Weekend notebook: Ferrari dominant in France

The Ultimate Cup Series season kicked off at the Paul Ricard, where the Ferraris enjoyed success in all categories. The UK also brought good news with class victories in the Britcar. In Italy, the Ferrari of Kessel Racing was unlucky in the 12 Hours of Mugello, completing a fine comeback after going off track.

Ultimate Cup Series. Round one of the Ultimate Cup Series offered a memorable Sunday. In the Endurance GT-Touring Challenge, Visiom’s reigning champions, who celebrated their title here last year, claimed their first victory of 2023. After dominating qualifying, over a second ahead of their nearest rivals, David Hallyday, Jean-Paul Pagny and Jean-Bernard Bouvet, in the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, closed the four-hour race more than a lap in front of the runner-up.

The Prancing Horse also enjoyed a triumphant weekend in the Sprint GT-Touring Challenge with two 25-minute races, and one 50-minute outing, all won by the SR&R team’s number 1 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. Lorenzo Bontempelli claimed the first round, while teammate Kang Ling won the second. So they also celebrated together in the endurance race, capping a perfect weekend at the Paul Ricard.

The Italian team also monopolised the Race-1 podium in class 3B with victory for Francesco Atzori in a Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo ahead of the sister car of Lorenzo Cossu. Alfredo Salerno took third in a Ferrari 458 Challenge. In Race-2, victory went to Edoardo Barbolini, 2022 Class 3A champion, ahead of Bacci in a 488 Challenge Evo. The Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of Lorenzo Cossu and Alessio Bacci was first under the chequered flag in the third class 3B outing, followed by Atzori and Barbolini.

The next round of the Ultimate Cup Series runs from 29 to 30 April in Spain at the Navarra circuit.

Britcar. The first successes of the season in the Endurance Championship came in the opening round of the Britcar on the Silverstone track. In the three-hour race, fourth place overall for the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of RNR Performance Cars earned victory in the C class. Chris Goddard, Charlie Hollings and Charlie Hand celebrated on the top step of the podium. In the B class, John Seale and Jami Stanley of FF Corse took first place. The next round is from 22 to 23 April at the Brands Hatch circuit.

24H Series. In the 12 Hours of Mugello, the first European round of the 24H Series, Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 finished sixth in the GT3 class, and fourteenth overall. The number 8 car with ‘LMDV’, Alessandro Cutrera, Marco Talarico, Marco Frezza and David Fumanelli at the wheel ran into problems with under four hours to go when it crashed into the barriers while third overall. The crew did well to keep calm and recover several positions. The next round of the championship is the 12 Hours of Spa on 6-7 May.