Wins and titles for Ferrari in CIGT Endurance

The last race of the Italian GT Endurance Championship season ended with two victories and two titles. The 488 GT3 Evo 2020 no. 71 of AF Corse triumphed in the Pro class while its sister car of Easy Race won the Pro Am class. A thrilling contest went right down to the wire, along the lines of last year when Stefano Gai triumphed in his Ferrari, supported by Antonio Fuoco. This year the reigning Sprint Pro Am series champion was just as cold-blooded, driving the AF Corse car to victory and the championship in an explosive finale. Alongside the young Italian, Giorgio Roda and Alessio Rovera also entered the roll of honour of the Italian series. In the Pro Am class, Sean Hudspeth, Mattia Michelotto and Matteo Greco managed the race superbly to claim victory and the title.

Hour 1. Early in the race, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020s suffered from a Balance of Performance that made it hard to compete against its rivals. In this context, Daniele Di Amato proved to be very fast and the best driver at the wheel of the Maranello cars, occupying seventh position overall and second in the Pro Am class. He was followed by Matteo Cressoni and Mattia Michelotto, who spent many laps fighting a tight but fair duel. Behind them, in tenth place, forty seconds off the lead came Giorgio Roda, who was the victim of a contact at the beginning of the race with Di Amato. Fifty minutes in, Andrea Marchi's GT4 class Porsche slid into the barriers at the Ascari chicane, which brought out the Safety Car, thus wiping out the accumulated delay for the Ferraris, in particular, AF Corse no. 71. At the restart, Roda was blocked by some GT4s losing him precious seconds, while the trio of Ferraris in the Pro Am class battled it out for supremacy. Cressoni attacked the Roman driver repeatedly but, in so doing, they both lost precious tenths on Mancinelli's Audi. Roda was the first Ferrari driver to pit, handing the wheel to Alessio Rovera, followed a couple of laps later by Di Amato and Michelotto. Cressoni extended his stint to the maximum before passing the baton to Simon Mann.

Hour 2. Once the positions settled after the pits, Matteo Greco moved into fourth place overall and first in the Pro Am. At the same time, Rovera pulled in front of the Ferraris of Simon Mann and Alessandro Vezzoni, into sixth position. The Italian hit the gas and attacked Raffaele Giammaria's Lamborghini, but this led the AF Corse driver to cut the first chicane. A contact between Vezzoni and Alexander Moiseev's Mercedes when throttling down at the Ascari chicane on lap 39 badly damaged the nose of the Ferrari of RS Racing, while Mann's 488 GT3 Evo 2020 had to retire on the same lap. The duel between Rovera and Giammaria ignited on lap 48 with the AF Corse driver definitively in front of his rival one lap later.

Hour 3. Two hours into the race, Matteo Greco pitted, making way for Sean Hudspeth, in the first of the changes for the Ferrari crews. Once the positions settled, with the ranking still virtual due to the five seconds to be added to Danny Kroes' car for an irregular pit stop, Fuoco was fourth, eight seconds behind the Lamborghini driver. Hudspeth was first in the Pro Am class ahead of Di Amato, back at the wheel of the RS Racing car, a lap behind. Among the leaders, Krohn ended up off the track at the Parabolica after a contact with Drudi. Fuoco took advantage of this by moving into third place, two seconds off the leaders. On lap 75, Fuoco could concentrate on Kroes' Lamborghini as the BMW behind him stopped in the pits for good. The Italian overtook the car from Borgo S. Agata with a fantastic breakaway at the Roggia and set off in pursuit Drudi, who led by almost five seconds. Pending any penalties from the race officials, Fuoco cut Drudi's lead by a few tenths, while Hudspeth managed his huge advantage over Di Amato. Drudi received a five-second penalty fourteen minutes from the end with Fuoco 4.2 seconds behind him. At that point, the Ferrarista didn't just try to manage his advantage but pushed at an unsustainable pace for the Audi driver. His lead narrowed to two seconds over the young Italian who, while passing second under the chequered flag, won the race and shared the Italian Endurance title with Giorgio Roda and Alessio Rovera. In the Pro Am class, victory and title also went to the Ferrari of Easy Race crewed by Sean Hudspeth, Mattia Michelotto and Matteo Greco, sixth overall at the finish line ahead of the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of RS Racing with Alessandro Vezzoni and Daniele Di Amato.