Weekend preview: Ferrari in action in Germany, Italy and the United States

The coming weekend will see Ferrari racing on circuits across Europe and America. In the United States, the GT World Challenge America will stage the sixth round of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, while in Italy, the Italian Gran Turismo Endurance Championship (at Imola) and the Ultimate Cup Series (Mugello) will be held. Finally, in Germany, the Sachsenring will host the sixth event of 2024.

GT WC America.Ferrari looks to continue its streak in SRO GT World Challenge America competition when AF Corse competes in this weekend’s races at Barber Motorsports Park. The Alabama visit marks the first visit to the pristine circuit in eight years for the SRO runners as the 2024 season heads into the final stages. Ozz Negri and Jay Schreibman won the Am class in the Sunday feature at Road America after taking second in the opener at their SRO debut, sharing the AF Corse No. 163 iMBranded Ferrari 296 GT3 in the two 90-minute races. The performance prompted the team to add the two remaining events to its schedule, and will run Barber and the Indianapolis finale.

“The original plan was to test our new Ferrari a few times and then run Road America and the Indy 8 Hour,” said Schreibman, 61 of Tacoma, Wash., a four-year veteran of Ferrari Challenge competition. “Obviously, we had some success and the series was good to us, so we added Barber. This will help us get ready for Indy when we will also have Toni Vilander. I’m looking forward to the race – Ozz tells me that Barber is the best of the best of the best.”

Negri raced prototypes in Grand-Am and the WeatherTech Championship from 2003 through 2018, mostly for Meyer Shank Racing.

“For me, running the Ferrari 296 GT3 at Barber is a brilliant surprise,” Negri said. “I get to drive this amazing 296 again, and at Barber, a great track. Let’s do it again!”

Veteran Vilander will join AF Corse in the SRO finale, the Indianapolis 8 Hour, on Saturday, Oct. 5. Vilander was also recently announced to drive in the IMSA season-ending Indianapolis Battle on the Bricks on Sept. 22 and Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on Oct. 12. He will co-drive with Rasmus Lindh and Henrik Hedman in Dragonspeed’s new Ferrari 296 GT3.

DTM. From 6 to 8 September, the Sachsenring will host the sixth round in the chase for the DTM championship title. Racing over the 3.645 kilometres of the Saxony circuit will be the two Ferrari 296 GT3s of Emil Frey Racing: the number 14 of Jack Aitken, fresh from a fifth place in Race-1 at the Nürburgring, and the number 69 of Thierry Vermeulen, whose best result was a sixth place during the weekend of 17 and 18 August. The drivers will aim to improve their position in the standings, where Aitken currently holds ninth place and Vermeulen sits in fifteenth.

After Friday’s Free Practice sessions, Qualifying 1 will take place from 10.40 a.m. until 11.00 a.m. on Saturday, with Race-1 from 1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. On Sunday, qualifying is set from 9.20 a.m. to 9.40 a.m., while Race-2 will run from 1.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m.

CIGT. After the summer break, the Italian Gran Turismo Championship returns with the Endurance series, with the third round set to take place at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola. The top of the standings is hotly contested, with five crews separated by just seven points. Leading the pack is the crew of Giancarlo Fisichella, Arthur Leclerc, and Tommaso Mosca in the number 27 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Scuderia Baldini. In the GT3 Pro Am, another 296 GT3 holds the top spot, with the number 50 AF Corse crew of Riccardo Ponzio, Stefano Gai, and Mikkel Mac, winners of the last race at Mugello. In third is another AF Corse car, the number 51 488 GT3 Evo 2020 driven by Alessandro Bracalente and Eliseo Donno. In the GT3 Am, the number 75 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Double TT Racing leads with Leonardo Colavita, Simone Riccitelli, and Christoph Ulrich.

In the GT Cup (reserved for single-marque cars), the Pro Am class will feature Luca Demarchi, Simone Patrinicola, and Sabatino Di Mare at the wheel of the number 111 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of Best Lap. The trio are second in the standings, just 10 points behind the leaders. Trailing by 23 points are Nicholas Risitano, Lyle Schofield, and Luca Attianese in the number 151 SR&R car, while just one point behind them are Alessio Bacci and Francesco La Mazza, who will share the number 103 Easy Race car with Emma Segattini at Imola. In the Am class, Giammarco Marzialetti and Pietro Agoglia, who lead the standings with 54 points, will be joined in the number 212 Best Lap Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo by Filippo Croccolino. Tied at the top of the standings with the Best Lap crew is the HC Racing Division team.

The Endurance series will get underway on Friday with two 50-minute free practice sessions. Saturday will feature the third free practice session at 9.15 a.m., followed by three qualifying sessions (from 5.15 p.m. to 6.40 p.m). The three-hour race will start on Sunday at 2.45 p.m.

Ultimate Cup Series. The Ultimate Cup Series heads to Italy, specifically to Mugello, for the fourth round of the season, where the number 1 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 from the Visiom team will aim for a fourth consecutive victory in the GT Endurance Cup. Jean-Paul Pagny, Jean Bernard Bouvet, and David Hallyday have won all the previous races and will look to extend their winning streak.

In the GT Sprint Cup, where Ferrari cars often play leading roles, as was the case in the last round at Hockenheim, a number of Maranello cars will be on the entry list across various classes. In UCS1, SR&R will field the number 3 Ferrari 488 GT3 with Francesco Atzori and ARAMIS, while in the UCS3 class, the same team will enter two 488 Challenge Evo: the number 333 with Lourenço Monteiro and Walker Harrison, and the number 353 with Lyle Schofield and Francesco Coassin. Competing in the same class will be the number 73 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo from CMR, driven by Patrick Michellier, and the number 91 from Racing Spirit of Leman with Frédéric Lacore. The Sprint series races are spread over two days: Race-1 is set for 6.05 p.m. on Friday, while Saturday will feature three more races, starting at 9.40 a.m., 1.25 p.m., and 5.55 p.m. (all races will last 25 minutes). The four-hour Endurance race will kick off at 10.20 a.m. on Sunday.

All times are local.