Weekend preview: Ferrari on the track in Europe and USA

Prancing Horse cars are in for a busy weekend competing in various championships in Europe and America. The NOLA Motorsports Park in the United States will host round two of the GT World Challenge America. In Europe, the Ultimate Cup Series takes place in Navarra while this year’s International GT Open and GT Cup Europe get underway in Portimão.

GT World Challenge America. After its maiden podium finish in the season-opening event at Sonoma Raceway, the new Ferrari 296 GT3 will seek its first North American victory at NOLA Motorsports Park in the second round of 2023.

Alessandro Balzan and Manny Franco, runners-up at Sonoma, return in Conquest Racing’s number 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 for the two 90-minute races at the 16-turn, 2.67-mile circuit west of New Orleans.

Ryan Dalziel and Justin Wetherill will hit the track in the Pro Am class, sharing the number 33 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Triarsi Competizione, after finishing ninth and eleventh in round one.

After Friday’s free practice at 10.50 a.m. and 3.15 p.m., qualifying will start on Saturday at 11 a.m. Race-1 will set off at 3.10 p.m., while Race-2 takes the green flag on Sunday at 1.45 p.m.

International GT Open. Season 18 of the International GT Open kicks off at Portimão, with 12 Ferraris on track. AF Corse will field six cars, with Nicola Marinangeli and Riccardo Agostini driving the number 51 in the Pro class. Marco Pulcini and Eddie Cheever III will be in the number 27 and Laurent De Meeus and Jamie Stanley in the number 55 in the Pro Am, with the Italian pair of Gino Forgione-Andrea Montermini in the number 88 and Alessandro Cozzi-Giorgio Sernagiotto in the number 25 in the Am class. US drivers Jean-Claude Saada-Conrad Grunewald will drive the number 61.

Kessel Racing and Racing One each have two Ferraris, with the Swiss team handing the number 11 to Frederic Josset-David Fumanelli and the number 38 to Nicolò Rosi-Niccolò Schirò in the Pro Am class. Stefan Aust and Jacob Schell will drive the German team’s number 10 in the Am class, while Omar Jackson and Ramez Azzam will take the wheel in the Pro Am.

Finally, in the Am class, Poles Stanislaw Jedliński-Krystian Korzeniowski will represent Olimp Racing, while Team Baron Motorsport will field Philipp Baron and Ernst Kirchmayr in the number 91 car.

GT Cup Europe. Launched in 2019, the Pro Am and Am drivers series will also hold round one of its five-event calendar at the Circuit de l’Algarve. Four Ferraris will compete in the GT Cup Europe for the first time, including two from Kessel Racing: Stephen Earle-David Perel will line up on the grid in the Pro Am, while brothers Alexander and Mikael Bochez will compete as a pairing in the Am. The German team Mertel Motorsport also makes its series debut with two cars, the first driven by Fernando Navarrete-Stefano Bolzoni and the second by the Spanish pair Ivan Velasco-Javier Garcìa Segura.

Ultimate Cup Series. After a memorable weekend at the Paul Ricard, where Ferraris were victorious in every class, the Maranello cars return to the track at the Navarra circuit in northern Spain for round two of the season. In the four-hour Endurance event, the French Visiom team champions Jean Paul Pagny, Jean Bernard Bouvet and David Hallyday will drive the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo number 1 in the UGT3A class. In the UGT3B class of the same race, XP Racing will try to make up for its unfortunate debut race with a crew of Karl Pedraza, Philippe Papin and Roland Marchix. The green flag will be on Sunday at 1.45 p.m.

The Prancing Horse has a powerful presence in the Sprint Cup. The SR&R team’s reigning champions won all three first round races, deploying Lorenzo Bontempelli and Ling Kang in the UGT3A class. Four other SR&R crews will be at the start in UGT3B: Lorenzo Cossu-Alessio Bacci in a 488 Challenge Evo, Edoardo Barbolini-Francesco Atzori in a 488 Challenge, Alfredo Salerno in a 458 Challenge and Aramis in a 430 Challenge.