The Italian GT Championship lands in Sicily for the opener of the Endurance series

The Italian series will be back to Pergusa this coming weekend after the last race held here back in 2004. The 3 hours long race will go live on ACISPORT TV (SKY 228) and on the streaming platforms on Sunday from local 11 am.
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All is set at the circuit in Pergusa for the opening race of the Italian GT Endurance Championship that will kick off on Saturday at the circuit located near Enna. The Italian GT is happily back in Sicily after 17 years of absence. The warmth of fans has always been very high, but this time around the race will be run behind closed doors due to the current Covid-19 restrictions. The await is mounting though to see again, even if only on TV, the powerful and wonderful GT cars of the classes GT3, GT4 and GT CUP speeding up on the very fast ring around the lake.

In the highest class, the challenge will involve the same brands that have inflamed the opener of the Sprint series in Monza: Ferrari, Audi, Lamborghini and BMW will challenge each other again in this series that includes two drivers’ changes and as many refuelling stops. Among the new entries, the Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo of Scuderia Baldini 27 will field the PRO lineup featuring the multiple-times champion Fisichella and Stefano Gai, that won the title in 2016 and 2019, and Daniel Zampieri, who won GT3 in 2018. The Italian team does not take part in the Sprint series, therefore the squad led by Fabio Baldini will be at the first round of the season. Next to the Scuderia Baldini’s Ferrari, the 488 of Monza’s race-1 winners, Greco-Crestani (Easy Race) will also be driven by Luca Filippi (PRO), while AF Corse’s Schreiner-Hudspeth will be joined by a great champion of the likes of Antonio Fuoco (PRO) and by Cressoni-Mann (PRO-AM). The Ferrari lot will be completed by the 488 GT3 of Kessel Racing driven by the American Steve Earle and the South-African David Perel (PRO-AM), while the 488 Challenge Evo of SR&R, will contest GT Cup with Luca Demarchi, Nicholas Risitano and Edoardo Barbolini behind the wheel.

The two Audi R8 LMS of Audi Sport Italia will be driven by PRO lineups. The official Audi driver Mattia Drudi will join the Sprint classification leaders Riccardo Agostini and Lorenzo Ferrari, while the Czech Filip Salaquarda and the Pole Karol Basz will share driving duties in the #14 car with Vito Postiglione, who has also been competing in the Sprint series.

Two BMWs are already heading to Pergusa: one M6 GT3 and one M4 GT4. The GT3 car will be driven by Stefano Comandini and Marius Zug (PRO), that were unlucky in the race in Monza, and will be joined by the Canadian official BMW driver Bruno Spengler, who is at the third race in the Italian series. In the smaller M4, Giuseppe Fascicolo and Nicola Neri, that were competing in Monza and lead GT4 AM Sprint, will be joined by the fast 19 years old from Sweden Alfred Nilsson.

Two Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo will be present: one fielded by Imperiale Racing for Andrea Amici, Alberto Di Folco and the Brit Stuart Middleton (PRO) and one by LP Racing that will welcome the comeback to the Italian series of Lorenzo Veglia, who will share the wheel GT3 PRO-AM Sprint classification leader Pietro Perolini and Angelo Negro, who will be at the debut in the championship (PRO-AM).

PROGRAM and TV: The opening weekend of the Endurance series will kick off on Saturday with two free practice sessions (from 9 to 10 and from 11.30 to 12.30), while the three qualifying sessions will follow from 18 to 19.05. The 3 hours race that will go live on ACISPORT TV (SKY 228) and streaming will get green lights on Sunday at 11. The live coverage will be quite extensive and will be available from the website of the championship www.acisport.it/CIGT, Facebook www.facebook.com/CIGranTurismo and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-QsHUuslO4iZekAeBoskgg/featured.

 

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