It was an exciting weekend at Imola, where the penultimate round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship took place. The Ferraris claimed four victories and lots of podiums in the two 50-minute-plus races.
GT3. There were plenty of thrills on the Romagna track, where the drivers put on a spectacular show. Maybe the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020s in the GT3 class just lacked a bit of luck. Fabrizio Crestani and Matteo Greco of Easy Race suffered two eighth places, relegating them from first to third in the overall standings.
Daniele Di Amato’s weekend had started well, securing pole and taking second place in Race-1, but he was forced to retire from Sunday’s race. With four laps to go, while battling for first with Alex Frassinetti, the RS Racing driver collided with his adversary while passing a lapped driver. Di Amato’s race ended in the gravel.
In the GT3 Pro-Am, Simon Mann surged ahead, sharing the AF Corse Ferrari in this round with Matteo Cressoni. He moved to seven points from the top of the standings, winning Race-1 and placed second in class in Race-2. His teammates Daniel Zampieri and Carrie Schreiner repeated the third-place gained in Race-1.
The GT3 Am class standings were unchanged. The leader Murat Cuhadaroglu of Kessel Racing, accompanied this weekend by David Fumanelli, earning the same points as his direct rivals, postponing the title outcome to the last race at Mugello. The Swiss team’s duo clinched the win in Race-1 at Imola and third place in Sunday's race, where they finished ahead of their teammates Steve Earle and Niccolò Schirò.
GT Cup. Two Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos emerged victorious in the class reserved for one-make cars. Saturday saw the Formula Racing duo, Alessandro Cozzi and Giorgio Sernagiotto, triumph ahead of Hugo Delacour and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli of AF Corse. However, in Race 2, the Easyrace Ferrari of Francesca Linossi and Daniel Vebster was first across the line, ahead of Luca Demarchi and Nicholas Risitano of SR&R. The overall standings are finely balanced, with the Ferraris of Demarchi – Risitano and Linossi – Vebster sharing first place on 66 points. Mugelli – Pegoraro follow just one length behind.
Calendar. The last and decisive round of the Italian GT Sprint Championship will take place in Mugello from 8 to 10 October. The third round of the Endurance series is scheduled for 17-19 September at Vallelunga.