06 October 2017
Scarperia, 6 October 2017 – Thirty-three crews are set to start at Mugello in the final weekend of the Italian GT Championship. The Tuscan track will be the venue of a worthy conclusion to a hard-fought season in which all classes, apart from the GT Cup, are still to be decided.
Super GT3. Excitement is mounting in the top class of the Italian series, where four teams are separated by just 17 points and in with a shout for the title. Stefano Gai is in pole position having again teamed up with Mirko Venturi at the last round in Vallelunga. However, the Black Bull Swiss Racing driver, with the Ferrari 488 GT3, is under pressure from the two Lamborghinis of Frassineti-Beretta (Ombra Racing) and Daniel Zampieri (Antonelli Motorsport), the latter again paired with Riccardo Agostini. The fourth in the list of title contenders, Matteo Malucelli and Eddie Cheever III, at the wheel of the Ferrari 488 GT3 of Scuderia Baldini 27, need to make up ground after an unfortunate Race-2 at Vallelunga. Two other Ferrari 488 GT3s are also on track: the Easy Race car driven by Niccolò Schirò and the AF Corse one with Motoaki Ishikawa.
GT3. Taking account of the two results to be discarded, there are only six points separating the leaders Venerosi-Baccani (Porsche of Ebimotors) and Simone Niboli with the Ferrari 458 Italia GT3. At Mugello, with Stefano Colombo assisting the man from MP1 Racing, the battle is still wide open. The Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 of Marco Magli (Easy Race) will also start both races. In the GT Cup, where the title has already been decided, there’s the 458 Challenge EVO of Leonardo Baccarelli, again paired with Luigi Ferrara and competing for Caal Racing.
Programme. The final weekend of the season will kick off on Friday with two free practice sessions (11:20 am and 2:45 pm), while qualifying will take place on Saturday morning from 9:45 am to 11:10 am. In the afternoon Race-1 of the Super GT3 and GT3 classes will begin (at 3:55 pm) and the Super GT Cup-GT Cup-GTS classes (5:05 pm), to be followed on Sunday by Race-2 of the Super GT Cup-GT Cup-GTS classes (12:35 pm) and of the Super GT3 and GT3 (1:55 pm). All races will last 48 minutes + one lap and will be streamed live on the Acisport website.