Weekend Notebook: wins and podiums across Europe and America

In the United States, the Triarsi Competizione-run Ferrari 296 GT3 took bottom place on the podium in the Pro-Am of the GT World Challenge America. In Germany another 296 GT3 sealed the runner-up spot in the NLS, while there were wins and podiums in Hungary at the International GT Open.

GT World Challenge America. The fourth leg of the GT World Challenge America championship was held at the Virginia International Raceway track. A season’s best for Triarsi Competizione, clinching a podium contested in the Pro Am class for the number 33 Ferrari 296 GT3, with Justin Wetherill and Ryan Dalziel gaining six places in the class after starting ninth. Conquest Racing, which started fifth with the number 21 Ferrari of Manny Franco and Alessandro Balzan, improved their position to fourth in the Pro class.

In Race-2 Alessandro Balzan and Manny Franco matched the Race 1 result, narrowly missing out on the class podium. The Triarsi Competizione team with Dalziel and Wetherill posted eleventh overall and sixth in the closely fought Pro Am category.

The championship will be back in the spotlight at Road America, Wisconsin, on 19 and 20 August.

International GT Open. The third round of the season was contested at the Hungaroring circuit. The win in Saturday’s opening race in the Pro Am class was claimed by Marco Pulcini and Eddie Cheever in AF Corse’s number 27 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020. In the Pro class, Nicola Marinangeli and Riccardo Agostini took sixth place overall, aboard the sister car driven by the Piacenza-based team. In the Am category, a huddled group of Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 cars arrived at the finish line, with fourth place going to AF Corse’s Jean Claude Saada and Conrad Grunewald, ahead of teammates Gino Forgione and Andrea Montermini and Team Baron Motorsport’s Ernst Kirchmayr paired with Philipp Baron.

In Race-2, in the Pro class, Marinangeli and Agostini, after crossing the line in second place, were relegated to fifth after a ten-second penalty. In the Pro Am category, Frèdèric Jousset and David Fumanelli took second place in a Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, while Nicolò Rosi and Niccolò Schirò’s fourth place in a 296 GT3 moved the pair up to second in the standings, 25 points behind the crew of Cheever and Pulcini (28). Among the Am class drivers, Ernst Kirchmayr and Philipp Baron finished third in a 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

The fourth round of the championship is scheduled at Paul Ricard on 23 July.

NLS. The fourth round of the Nürburgring Endurance Series saw a brilliant runner-up spot for the Octane 126 team’s number 26 Ferrari 296 GT3, making its season debut. The trio of drivers Björn Grossmann, Jonathan Hirschi and Luca Ludwig took the runner-up spot after staging a comeback, having started from seventh on the grid.

The next round of the NLS is scheduled for 8 July with the 6 Hours ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen.

GT World Challenge Asia. The Fuji International Speedway hosted the third and fourth rounds of the GT World Challenge Asia season with two 60-minute races. The best Ferrari position in Race-1 went to Maezawa Racing team’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 with tenth place for Piti Bhirombhakdi and Naoki Yokomizo. Twelfth was the Ferrari 296 GT3 of CarGuy Racing with Takeshi Kimura and Kei Cozzolino sharing the steering wheel. Twenty-fourth was Comet Racing’s 488 GT3 Evo 2020 featuring the pairing of Yusuke Yamasaki and Yorikatsu Tsujiko.

In Race-2 ninth place went to CarGuy, while Comet Racing finished eleventh and Maezawa Racing fifteenth. LM Corsa’s Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 also joined the finishers in the second race with Kei Nakanishi and Shigekazu Wakisaka posting nineteenth. The next date is scheduled for 14 July at the Suzuka circuit.