Ferrari in hunt for more wins at Imola for the GT World Challenge

The 2022 GT World Challenge Europe season kicks off this weekend at Imola’s Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, with round one of the Endurance Cup due to run over five out of the ten rounds of the SRO series.

The 52 cars announced include five Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020s, which will seek to repeat the extraordinary successes of recent seasons, with Alessandro Pier Guidi scoring a historic one-two in the Endurance Cup, solo in 2020, and last season teamed up with Nicklas Nielsen and Cȏme Ledogar. In 2021, Chris Froggatt and Jonathan Hui also triumphed in the Pro-Am class and Sky Tempesta Racing among the teams.

Pro. Two Iron Lynx crews will target another title in the Pro class. The first will feature Miguel Molina and James Calado at the wheel of the number 51 488 GT3 Evo 2020, alongside defending champion, Nicklas Nielsen.

The number 71 will be crewed by Brazilian Daniel Serra and Italian duo Davide Rigon and Antonio Fuoco.

Pro-Am. AF Corse will seek to continue the Prancing Horse’s success in the Pro-Am class with the number 52 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 driven by Louis Machiels, Andrea Bertolini and Stefano Costantini.

Gold Cup. Another AF Corse crew will compete in the Gold Cup, the new class for crews comprising a Bronze driver, a Silver driver and a Gold or Platinum level professional. Hugo Delacour, Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and Alessandro Balzan will take the wheel of the number 21 488 GT3 Evo 2020, while the second Ferrari in the class will feature the all-female Iron Dames crew. The number 83 488 GT3 Evo 2020 will be driven by Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting, the winner of the 2021 Ferrari Challenge Europe title.

Esports. Once again, this season, the Esports GT Pro Series will run alongside the Endurance Cup races, allowing real drivers to compete on the Assetto Corsa Competizione platform and score points for the real standings.  

Programme. After the free practice sessions, the Fanatec GT World Challenge Powered by AWS programme includes a pre-qualifying session on Saturday 2 April at 2.05pm, and official qualifying on Sunday 3 April from 9am. Starting at 3pm that day, the three-hour race will conclude the weekend at the Imola circuit.