After the success of the Sprint series, the Endurance series also kicks off at Vallelunga this weekend for the first event of the season, with 35 cars entered and a total of 101 drivers involved. The team to beat is Scuderia Baldini's Ferrari with reigning champions Fisichella and Mosca, who will be joined this year by Charles Leclerc's brother, Arthur. Among the new entries is MotoGP multi-champion Jorge Lorenzo with the Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
A total of 101 drivers will line up at the Vallelunga racetrack this weekend for the first event of the Italian GT Endurance Championship. Following the record set by the two Sprint rounds at Misano and Imola, the Endurance series begins with excellent prospects and record numbers: 35 cars entered in the GT3 and GT Cup classes, driven by 101 drivers (34 of whom are foreigners) who will take turns during the three-hour race.
GT3
In the top class, all eyes will be on the Ferrari 296 GT3, the latest creation from Maranello, fielded by Scuderia Baldini, where Tommaso Mosca and Giancarlo Fisichella will alternate. This year, the reigning champions will have an additional weapon, the heavy foot of Richard Leclerc, brother of Charles, completing a crew favoured in the race for the GT3 title. The 296 from the Roman team will not be the only one competing in the championship, as the AF Corse team will also field a twin car for Ponzio-Gai-Mac, along with a 488 GT3 Evo 2020 for Bracalente-Donno.
The Ferrari squad will be completed by the 488 in Double TT Racing colours entrusted to Colavita-Riccitelli-Ulrich, while Lamborghini will respond with seven Huracan GT3 Evo2s in the colours of VSR, Imperiale Racing, and Star Performance. For Vincenzo Sospiri's team, the drivers will be Cazzaniga-Di Folco-Liberati, Moulin-Tribaudini-Guidetti, and Stadsbader-Fabi. The Mirandola team will field Rogalski-Gilardoni-Deledda and Bowen-Farhadi-Fascicolo, while Star Performance will debut in the GT Italian championship with two crews composed of Pavlovic-Spengler-Sunporn and Mur-Lertlamplasertkul-Lommahadthai.
BMW and Audi will each field two cars. Representing the Munich brand, the BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team will feature the M4 GT3s driven by Comandini-Guerra-Denes and Cassarà-De Luca-Nilsson, while Aka-Delli Guanti-Mazzola and Moncini-Cola-Van Berlo will drive the Audi R8 LMS.
The Nova Race team is also registered for the Endurance series, fielding two Honda NSX GT3 Evos for Scarpetta-Jelmini-Butti and Magnoni-Ciglia-Massaro, as well as a Mercedes AMG GT3 for Marchetti-Ferri-Bodellini. The second Mercedes, from Antonelli Motorsport, will be driven by Sandrucci-Guzman-Bencivenni, while Porsche will be represented by EFR, which will field a brand new GT3 R for Fulgenzi-Galbiati.
Completing the GT3 lineup is the Aston Martin Vantage GT3 from the L&A Infinity team, driven by MotoGP multi-champion Jorge Lorenzo. The Spanish driver, after retiring from motorcycle racing, has been enjoying the thrill of four-wheel competition for a couple of years and will start the championship alongside Finnish driver William Alatalo.
GT CUP
Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Porsche will be the manufacturers competing in the class reserved for single-make configuration cars. The Lamborghini contingent will be represented by two Huracan ST Evo2 cars for Segù-Caiola and Gattuso-Mainetti-Riva (DL Racing), and one each for the HC Racing Division team, which will field Clemente-Pisani-D’Auria-Bolger. The debuting team in the Italian series, Invictus Corse, will participate with a car for Mendez-Anapoli-Barbolini, along with the Slovenian team Lema Racing, which has set up a Huracan for Lah-Kosic-Fondi.
Best Lap will field the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars for reigning champions Patrinicola-Demarchi-Di Mare and for the crew Marzialetti-Postiglione-Agoglia, as well as those from Easy Race and Team SR&R, who will entrust their respective cars to La Mazza-Pierantoni-Bacci and Risitano-Schofield-Attianese.
Five Porsche 992 GT3 Cups are registered for the championship, highlighted by those from Centro Porsche Ticino for Presezzi-Busnelli-Jacoma and Knez-“Hash”-Fontana. Ebimotors will field a car for Nicolosi-Di Benedetto-Cazzaniga, while Berton-Laurini-Peroni and Van der Slot-Buratti will compete with the 911s from Racevent and EFR.
Program and TV: The first weekend of the 2024 Endurance season will start on Friday with two 60-minute free practice sessions (at 12:15 and 17:45), followed by a third session on Saturday morning (at 11:50). In the afternoon, starting at 18:35, there will be three qualifying sessions that will determine the starting grid for the 3-hour race scheduled for Sunday at 15:30. The race will be broadcast live on Acisport TV (SKY 228), delayed on Raisport, and live-streamed on the championship's social media platforms.
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