Weekend preview: five Ferraris in round one of European Le Mans Series

This weekend will see not only round one of the 2023 GT World Challenge Europe at Monza, but also the ELMS and Le Mans Cup championships in Barcelona, with Prancing Horse cars among the competitors. In the United Kingdom, the Britcar Endurance holds the second round of its season with two Ferraris on the grid. 

ELMS. The 4 Hours of Barcelona opens the last season for GTE cars before the move to GT3s. Five Ferraris 488 GTE will start the race. The 2015 Formula Racing champions return to the series with drivers Mikkel Mac and Johnny Laursen, joined in the number 50 Ferrari by Johnny’s son, Conrad. JMW Motorsport will field the 2017 champions, Lorcan Hanafin and Martin Berry, joined in the number 66 Ferrari by the returning Briton Jon Lancaster, winner of the LMP2 class in 2015. Completing the Maranello contingent are the number 51 of AF Corse crewed by Kriton Lentoudis, Rui Aguas and Ulysse De Pauw, the number 55 of Spirit of Race with Duncan Cameron, David Perel and Matthew Griffin and the number 57 of Kessel Racing with Takeshi Kimura, Gregory Huffaker II and Frederik Schandorff.

After Friday’s free practice, qualifying is on Saturday 22nd, at 2.40 p.m., while the race sets off on Sunday 23 at 11.30 a.m.

Le Mans Cup. The Le Mans Cup season also kicks off at the Catalan circuit, with two brand new Ferrari 296 GT3s from the Piacenza-based AF Corse team among the starters. The Japanese pairing of Hiroshi Koizumi and Kei Cozzolino will take the wheel of the number 51 car, while Frenchmen Charles Henri Samani and Emmanuel Collard will drive the number 83.

Qualifying will start on Saturday at 12.30 p.m. while the green flag for the 1-hour 50-minute race will be waved on Sunday 23 at 5.30 p.m.

Britcar. The Britcar championship cars return to the track this weekend, competing on the Brands Hatch circuit in its Indy configuration. Two Ferraris will line up, fielded by RNR Performance Cars. In the 458 Challenge number 144, Chris Goddard, Charlie Hand, and Charlie Hollings will set off from third place in the Endurance standings, just one point off the summit, and top of Class C. The team’s second car, the number 55 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo, will be in the hands of John Seale and Jamie Stanley in Class B.

The programme for Saturday is free practice from 9.50 to 10.30 a.m., followed by qualifying to decide the grid for the Endurance race from 2.15 to 4.15 p.m. On Sunday, qualifying for the Britcar Trophy runs from 12.55 to 1.15 p.m., with the green light for the race at 3.15 p.m. and the finish at 5.25 p.m (all times are local).