Misano, 43 cars ready for the season’s debut in the Italian GT Sprint Championship

Everything is set at the Misano World Circuit for the debut of the 21st edition of the Italian GT Championship this weekend, particularly the Sprint series. At the same time, the Endurance will kick off in Pergusa on May 21st.

The season opens with big numbers, with 43 cars registered and 81 drivers which has led the Acisport Federation to split the two classes and schedule four races on the Romagna circuit, two for the GT3 class and two for the GT Cup class.

GT3: In the top class, the five Lamborghini Huracan GT3 stand out and they will have to deal with three Ferrari 488s, two BMW M4s, as well as two Honda NSXs and Mercedes AMG. VSR will field three Huracan cars for the crews of Moulin-Llarena, Cazzaniga-Petrov and Liberati-Michelotto, while Imperiale Racing will entrust the two cars from the Sant'Agata Bolognese manufacturer to Fascicolo-Ciglia and Denes-Gvazava. Nova Race, the reigning champion of the Sprint series, will field two Honda NSX GT3s for Gnos-Greco and Magnoni-Bodellini. In comparison, AF Corse will bring the Ferrari 488 GT3s to the track with Castro-Nurmi and White-D'Auria, as well as Best Lap with the reigning GT Cup champions, Coluccio-Mazzola.

Compared to last year's edition, BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team doubled its commitment by fielding two M4 GT3s, which will be entrusted to Klingmann-Spengler and De Luca-Tamburini, and Antonelli Motorsport has prepared two Mercedes AMG GT3s for Kelstrup-Sandrucci and for the rising star of Italian motorsport, 16-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli from Bologna, the reigning champion of Italian and German F4 as well as the winner of the 2023 Formula Regional Middle East.

GT Cup: The class reserved for single-make cars is the true surprise of the upcoming season, with as many as 29 cars entered in the championship. The novelty of the 2023 edition is the entry of a new car, the Mercedes AMG GT-C, which will be fielded by Nova Race in two examples for Ferri-Bencivenni and Marchetti-Carboni. There are ten Porsches entered in the championship, with the Type 992 GT3 Cup being fielded by Ombra Racing for Di Giusto-Pera, by Racevent for Biolghini-Postiglione, by Krypton Motorsport for Pastorelli-Pezzucchi and by Autorlando for Zanardini-Ghezzi.

Also entered in the championship are the Type 991.2 GT3 Cup of SP Racing entrusted to Pisani-Zerbi and Abbati-Grisi, as well as the three cars fielded by Ebimotors for Baccani-Venerosi, Papi-Prandi, and Liana-Piccioli. Completing the Porsche lineup is the GDL Team, which has prepared a car for the Croccolino-Luvisi crew.

The Ferrari 488 Challenge squad is also numerous, consisting of the three cars from Best Lap for Demarchi-Patrinicola, Marzialetti-D'Aniello, and Nicoli-Scarpetta, the two from SR&R with Bacci-Parisotto and Bontempelli-Menichini and the single cars from Double T Racing for Colavita-Rugolo and Easy Race for Del Col-Galvanin.

There are also seven Lamborghini Huracan STs entered in the GT Cup, three of which are fielded by Lamborghini Roma-DL Racing with the crews Segù-Vebster, Fabi-Riva, and Pierluigi Alessandri. The Sant'Agata Bolognese manufacturer is completed by VSR with two cars for Gilles Stadsbader and Ignazio Zanon, as well as the HR Racing Division with Oliva-D'Auria and Massimiliano Pezzuto-Nicolò Pezzuto, and a Huracan for each team driven by Giacomo and Matteo Pollini (Giacomo Race), Donovan and Luciano Privitelio (Iron Lynx) and Ettore Carminati (CRM Motorsport).