The Monza circuit hosts the fourth and final round of the Italian GT Championship Endurance series this weekend. After the Sprint series titles were awarded at Mugello, the endurance championship will see nine Ferraris in the GT3 and GT Cup classes.
First title. Even before this race, Luca Demarchi, Nicholas Risitano and Edoardo Barbolini in the SR&R Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo took the title in the GT Cup, a class reserved for cars in one-make configuration. Their title rival, Lorenzo Becagli of SR&R, won’t be participating in the race. Jacopo Baratto, “Aramis” and Alessio Bacci will take his place in the Ferrari 458 Challenge.
Everything to play for. In the top class, the GT3, Stefano Gai and Daniel Zampieri from Scuderia Baldini will try to reduce the three-point gap to the championship leaders. However, the latter are in a better situation in terms of discards for calculating the final standings. The pair won’t have the help of Giancarlo Fisichella, who is in Bahrain for the World Endurance Championship. Carrie Schreiner, the AF Corse driver who is 14 points off the lead, is not mathematically out of the running, so could also rejoin the title race. She will be alongside Sean Hudspeth and Davide Rigon at Monza. The Italian is now fully recovered from the accident at Spa.
Carrie Schreiner is also in the mix for overall victory in the GT3 Pro-Am, although she is 19 points behind favourite Stephen Earle of Kessel Racing, flanked by Niccolò Schirò and David Perel. The American holds a seven-point lead over AF Corse’s Simon Mann, partnered on this occasion by Toni Vilander. The RS Racing Ferrari of Di Amato-Vezzoni is third, nine points behind.
The entry list includes the Easy Race Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 with Greco-Hofer and Kessel Racing with Cuhadaroglu-Fumanelli in the GT3 Am.
Programme. The final round of the 2021 championship opens on Friday with free practice from 10am to 11am and 1.40pm to 2.40pm. The third round is from 8.30am to 9.15am on Saturday, followed by qualifying from 12.55pm to 2pm. The three-hour race will set off on Sunday at 1.45pm, and broadcast live on Rai Sport from 3.30pm.