Racing number 45 on the track driven by Kei Cozzolino and Lilou Wadoux, currently eleventh in the championship standings. Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi Muntan, who clinched a podium finish in the last round at Suzuka and are ninth in the standings, will drive Team LeMans’ number 6.

GT WC Australia. After a two-month break, the GT World Challenge Australia returns on the track at the Queensland Raceway near Brisbane. This 3,126-metre track hosts rounds six and seven of the Australian season, featuring 18 cars. Arise Racing will field two Ferrari 296 GT3s both in the Pro-Am class: Championship leaders Liam Talbot and Chaz Mostert will drive the number 1 car, while Elliott Schutte and Jaxon Evans, currently fourth in the standings, will be behind the wheel of the number 8 car.