Weekend preview: in search of success at Mugello and in Canada

The IMSA SportsCar Championship returns to Canada, at Motorsport Park, with the 296 GT3 of Conquest Racing competing in the Sprint Cup round, while in Italy, at the Mugello circuit, the second round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance series will take place with numerous Ferraris at the start.

IMSA. Following a strong run to the Watkins Glen Six Hours podium with a second-place finish in the prestigious Endurance Cup round, Ferrari will take that momentum north to Canada as IMSA stages the Grand Prix at Canadian Motorsports Park on Sunday. The Conquest Racing team – which is competing in all events of the North American championship in the GTD class this year – is ready for the seventh round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship with the No. 34 Corsa Horizon Ferrari 296 GT3, with drivers Alberto Costa Balboa and Manny Franco.

The pair are coming off a second-place finish in GTD at Watkins Glen, where they were joined by Cedric Sbirrazzouli. Franco and Costa are fourth in the GTD standings with five races remaining. This will be the first visit for both Franco and Costa to the circuit traditionally known as Motorsport, a track that has hosted eight Formula 1 Grands Prix.

“A lot of the places I’m racing this year are my first time at the track, and that includes Motorsport,” said Franco. “I hear it’s a difficult track, but it’s fun because some of the difficult tracks turn out to be easy, and then the easy tracks are the hardest! Hopefully, that’s the way it will turn out.”

“It should be fun to drive at Motorsports Park because I've never been there,” added Costa. “I only heard from my friends that it’s a very cool track, very fast and you can make no mistakes. A mistake there can be the end of your lap, and I’m looking forward to going there. I’ve done a lot of simulator work already, trying to learn as much as I can about the track, but as always, every track I go to is new for me. It’s a nice challenge, and I like it.”

On-track activity begins Friday with a 90-minute practice session beginning at 1:45 p.m. (all times ET). Saturday includes a second 90-minute session at 10:35 a.m., followed by GTD class qualifying at 4 p.m. The two-hour, 40-minute race starts at 11:05 a.m.

CIGT. Numbers are increasing for the Italian GT Championship, which in the second round of the Endurance series scheduled for the weekend at Mugello sees 37 cars entered and 106 drivers divided between GT3 and GT Cup.

On the Tuscan track, the favourites in GT3 will be the Ferrari crew of Giancarlo Fisichella, Arthur Leclerc, and Tommaso Mosca, who at the wheel of the Scuderia Baldini 296 GT3 number 23 won the first race at Vallelunga. In addition to the leaders of the provisional standings, the Maranello manufacturer fields another four crews. There are three 488 GT3 Evo 2020s: the number 51 of AF Corse with Alessandro Bracalente and Eliseo Donno, the number 3 of the Pellin Racing team with Paolo Ruberti and Thor Haugen, and the number 75 of the Double TT Racing team with Leonardo Colavita, Simone Riccitelli, and Christoph Ulrich, first in GT3 Am. Finally, the AF Corse team is fielding another 296 GT3, the number 50, driven by Riccardo Ponzio, Stefano Gai, and Mikkel Mac.

In the 1st Division, reserved for single-marque series cars, among the Pro Ams will be Luca Demarchi, Simone Patrinicola, and Sabatino Di Mare with the Best Lap Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo number 111, second in the standings. Also among the Pro Ams will be the number 103 of Easy Race with Francesco La Mazza, Emiliano Pierantoni, and Alex Bacci, and the number 151 of the SR&R team with the trio composed of Nicholas Risitano, Lyle Schofield, and Luca Attianese.

In the Am class, two 488 Challenge Evos are entered: the number 212 of the Best Lap team with Gianmarco Marzialetti and Pietro Agoglia, who will be joined by Filippo Croccolino, and the number 255 of Reparto Corse RAM with Fabio Daminato, Mattia Simonini, and Giacomo Parisotto.

The weekend at Mugello will open on Friday with two 60-minute free practice sessions (10.45 a.m. and 3.45 p.m.), followed by the third session on Saturday morning (10 a.m.). In the afternoon, starting at 4.40 p.m., the three 15-minute qualifying sessions will determine the starting grid for the 3-hour race scheduled for Sunday at 3 p.m.

ADAC GT Masters. Now in its 18th season, making it the world’s longest-running GT series, the ADAC GT Masters celebrates its 250th race this weekend on the stage that is Nürburgring, which has hosted the races of the series more than any other circuit in recent years.

The new format will serve to celebrate this major milestone, with an endurance race on Saturday and a sprint on Sunday contested over the same weekend.

Among the 19 crews entered is the Swiss Emil Frey Racing team comprising Alain Valente and Jean Claude D‘’Auria, who will take turns at the wheel of the number 14 Ferrari 296 GT3.

After Friday’s free practice, Qualifying 1 will kick off at 9.35 a.m. on Saturday 13 July, with the race scheduled to start at 3 p.m. over a distance of 180 minutes. On Sunday 14, after qualifying at 9.55 a.m., the 40-minute sprint event will see the green flag at 3.10 p.m.

(All times are local).