Alessandro Balzan and Matt Kurzejewski secured the GT3 class title in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with one round remaining after recording their third victory at the 4 Hours of Mugello. AF Corse also claimed the team title. Marco Pulcini celebrated in the Pro-Am class in Barcelona, becoming the International GT Open champion.
Michelin Le Mans Cup. With their third win of the season at the Mugello circuit, Alessandro Balzan and Matt Kurzejewski clinched the drivers’ title at the wheel of AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 GT3 number 51. The Piacenza-based team also celebrated a second-place finish for Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini in the sister car, number 88, along with victory in the team standings, one round before the championship’s closing event at Portimão on 19 October.
An excellent start gave Balzan the lead, which he maintained throughout. He crossed the finish line with teammate Kurzejewski just over two seconds ahead of the second-placed Ferrari of Toledo and Agostini.
David Cleto Fumanelli and Frédéric Jousset’s sixth place in Kessel Racing’s 296 GT3 helped complete Ferrari’s dominance, which also included eighth place overall for Fran Rueda Mateos and Andrew Gilbert in the number 74 car.
International GT Open. The Barcelona circuit, the venue of the seventh round of the International GT Open, delivered the season’s first title, with Marco Pulcini’s Ferrari 296 GT3 number 27 of Spirit of Race, winning the Pro-Am class. The Italian driver, paired in Spain with Eddie Cheever, only needed a second place in class in Race-1 to secure the title with one round to spare.
Teammates Nicola Marinangeli and Vincent Abril, in Ferrari number 51, are back in contention for the Pro championship, though with limited hopes. The Spirit of Race pairing moved up to fourth place in the overall standings thanks to a sixth-place finish in Race-1 and, above all, a fine victory in the second race, which they dominated from pole to the chequered flag. Marinangeli and Abril are on 88 points, 12 behind the leaders. Only the single race at Monza on 20 October, offering an increased number of points, remains. The Barcelona weekend also featured a third-place finish in the Pro-Am class in Race-2 for AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 GT3 number 16, crewed by Marcelo Hahn and Allam Khodair.
GT Cup Europe. Fifth place in Race-1 and fourth in Race-2 were sufficient for Iván Velasco and Luca Ludwig to stay top of the Pro-Am standings in the GT Cup Europe in the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo number 80. The MERTEL Motorsport drivers protected their lead at the Barcelona circuit in round five of the season, maintaining a 17-point advantage over their closest rival.
In the Am series, two fourth-place finishes stood out: the 488 Challenge Evo number 81, driven by Steven Liquorish and Mauro Trentin in Race-1, and car number 83, piloted by Alba Vázquez and Laura Van den Hengel in Race-2. Both crews are from the MERTEL Motorsport team.
The championship finale is on 20 October at Monza.
ELMS. The championship’s first outing at the Tuscan circuit of Mugello provided both spectacle and a victory in the LMGT3 for Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson, and Prancing Horse official driver Daniel Serra in Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 296 LMGT3 number 57. Serra made the decisive and spectacular overtake of the Aston Martin on the outside at San Donato with just five minutes to go. With this victory, the three drivers reached the top of the standings, sharing first place ahead of the last event in Portimão on 19 October.
Formula Racing number 50, driven by Johnny and Conrad Laursen, along with the other official driver, Nicklas Nielsen, also made it onto the podium, finishing third after a prolonged and exciting all-Ferrari battle with AF Corse’s number 51, driven by Charles-Henri Samani, Emmanuel Collard, and Nicolas Varrone, who finished fourth. JMW Motorsport’s number 66, with Scott Noble, Jason Hart, and Ben Tuck, came two places further back in sixth, while the GT Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 number 86, driven by Riccardo Pera, official driver Davide Rigon, and Michael Wainwright—currently third in the overall standings and eight points behind the leader—crossed the line in eighth. Spirit of Race number 55, with Duncan Cameron, David Perel, and Matthew Griffin, finished eleventh.
DTM. The best result for the two Ferrari 296 GT3s of Emil Frey Racing in the seventh round of the season at the 4,318-metre Spielberg circuit in Austria came courtesy of Jack Aitken, who finished tenth in the second race, recovering four positions from the first round. Teammate Thierry Vermeulen finished thirteenth in Race-2 after failing to complete the first race. The DTM championship takes a quick break before returning on 20 October for the traditional final event at the Hockenheim circuit.
ADAC GT Masters. Jean-Luc D’Auria and Alain Valente scored another podium finish, driving the Ferrari 296 GT3 number 14 of Emil Frey Racing to a brilliant second place in Race-2 at the Spielberg circuit in Austria in the ADAC GT Masters championship. An eventful outing concluded seven minutes early with a red flag because of a Porsche colliding with the barriers. Racing One’s Ferrari 296 GT3 number 6, driven by Ernst Kirchmayr and Fabrizio Crestani, had a positive debut. In Race-1, they finished sixth overall and second in the Pro-Am class after briefly holding the lead, while in the second race, they came eleventh overall and second in class. The season finale is from 20 to 22 October at Hockenheim.