08 January 2017
Maranello, 8 January 2016 - In the Italian GT championship Ferrari customer teams triumphed in the two most prestigious categories, the Super GT3 and the GT3, which were won respectively by the Black Bull Swiss Racing team and Scuderia Baldini 27 Network.
Super GT3 class. Two 488s started the season in the Super GT3 class, one for Black Bull Swiss Racing and another for the Easy Race team. The drivers of Black Bull Swiss Racing began the season on the front foot with victory in the second race at Monza following a third place in Race-1. After a bad weekend at Imola Stefano Gai and Mirko Venturi bounced back with a triumph in Race-2 at Misano to make it a three-way fight for the title against the Audi of Marco Mapelli and the Lamborghini of Antonelli Motorsport (Agostini-Di Folco). Gai and Venturi went top after a win in Race-1 in the second stage at Imola and effectively wrapped it up with a stunning victory in Race-1 at Mugello that allowed the pair to settle for a sixth place in the final race of the season.
GT3 class. The battle was if anything even tougher for Eddie Cheever III and Federico Leo in the GT3 class. The pair suffered a disastrous start to the season with three blanks in the first four races, knocked for six by an out of control car at Monza in Race-1 and unable to start the second race. They took two important second places at Misano while at Mugello a victory and a third place put the standard bearers of Scuderia Baldini 27 Network right back in the title race. Like the Super GT3, the toughest opponents were the Audi drivers, Emanuele Zonzini and Matias Russo, and Vito Postiglione of Lamborghini. Leo and Cheever’s two wins at Imola sent them top. Then in the grand finale at Mugello two third places delivered the title while teammates Lorenzo Bontempelli and Lorenzo Casé won Race-1.
GT Cup. There was nothing doing in the GT-Cup class for Vincenzo Sauto and Mirko Zanardini (Duell Race) who finished second in the standings with a victory in the second round at Vallelunga. We should also mention the wins for Dario Caso and Sossio Del Prete (Victoria Speed Motorsport) at Imola and Matteo “Babalus” Santoponte and Erich Prinoth (MP Racing) at Mugello.