The grand finale of the Italian GT Endurance Championship with Alex Zanardi on track

The Bolognese will be the guest star of the fourth and closing round of the Italian series that still has to award two titles. In GT3 the challenge is on among BMW, Lamborghini and Ferrari, while in GT4 the duel will involve Porsche, Mercedes and BMW. Qualifying and the three-hours long race will be covered live by AutomotoTV (Sky 228).
Image

Alex Zanardi is the star of the 4th and closing round of the Italian GT Endurance Championship, the race that will decide the two remaining titles: that of GT3 and GT4. The Bolognese champion will be behind the wheel of the BMW M6 GT3 together with Stefano Comandini and Erik Johansson, that are on top of the provisional classification and lead Postiglione-Mul-Frassineti (Lamborghini Huracan) and Stefano Gai (Ferrari 488). These are the only drivers that can still contend the title to BMW Team Italia’s drivers. Compared to the previous participation back in 2016, Alex Zanardi will not use the prosthesis and will use some special commands that will allow him to brake using the hand and a modified steering wheel that will be replaced at the drivers change. Several initiatives will allow fans to meet the Bolognese champion, including autographs and selfies time on Sunday at 11.30.

Alongside the GT3 title in Mugello the GT4 title will also be decided with Ghezzi-Chiesa (Porsche Cayman), Magnoni-Schjerpen (Mercedes AMG), Fascicolo-Guerra-Fontana (BMW M4) and Gnemmi-Neri (Porsche Cayman) challenging each other.

GT3: BMW, Lamborghini and Ferrari are all set to hunt the Italian GT3 Endurance Championship. Following the victory of the BMW M6 GT3 in the closing race in Vallelunga, Stefano Comandini and Erik Johansson climbed on top of the classification. They will get to this track as the favourites and will enjoy the help of Alex Zanardi. Postiglione-Mul-Frassineti (Lamborghini Huracan) currently follow them in the classification. Imperiale Racing’s lineup comes from the retirement due to technical issues in Vallelunga that slowed down their title quest. Now they have 16 points to recover, which is going to be tough. The fight is still on though since, due to the discards, the Ferrari 488 of Stefano Gai, that will not have Giancarlo Fisichella and Jacques Villeneuve on track in Mugello, is in a stronger position than that of the sister car run by Easy Race for Cioci and Veglia. The Milanese driver will be sided by a driver still to be named.

The PRO-AM title will be decided in Mugello too. Francesca Linossi and Stefano Colombo (Mercedes AMG GT3) are currently leading the standings. Antonelli Motorsport’s drivers will be sided by Daniel Zampieri and will have to face the challenge of the Chinese Kang Ling, that will share driving duties with Riccardo and Daniele Cazzaniga (Lamborghini Huracan-LP Racing), while Pietro Perolini, Ben Gersekowski and Emanuele Zonzini will be in the Huracan run by Imperiale Racing

Linossi-Colombo will be helped by teammates Moiseev-Rovera-Agostini, while the Ferrari lot will be completed by Alessandro Balzan and Cioci-Veglia (Easy Race) and by the 488 of Di Amato-Vezzoni (RS Racing) and Mann-Cressoni (AF Corse).

Image

GT LIGHT: Since the title has already been assigned in Vallelunga to Gian Piero Cristoni and Mattia Michelotto (Lamborghini Huracan ST), the race in Mugello could celebrate a third Italian champion: the Swede Emil Skaras. The 21 years old of Antonelli Motorsport will share driving duties with the already champions teammates, but the discards can place three drivers on top of the classification. The Ferrari 458 Italia of Iron Linx/Ram will also be at the start of the closing round of the season with Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola.

Image

GT4: Ghezzi-Chiesa (Porsche Cayman-Autorlando), Magnoni-Schjerpen (Mercedes AMG-Nova Race), Fascicolo-Guerra-Fontana (BMW M4-BMW Team Italia) and Gnemmi-Neri (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors) will battle out the Endurance title in GT4. The four lineups are all within 10 points and the discards could revolutionize the classification. The closing round of the season will also see the debut in the entry-level class of the Mercedes AMG GT4 that will allow Magnoni-Schjerpen, that abandoned the Ginetta G55, to charge for the title.

The Porsche lot will be completed by Fabio Babini, that is to side Ghezzi-Chiesa and Simone Riccitelli, in the fight for the Sprint title completing the Gnemmi-Neri lineup. Autorlando and Ebimotors will field a second car respectively for Cerati-Fondi-Demarchi and Piccioli-Costa-Mancinelli. Three Maserati Gran Turismo will also be present: two fielded by V-Action for Francia-Pajuranta-Rodrigues and Baratto-Becagli-Bernazzani and one by SVC SM for the Poles Piotr and Antoni Chodzen.

PROGRAM: The closing weekend of the season will kick off on Friday with the first free practice session at 11. The second session will be at 14.10, while the third will be on Saturday from 9 to 10. Qualifying will be on Saturday afternoon from 15 to 16.05. while the three-hours race will get underway on Sunday at 14.45. Qualifying and race will be covered live on Automototv (Sky 228) and web streaming at www.raiplay.it, www.raisport.rai.it, www.acisport.it/cigt and www.facebook.com/CIGranturismo. A wide 90 minutes summary of the race will be aired by Raisport on Tuesday, October 8th at 21.40.

CLASSIFICATION

GT3 PRO-AM CLASSIFICATION

GT LIGHT CLASSIFICATION

GT4 CLASSIFICATION

COMPLETE PROGRAM

2X1 TICKETS OFFER

On Twitter

@CIGranTurismo

@GTavoni

www.acisport.it/CIGT

www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo