Weekend preview: Ferrari on hunt for victories in Italy and Japan

The Mugello circuit hosts round two of the Italian GT Championship Endurance series with six Ferraris at the start, while at Suzuka in Japan, three Maranello-brand cars will be after a strong result in the GT World Challenge Asia.

Italian GT Championship. The Tuscan track hosts the second round of this season’s Endurance series, which features a single two-hour race, starting on Sunday at 4.15 p.m. The Ferraris are concentrated in the GT CUP, with six cars entered. One of the favourites is the Coluccio-Mazzola crew, at the wheel of the Easy Race Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, victorious in the opening round contested at Pergusa. This time the pair will be joined by Vito Postiglione. The Best Lap Ferrari, crewed by the Donno-Risitano-Menichini trio, will vie for victory, looking to improve on its second place in Sicily. Completing the Maranello line-up are the AF Corse 488 Challenge Evo driven by Cressoni-Pulcini, the two SR&R cars with Buttarelli-Cossu-Bacci, first in the GT Cup Am, and Bontempelli-Demarchi-La Mazza, and a 458 Challenge, raced by ‘Aramis’-Baratto-Pennisi.

GT World Challenge Asia. In the season’s second round at the Suzuka track, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Yogibo Racing will be among the starters, with Naoki Yokomizo and Kiyoto Fujinami at the wheel. In the opening round at Sepang, the number 27 claimed two fourth places overall, putting it fifth in the overall standings and top of the Silver class. Two more Maranello-brand cars make their debut in the series, entered in the Pro Am class: the number 60 lined up by LMcorsa, crewed by Kei Nakanishi and Shigekazu Wakisaka, and the number 777 of CarGuy Racing with Kei Cozzolino and Takeshi Kimura, the latter pair also involved in this year’s Super GT championship.