Ferrari left the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship round at Virginia International Raceway with two second-place finishes in the GTD Pro and GTD classes. It also secured a podium in the fourth round of the European Le Mans Series, with Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 296 GT3 finishing third in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, with a crew that included official driver James Calado. In the Ardennes, victory was claimed by Kessel Racing’s Murat Ruhi Çuhadaroğlu and David Fumanelli in the Le Mans Cup. Jack Aitken, driving the Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, came third in Race-1 of the DTM at the Sachsenring, retaining second place in the overall standings. His teammate Ben Green also made the podium, finishing third in Race-2. In Japan, Rikuto Kobayashi piloted the Car Guy MKS Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 to victory in the Super GT race at Suzuka.

IMSA. Ferrari fought to a pair of runner-up finishes in Sunday’s GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway, taking second place in both GTD Pro and GTD in Round 9 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Albert Costa finished second overall in GTD Pro, missing the overall victory by 1.070-seconds in No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 started on the pole by Giacomo Altoe. Costa remains second in the championship, trailing by 53 points with two events remaining.

Meanwhile, one race after its maiden IMSA triumph, Triarsi Competizione missed out on an encore victory by just 1.078-seconds in the No. 021 Ferrari of Central Florida / David SW / Rubicon Technical Services Ferrari 296 of Onofrio Triarsi and Kenton Koch in GTD.

At the start, Altoe dropped to third in GTD Pro, while owner/driver Onofrio Triarsi gained two spots to take the GTD lead in the opening two laps. 

Altoe pitted from his place shortly after the 45-minute mark in the two-hour, 40-minute contest. Costa returned to the race in eighth position. He worked his way up to third with under 90 minutes remaining, and then joined the top-two competitors in pitting with one-hour left in anticipation of a caution that came just moments later. 

While that dropped the Ferrari back in the field, pit stops under caution for the remaining Pro competitors put Costa back in third for the restart with 41 minutes left. 

A final caution three minutes after the restart set up a 28-minute sprint to the finish. Costa made the pass for second with 20 minutes on the clock. He quickly closed the gap to the leader to half a second. Costa made several attempts to get by as time ran down, but could not pass on the tight racetrack in the run to the checkered flag.

The two cautions in the final hour helped two of the Ferraris while hurting another in GTD, which features GT3 teams with Pro-Am lineups.

After an early penalty, Triarsi fell to 10th in GTD. He managed a long stint to use the overcut on the opening round of pit stops, retaking the lead before turning his Ferrari over to Koch. Koch was running seventh before pitting with an hour remaining – shortly before the critical caution – and returned in 11th. When the GTD field pitted under caution, Koch was fifth, but quickly gained two positions on the restart. He held that position down the stretch, only to take second on the final lap when the car in front of him was penalized for blocking.

Conquest Racing was among the GTD teams hurt by the crucial caution. Manny Franco started fifth in the No. 34 Conquest Ferrari 296 GT3, and drove to the class lead early in the race. Going wide in the Oak Tree turn dropped him to fifth with just over two hours remaining, and he pitted from third 10 minutes later to turn the car over to Ferrari factory driver Daniel Serra.

The teams anticipating the critical caution enabled Serra to take second overall and the lead in GTD, but he fell to ninth on his final pit stop. He worked his way up through the pack to finish sixth.

Inception Racing had an up-and-down day for Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff, who started 10th in the No. 70 Ferrari 296 GT3. Schandorff was successful with the undercut for his final planned stop, pitting with one hour, eight minutes remaining while running seventh. Stops under caution moved him up to fourth, and he was running fifth before needing a splash of fuel in the closing minutes. The team finished 11th.

The four Ferraris in the field turned in the fastest four race laps of the event. Schandorff was quickest, running one minute, 46.205 seconds in the final half hour. Serra was second at 1:46.546-seconds, followed by Koch at 1:46.584-seconds. Costa led GTD Pro, running 1:46.592-seconds in the closing laps.

Koch is third in the GTD points, 228 points in arrears, while Franco and Serra are seventh.

Only two Endurance Cup races remain on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule – the Battle on the Bricks on September 21 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Petit Le Mans on October 11 at Road Atlanta.

