ANDREA BERTOLINI

Andrea Bertolini made his race debut at the age of 11, in “minikarts”. When he turned 19, he became the youngest tester of Ferrari road cars, looking after experimental development. In 2001 he began racing in the FIA GT category, while the following year, at the wheel of a JMB Racing team Ferrari 360 Modena he came fourth in the championship. In 2003 for the same team, he took the N-GT title and the following year he was taken on as an official Scuderia Ferrari test driver. At the same time, he began working on the development of the Maserati MC12 that debuted in the FIA GT1 class.

With the Vitaphone Racing and with his team-mate Michael Bartels, Bertolini had a triumphant season in 2006: he was GT champion with three wins, including one in the legendary Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours, as well as taking two seconds and scoring points in all ten rounds. In 2008, he was again paired with Bartels and again won the championship with a further Spa-Francorchamps win. Still team-mates with the German, in 2009 the winning streak continued with victories in Budapest and Adria and a third drivers’ title. In 2010, sticking to the idea that you don’t change a winning team, Andrea and Bartels were crowned world champions. In 2013 he took the Asian Le Mans Series crown while the following year he won once again the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours, as well as the European Le Mans Series title at the wheel of the SMP Racing 458 Italia, alongside Russian drivers Sergey Zlobin and Victor Shaytar.

In 2015 he clinched his eighth title winning the World Endurance Championship in the GTE-Am class with the No. 72 Ferrari of SMP Racing with Shaytar and Aleksey Basov. For the crew three wins during the season at the Nurburgring, the Circuit of the Americas and, above all, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In 2016 he was closed to win the European Le Mans Series, a championship in which he took part also in 2017 and 2018 together with the Blancpain Endurance Cup. In 2019, Bertolini secured the Blancpain GT World Challenge title with Louis Machiels at the wheel of the 488 GT3 of AF Corse. Bertolini came close to taking the Sprint Cup title in 2020, ending the season runner-up.

In 2021, the year when Andrea Bertolini reached (and surpassed) 500 F1 single-seater tests, the driver from Sassuolo contested his sixth season in the GT World Challenge, in the Sprint and the Endurance Cup, alongside Louis Machiels. Bertolini missed out on a tenth international title by a hair’s breadth. However, he still claimed plenty of wins, like the last round of the season at Valencia and numerous placings that brought him third place in the Pro-Am class of the Sprint Cup. In 2022, the Italian will continue to chase glory in the GT World Challenge Europe, both in the Sprint and Endurance Cup.

In 2023 the Sassuolo-born driver who grew up close to Maranello put his experience at the disposal of the crew made up of Louis Machiels – with whom Bertolini had achieved numerous GT race triumphs in recent years – and his son Jef Machiels, making his debut in the GT WC Europe – Endurance Cup. Together the crew, entered in the Bronze class, finished on the podium at the Paul Ricard 1000 Kilometres in AF Corse’s 488 GT3 Evo 2020. In the latter championship, Bertolini competed in the Ferrari 296 GT3 in the second half of the season – a car that the driver had also driven on its overall debut, at the 24 Hours of Daytona, held in January.

2024 for Bertolini, the Ambassador Driver of the Prancing Horse, was marked by his GT World Challenge Europe – Endurance Cup participation, where, along with Louis and Jef Machiels in the class Bronze number 52 296 GT3, he earned second places in the season-opener at Paul Ricard and the 24 Hours of Spa Centennial.