Weekend preview: Ferrari on the track at Misano and COTA

This weekend sees the return of the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup with six Ferrari 296 GT3s entered for the Misano round with an original format that includes Race-2 at night. In Texas, AF Corse's 296 GT3 makes its debut in the GT World Challenge America.

GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup. For the tenth consecutive year, the GT World Challenge Europe championship will take place at the Romagna circuit, dedicated to the memory of Marco Simoncelli, where two one-hour races will be held. After a positive debut for the Maranello-based manufacturer a fortnight ago in the season's opening round at Brands Hatch, there will be six Ferrari 296 GT3s at the start at Misano.

In the Pro class, Emil Frey Racing will line up the two cars that took two runner-up spots in the opening round in England: the number 14 will feature Konsta Lappalainen and Ben Green, while the 69 will be driven by Thierry Vermeulen and Giacomo Altoè.

The Gold class will include the number 51 Racing Team Turkey-entered car with Salih Yoluç and Charlie Eastwood, the pairing who set the fastest lap in the race at Brands Hatch, while the Silver class will feature two AF Corse cars. The number 52 will be driven by Jef Machiels and Sean Hudspeth, whereas the number 71 will feature the young victors of the 2023 Ferrari Challenge Europe, Thomas Fleming and Eliseo Donno, who demonstrated exceptional competitiveness in winning Race-2 of the English round.

The Italian round will see the debut of the Bronze class, which will add 11 cars to the field, including the number 93 Ferrari of Sky Tempesta Racing driven by Edward Cheever and Jonathan Hui.

The cars will face a unique weekend format, with free practice, pre-qualifying and qualifying scheduled for Friday, the latter at 9:00 p.m., while the two races will take place on Saturday. The first race will kick off at 2:00 p.m. while the second takes place after sunset at 9:00 p.m. with the drivers facing the only Sprint Cup night race of the season and the first since 2021.

GT World Challenge America. Ferrari will make its season debut in the GT World Challenge America championship at round three this weekend at the Circuit of The Americas, with AF Corse fielding the number 88 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini in the Pro Am class. The two drivers are also currently competing in the Le Mans Cup and took part in the Barcelona round, finishing third. Toledo, in his third year of racing, made his Ferrari Challenge debut in 2022, finishing in second place at COTA in the Trofeo Pirelli Am. In 2023 he triumphed in the Ferrari Challenge race held at Mugello for The Collection team at the Finali Mondiali.

Agostini, age 30, was awarded the chance to test a Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 car in 2012 after winning 11 races and clinching two titles in Italian Formula 3. In 2023, alongside Toledo, he won the race at Mugello in the Italian Gran Turismo Sprint Championship in a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 belonging to AF Corse. The weekend at COTA opens with two free practice sessions on Friday. Qualifying is at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the first race at 12:30 p.m. The second race will be held on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. The times indicated are Central Time.