13 April 2018
Maranello, 13 April 2018 - The 2018 International GT Open season kicks off at Estoril. Three Ferrari 488 GT3s from two brand new teams are due to start. Five constructors will be battling it out in three categories: Pro, Pro-Am and Am. The Ferrari cars will be racing in the Pro and Pro-Am classes.
Pro. The most prestigious class includes a Ferrari from Luzich Racing, a US team owned by Michael Luzich, a customer and great fan of the Prancing Horse, and a 488 GT3 from RS Racing. Luzich Racing’s formidable crew comprises works Ferrari driver and World Endurance Championship (WEC) champion Alessandro Pier Guidi and Danish young hope Mikkel Mac Jansen. The two-time European Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli champion Daniele Di Amato, and the highly experienced Andrea Montermini will take the wheel for RS Racing.
Pro-Am. Luzich Racing will field a second car in the Pro-Am class. It will be crewed by Michel Rugolo and Sweden’s Alexander West, an experienced Ferrari Challenge APAC championship driver who has returned to GT racing with Ferrari after time with McLaren.
Programme and history. Qualifying is scheduled for 9:15 am on Saturday and 9:25 am on Sunday. The races will start at 1:15 pm and 3:15 pm respectively. Ferrari can boast almost 40 victories at Estoril. The first dates back to 2000 with Javier Diaz and Fermin Velez in the Spanish GT championship at the wheel of a 360 Modena Challenge. The most recent came in 2015 in the VdeV Endurance with Marco Zanuttini and Mario Cordoni in the 458 Italia GT3 of AF Corse.