Weekend notebook: Ferrari unbeatable in Am at GT World Challenge America

Over the weekend, Ferrari took a good number of podiums in the only endurance race of the International GT Open Championship at a sweltering Spa-Francorchamps circuit. However, its best results came in the GT World Challenge America at the Virginia International Raceway track, where the Maranello cars claimed their sixth consecutive Am class win and a victory in the Pro Am.

GT World Challenge America. At the VIR track, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 crewed by Ryan Dalziel and Justin Wetherill of Triarsi Competizione claimed its first win in the Pro Am class in Race-1 of round three of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS. The car finished in third place overall. The US team also triumphed in the Am class with the Ferrari of Charlie Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi. The AF Corse car of Jean-Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald was caught up in an accident that forced it to retire and miss out on Race-2. 

In the second race, Charlie Scardina and Onofrio Triarsi scored another win in the Am, for Ferrari’s sixth consecutive series victory. Their Pro Am teammates suffered a stop-and-go penalty and had to settle for seventh place. Meanwhile, also at the VIR, Andy Pilgrim’s Ski Autosports Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 made its debut in the GT America Powered by AWS championship, finishing second in Sunday’s race and fourth on Saturday.

The seventh and eighth rounds of the series run from 22 to 24 July at the Watkins Glen track.

International GT Open. The Spa-Francorchamps circuit hosted the third round of the International GT Open championship with a special format that uniquely for this event featured a single two-hour and twenty-minute (+ one lap) race. On the Belgian track, the number 133 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 was runner-up in the Pro Am class and fifth overall, with Murat Ruhi Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli of Kessel Racing. The number 55 of AF Corse with Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley also finished in the runner-up spot in the Am. With this result, they now lead the class standings on forty-two points together with Alex Hrachowina and Martin Konrad for Mercedes.

The other three Ferraris competing in the Am class finished fourth, with Stephen Earle and Erwin Zanotti ahead of their Kessel Racing teammates Omar Jackson and Charles Hollings. Olimp Racing’s Polish crew of Stanislaw Jedlinski and Krystian Korzeniowski were sixth to cross the line.

The next round will take place from 8 to 10 July at the Hungaroring track.