A new record for the Italian GT Championship: 42 cars at the grand finale of the Sprint series in Mugello

There could not be a better end to the Sprint 2021 championship with the circuit in Tuscany opened again to the public that will enjoy the challenges for the six Italian titles and three National Cups.
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The Italian GT Sprint Championship is all set for a strong finale. The fourth and closing round of the season is scheduled for this weekend at the Mugello Circuit. The event set a new participation record as 42 cars will make it onto the track. This is a good signal for the restart after the Covid-19 pandemic and fans will be welcome back on the grandstands. The GT4 PRO-AM title has already been awarded and the final two races of the season will therefore award six titles and three National cups for GT3, GT4 and GT CUP.

GT3: A total of 19 cars entered the highest class. Among these, the Audi R8 LMS of classification leaders Ferrari-Agostini. The Audi Sport Italia's drivers will have teammates Mancinelli-Postiglione by their side and will have to manage a 17 points advantage on Alex Frassineti (Lamborghini Huracan-Imperiale Racing), who will contest the closing round of the season with co-equiper Luca Ghiotto, while Matteo Greco has a 19 points gap to fill. The Italian driver will share driving duties in the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Easy Race with the Pole driver Karol Basz, as his usual co-equiper Fabrizio Crestani will be absent.

The Ferrari lot in Mugello will count 8 cars. Next to the ’Easy Race's car, AF Corse will field a challenger for S.Mann-Cressoni, as the young American will fight for the GT3 PRO-AM title, Schreiner-Hudspeth, T.Mann-Casè and Delacour-Sbirrazzuoli, the latter have already been contesting a couple of races in GT Cup this year. Two 488 will be fielded by Kessel Racing, one for the GT3 AM leader from Turkey Murat Cuhadaroglu, supported by David Fumanelli, and the other for Earle-Schirò, that are still fighting for the GT3 PRO-AM title. The car run by RS Racing will be driven by Di Amato-Naussbaumer (RS Racing).

Five Lamborghini Huracans will be in the game. Next to the car of Frassineti-Ghiotto, Imperiale Racing will field a second one for the 17 years old driver from Guatemala Mateo Llarena, while VSR Racing will field a second Huracan for Peklin-Leo next to the one driven by Tempesta-Iacone in the latest two rounds in Misano and Imola. GT3 PRO-AM class leaders Cecotto-Perolini will be on another Lamborghini run by LP Racing.

Guidetti-De Luca (Honda NSX GT3) come from race-2's victory in Imola and will try and keep the good momentum of Nova Race in Imola. The team confirmed a second car for Erwin Zanotti, who is second in GT3 AM, and will share the car with the Spanish driver Jorge Cabezas. Ceccato Racing will field a car for Comandini-Zug (BMW M6 GT3) and Antonelli Motorsport one for Baruch-Segù (Mercedes AMG GT3).

GT4: The GT4 PRO-AM title has already been awarded to Mattia Di Giusto (Porsche Cayman-Ebimotors), who will share the car with Riccardo Pera in Mugello and will be sided by teammates Carboni-Romani. All the eyes will be on the GT4 AM where Magnoni-Di Fabio (Mercedes AMG GT4) are close to taking the title thanks to the 14 points advantage on Cerati-Ghezzi (Porsche Cayman-Autorlando). The Bergamo-based team will field another car for Fratti-Baruchelli, while Nova Race will line up another Mercedes AMG GT4 for Ferri-Bettera.

GT CUP: Thanks to the presence of 16 cars, this category is the real revelation of the closing round. The title hunt is very exciting and involves three pairings: Linossi-Vebster (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo-Easy Race), Demarchi-Risitano (Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo-SR&R) and Mugelli-Pegoraro (Lamborghini Huracan-Best Lap). These are all within one point. Ferrari are the most numerous cars and next to the two cars fighting for the top of the championship, three 488 Challenge Evo have been entered by Kessel Racing for the Dutch Fons Scheltema, Rosi-Fausti and Jackson-Hollings and two cars by AF Corse, for the Dane Christian Brunsborg and for the pairing Van Der Vorm-Rugolo. The long list of Ferraris includes the cars entered by RS Racing for Sartingen-Lopez and by Best Lap for Pitorri-Simonelli. Three are the Porsche 911 4.0 in the entry list: two fielded by Tsunami RT for Gianmarco Levorato and Carlo and Lino Curti, and two by Krypton Motorsport for Berton-Riva and La Mazza-Nicolosi. The entry list of GT Cup is completed by the two Lamborghini Huracan SuperTrofeo of Dionisio-Barri (Team Italy) and Luciano and Donovan Privitelio that mark the return in the Italian series by FFF Racing Team.

PROGRAM and TV schedule: The closing round of the Sprint series will get underway on Friday with two free practice sessions of 50 minutes (at 11.45 and 15.30). The two qualifying sessions will split GT3 and GT4-GT CUP (on Saturday from 9.55 to 10.55). The two races of 50 minutes plus 1 lap will begin on Saturday at 15.50 and Sunday at 12.40, both enjoying live coverage on ACISPORT TV (SKY 228). RAISPORT will show the races recorded on Monday, October 11th at 12. The races will also be available in streaming from www.acisport.it/CIGT,  www.raisport.rai.it ,

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Fans will be admitted to the grandstand for the first time after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and could only access the Central Grandstand (Ticket € 15, Reduced price € 10). Reduced tickets will be reserved to under 18, women and ACI members, while under 12 will be admitted free of charge if accompanied by an adult. The residents of the municipalities of Scarperia and San Piero (FI) will be freely admitted.

Tickets could be purchased from www.ticketone.it and at the ticket office located at the main entrance of the circuit. The tickets will be numbered and seats will be spaced in due respect of the anti-covid-19 measures available at:

https://mugellocircuit.com/images/djevents/Aci-racing-set-2021/ITA/Protocollo-clienti_COVID-19_rev-16-del-28.6.21.pdf

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MAGNONI-DI FABIO (MERCEDES AMG GT4-NOVA RACE)

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LINOSSI-VEBSTER (FERRARI 488 CHALLENGE EVO - EASY RACE)