Victories and podiums for Ferrari at Mugello in CIGT Endurance

The Prancing Horse enjoyed a successful second round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship at Mugello, with podium finishes and three class wins.

After their second place at Pergusa, the 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Fisichella-Gai-Zampieri repeated the feat following an extraordinary comeback that redeemed an unlucky qualifying. The Scuderia Baldini crew crossed the line ahead of the Ferrari of Mann-Cressoni, winners of the GT3 Pro-Am class. Piccini-Schiavoni-Mastronardi of Iron Lynx came out on top in the GT3 AM, while Delacour-Sbirrazzuoli won the GT Cup at the wheel of the AF Corse 488 Challenge Evo.

GT3. The undulating Tuscan track hosted a challenging, hard-fought and exciting race. With light rain falling a mid-race, several crews shared the lead, but penalties imposed by the marshals shuffled the standings at the end. In the final ranking, the Imperiale Racing crew edged out Fisichella-Gai-Zampieri, who did well to fight back from last place on the grid. Gai’s first stint, in which he made up a lot of ground, and Zampieri’s lead in the second half of the race, despite using slicks on a wet track, enabled Fisichella to keep in touch with the leaders, even though the Roman driver’s tyres suffered excessive wear during his stint.

Mann-Cressoni finished a deserved third overall and first in the GT3 Pro-Am class, with the young American driver doing well in his second stint on slicks despite the wet track. The rest of the race saw an excellent performance by Matteo Cressoni, who finished third overall. The Iron Lynx crew of Piccini-Schiavoni-Mastronardi at the wheel of the 488 GT3 Evo 2020, topped the Am class and finished fifth overall, ahead of Greco-Crestani-Filippi. After retiring at Pergusa, the Easy Race crew’s run of bad luck continued with a disappointing sixth-place at Mugello. Greco did well to stay close to the leaders in his first stint, as did Crestani, who moved in front on lap 43 with slicks and a wet track but then slipped a few positions after going wide on the gravel trap. Regaining the lead after a few laps, the driver from Treviso lost it again to Zampieri before handing over to Filippi for the grand finale. However, in a frantic battle with Di Folco, a contact led to a puncture that sent the Piedmontese driver back to the pits. This ended any hopes of a podium position. Schreiner-Hudspeth-Fuoco finished seventh in the AF Corse 488 GT3 Evo 2020, ahead of the sister car of RS Racing crewed by Di Amato-Vezzoni, second in the GT3 Pro-Am. The Roman driver was again back among the leaders after a very effective first stint, which put his co-driver Vezzoni in a position to move in front. Then, the challenging track conditions led the team to fit rain tyres and then slicks again, enabling Di Amato to finish ahead of Earle-Perel-Schirò with the Kessel Racing car, third in the Pro-Am.

However, bad luck dogged Cuhadaroglu-Fumanelli and the all-woman crew of Gatting-Frey-Bovy, who were thirteenth overall after being delayed by a power steering problem. 

GT CUP. Making their debut in the Italian series, Delacour and Sbirrazzuoli deserved to win the class open to one-make cars. After setting the best time in practice, the AF Corse crew led the race from the off, beating Dionisio-Varini-Barri and the SR&R Ferrari driven by Baratto-Becagli-Vinella to the chequered flag. Teammates Demarchi-Risitano-Barbolini had to retire.