Simon Mann Italian champion in GT3 Pro-Am

The Italian GT Endurance Championship closed on a decidedly autumnal day at Monza with Ferrari celebrating the GT3 Pro-Am title won by AF Corse’s Simon Mann. However, Stefano Gai and Daniel Zampieri of Scuderia Baldini missed out on the overall title.

Mann completed his comeback to secure the Italian championship, partnering Toni Vilander at Monza. Mann-Vilander started behind the leader Steve Earle, who shared the Kessel Racing Ferrari with David Perel and Niccolò Schirò. Mann’s breakthrough came about halfway through the three-hour race when his much better pace took him past Earle, with his Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 taking the GT3 Pro-Am class lead. Vilander-Mann kept going to cross the finish line first, with Mann securing the Italian title. Earle-Schirò-Perel finished second in class and third overall, ahead of the of RS Racing Ferrari crewed by Di Amato-Vezzoni

Gai-Zampieri tried to make the race their own in the overall class but fell short, crossing the line in third on the Brianza track. The Scuderia Baldini pair also finished third in the final championship standings. The title went to Drudi-Ferrari-Agostini, who benefited from the decision not to pit to change tyres when the rain started, which forced almost all the other teams to stop. Hudspeth-Schreiner-Rigon of AF Corse finished sixth while Greco-Hofer of Easy Race, were tenth.

Given the absence of their main rival, Luca Demarchi, Nicholas Risitano, and Edoardo Barbolini in the SR&R Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo already had the title in the bag before the start. They went on to celebrate the Italian championship in their category with victory in the GT Cup. The Ferrari 458 Challenge of teammates Baratto-“Aramis”-Alessio Bacci was second.