Ferrari and Kessel Racing seek historic hat-trick

The Le Mans Cup championship season opens this weekend at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, following the pandemic-induced break. Four 488 GT3 Ferraris will compete for the title in the GT3 class.

Gunning for a hat-trick The reigning champions Giacomo Piccini and Sergio Pianezzola will compete in the first round at Le Castellet. After their wins in 2018 and 2019, the Kessel Racing pair are aiming to complete an unprecedented hat-trick of titles.  The Swiss team will also field a second car crewed by John Hartshome and Olivier Hancock. Piccini and Pianezzola will again face competition from Mikkel Mac and Fabien Lavergne of Luzich Racing, second in the final class standings last year. The pair led for most of the season and secured an extraordinary one-two at Le Mans. Another entrant is the Ferrari 488 GT3 of Spirit of Race driven by the highly experienced Christophe Ulrich and Maurizio Mediani, regular participants in the championship that gives the winners a free pass for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Programme. The first free practice session will start on Friday 17 July at 11:10 am, while the second is at 5pm. On Saturday 18 July, qualifying for the GT3 class is at 12:10 pm, and the green light goes on for the two-hour race at 4:30pm.