ELMS. With a comeback in the closing stages and an excellent stint from James Calado, the number 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, crewed by the Ferrari official driver with Takeshi Kimura and Ben Tuck, took third place in the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The first half of the fourth race of the season was marked by a series of incidents that brought out the Safety Car and triggered several Full Course Yellows. In the second half of the race, differing strategies kept the tension high until the final lap, with the Ferraris featuring prominently in the upper reaches of the standings, claiming six of the top ten positions. The number 50 Richard Mille AF Corse car finished fifth. After stints by Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, official driver Lilou Wadoux took the wheel and brought the 296 GT3 to the finish, earning points that lifted the crew to third in the overall standings, just four points behind the leaders.

In sixth place was the number 51 AF Corse entry, with Charles-Henry Samani, Conrad Laursen and factory driver Davide Rigon. The trio now sit fourth in the standings, five points off the top spot. Seventh place went to number 86 of GR Racing, shared by Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Tom Fleming. The second Kessel Racing car, number 74, came home ninth with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda and Ferrari official driver Miguel Molina, who was involved in a collision that sent him into a spin and ended his chances of finishing among the leaders. The number 55 of Spirit of Race, driven by Matt Griffin, Duncan Cameron and David Perel, completed the top ten. Starting from pole position in class, they crossed the line ahead of the last Maranello car in the race, number 66 of JMW Motorsport with Gianmaria Bruni, Scott Noble and Jason Hart.

The next and penultimate event in the series is at Silverstone on 14 September.

Le Mans Cup. Ferrari claimed a one-two finish in the fourth round of the championship. The 296 GT3 number 33 with Murat Ruhi Çuhadaroğlu and David Cleto Fumanelli climbed the top step of the podium. Starting from the back of the grid, Çuhadaroğlu mounted an impressive comeback, handing the car over to Fumanelli in third place. The Italian finished the job, taking the lead and gradually pulling away from his rivals to cross the finish line in first place. Just behind them were Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno in the number 51 AF Corse entry, who initially came fourth but moved up two positions after post-race penalties for other competitors. With this result, Cozzi and Donno now lead the overall standings by eight points over Çuhadaroğlu and Fumanelli. The strong performance of Biogas Motorsport’s number 23, driven by Spaniards Josep Mayola Comadira and Marc Carol Ibarra, ended just short of the podium with a fourth-place finish. The fourth Maranello car, number 17 of Kessel Racing, had a more challenging race. Starting from pole position with Andrea Belicchi and Lorenzo Ferdinando Innocenti, it was involved in a collision at the start and received a drive-through penalty. The Swiss team’s crew nevertheless crossed the line in sixth place, allowing them to retain third in the overall standings, 13 points off the top.

The fifth round of the series is scheduled to take place at Silverstone in the United Kingdom on 13 September.

DTM. The sixth round, held at the Sachsenring circuit, ended with Jack Aitken in the number 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, consolidating second place in the standings with 149 points, just two points behind the leader and still firmly in the title contest. Indeed, after Race-1, the British driver briefly led the standings thanks to a third-place finish. Race-2 also started strong, with Aitken taking pole position and battling for the win. Unfortunately, during the 20th lap, while leading the race, the British driver was hit from behind by a rival and sent into the gravel. The move earned the opponent a penalty and compromised Aitken’s race, although he still managed to cross the finish line and earn a point. 

The other two Emil Frey Racing drivers, Ben Green in car number 10 and Thierry Vermeulen in car number 69, were unable to complete the first race. However, in Race-2, Green climbed the podium in third place, while Vermeulen came home in 13th.

The DTM campaign continues from 12 to 14 September at the Spielberg circuit in Austria for the seventh round of the season.

Super GT. Rikuto Kobayashi secured victory in the GT300 class at Suzuka, the fifth of eight rounds in the Japanese championship. At the wheel of the number 7 Car Guy MKS Racing 296 GT3, the Japanese driver posted the fastest and second-fastest times in qualifying, turning them into a win in the 300 km race. Ponos Racing’s number 45 car, driven by Kei Cozzolino and Takuro Shinohara, finished fourth, while Yoshiaki Katayama and Roberto Merhi Muntan finished eighteenth in the number 6 Velorex entry. 

The next round in the series will take place at Sportsland Sugo on 20 and 21 September.