Weekend notebook: Ferrari protagonists in America, Asia and Europe
Maranello 14 July 2025
In Canada, in the seventh round of the IMSA championship, victory in GTD Pro went to the number 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 of DragonSpeed. Ferrari cars took centre stage at Fuji International Speedway, which hosted rounds of the GT World Challenge Asia over the weekend, with class wins and strong placings, as well as the Japan Cup, which saw victories and multiple podiums. At Mugello too, during the second round of the Italian Gran Turismo Sprint Championship, the ‘Reds’ left their mark. Meanwhile, the Ferrari 296 GT3 competing in the British GT at Snetterton finished both races inside the top ten.
IMSA. DragonSpeed took a last-to-first victory in Sunday’s Mosport Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Ferrari’s first triumph in 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition.
Albert Costa and Giacomo Altoe were aided by a pair of late cautions to stretch the fuel mileage of the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3 to win the GTD Pro class in Round 7of the IMSA campaign.
“We woke up this morning, and we knew we had to play a gamble, because we were not the fastest,” Costa said. “We played hard, and we managed the situation with the fuel tank. I’m happy for the team and the strategy they made. We were lucky for once. Now we need to keep it up, because it’s good for the championship.”
Costa is third in the GTD Pro standings, 53 points in arrears of the leader. He finished second with Altoe at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and also was third at Sebring International Raceway and Watkins Glen International.
Altoe qualified at the back of the 10-car GTD Pro field. Following the start, he drove through the class, stretching his fuel to lead two laps before pitting with one hour, 33-minutes remaining.
“Obviously, it’s not the way we want to win,” Altoe said. “In the end we were lucky, but this is an important win for the team. It was not an easy weekend, but we made the most of it – mega, mega!”
Costa rejoined the race in 10th, two laps before the first caution period of the race. Again, he worked his way through the pack and found himself second-in-class with 50 minutes remaining. Rather than go to fuel-saving mode, Costa pressured the leader, making the pass 10 minutes later in what proved to be the key move of the race.
Eight minutes later, there was a 15-minute caution. The race went green with 17 minutes on the clock, but another incident two minutes later caused the race to end under the yellow.
“I said to the guys on the radio, ‘If I knew that overtake was for the lead and for the win, it would have been different,’” Costa said. “But now, it’s amazing. Everything worked out for us.”
Brendon Iribe and Frederik Schandorff led the three Ferrari teams competing in GTD, placing sixth in the No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3. The team was coming off a second-place finish in the Six Hours of The Glen.
For Triarsi Competizione, new team addition Kenton Koch joined owner/driver Onofrio Triarsi in placing seventh in the No. 021 Ferrari of Central Florida Ferrari 296 GT3. Triarsi was involved in a multi-car incident on the opening lap, putting him at the back of the field. Using the Ferrari’s superior fuel mileage, Triarsi drove through the 13-car field to lead nine laps before his pit stop.
While the late cautions worked in Ferrari’s favor in GTD Pro, they prevented other GTD teams from capitalizing on their fuel mileage,
Manny Franco and Ferrari factory driver, Daniel Serra, saw the late cautions enable their rivals to pit for fuel, negating the opportunity to stretch their advantage. They finished 11th in Conquest Racing’s No. 34 Corsa Horizon Ferrari 296 GT3.
Next up for the WeatherTech Championship is the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America, set for August 3.
GT World Challenge Asia. The fourth round of the GT World Challenge Asia, contested at Fuji International Speedway, concluded with significant results for the Ferraris fielded. The number 98 296 GT3 of Hiroshi Hamaguchi and Thierry Vermeulen secured seventh and eighth place overall, while in the Silver class the number 96 Winhere Harmony Racing entry, with Deng Yi and Luo Kailuo at the steering wheel, claimed fourth in Race-1 and victory in Race-2, with Deng moving into second place in the standings, 17 points behind the leader. Another win came in the Am class courtesy of the number 75 of Garage 75, with David Tjiptobiantoro and Christian Colombo. Thanks to second place in the opening race – secured ahead of the number 60 296 GT3 of LM Corsa with Kei Nakanishi and Shigekazu Wakisaka – they extended their lead at the top of the standings, which they now head with 162 points. The second Harmony Racing car, number 55, with drivers Liu Hangcheng and Elias Seppänen, finished eighth in the Silver Am class in the second race.
The next event is from 29 to 31 August at the Okayama International Circuit.
Japan Cup. Ferraris were also protagonists in the Fuji leg, the second round of the Japan Cup. In Race-1, second place went to the 296 GT3 of Hitotsuyama, number 296, of Cornes Racing, with Akihiro Tsuzuki and Shintaro Kawabata at the steering wheel, who finished ahead of the number 18 from TEAM UPGARAGE with Akita and Takashi Kobayashi. Fourth was the number 555 of MAEZAWA CORSA, crewed by Yusaku Maezawa and Naoki Yokomizo. In the second race, it was an all-Ferrari podium, with victory going once again to the 296 GT3 of Hitotsuyama with Cornes Racing, number 296, who consolidated their position at the top of the Pro Am standings. Second went to the number 45 Ferrari 296 GT3 of PONOS CORSA, with Yorikatsu Tsujiko and Kei Cozzolino, making up for their failure to finish the first race. Third place on the podium went to the number 555 of MAEZAWA CORSA with Yusaku Maezawa and Naoki Yokomizo. In GT3 Am class, the number 1 Team MACCHINA Ferrari with Tadao Uematsu and Hirokazu Suzuki scored a double-win, stretching their class standings lead to 90 points, 45 clear of their nearest rivals.
The next round, the third of the season, is scheduled for Okayama International Circuit from 29 to 31 August.
CIGT. The thrilling weekend at the Mugello circuit saw the Prancing Horse manufacturer secure a GT3 class podium with the AF Corse 296 GT3 of Leonardo Colavita and Ibrahim Badawi. In Race-1, the Italian, starting sixth, had a tough start, but the Egyptian’s stint helped the Piacenza-based team recover to third, second in Pro Am. Race-2 brought sixth (third in Pro Am) for Colavita and Badawi as the first Ferrari home. The second AF Corse crew of Lorenzo Ferrari and Mahaveer Raghunathan, after finishing eighth in Race-1, started Sunday’s race from pole position thanks to the young Italian driver. However, in the second leg they gradually lost touch with the leaders, eventually finishing tenth place overall, fifth in Pro Am. The number 74 Rossocorsa 296 GT3 of Marazzi-Buttarelli had an unlucky weekend. After taking sixth in class in Race-1 they finished the round with a retirement in Race-2. In the Am class, Han Huilin claimed victory in Race-2 with the number 39 Target Racing car following a third-place finish in Race-1, ahead of AF Corse’s number 52 296 GT3 driven by Ziad Ghandour (forced to retire from Race-1).
In GT Cup, the number 227 AF Corse 296 Challenge with Rafael Durán took third in 1st Division Am in Race-1. Race-2 saw victory in the same class for Marzialetti-Nicoli in the number 212 MRNC12 296 Challenge after their fourth-place finish in Race-1. Dylan Medler secured third overall (and third in 1st Division Pro Am) in the number 104 Pellin Racing Ferrari 296 Challenge, finishing ahead of the number 177 Double TT Racing car with Gilles Renmans at the steering wheel.
The Italian Gran Turismo Championship resumes at Imola from 1 to 3 August for the Endurance series.
British GT. The sole Ferrari competing on the track at Snetterton for the fifth event of the championship was the number 55 Spirit of Race SA 296 GT3 driven by Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin. The pairing delivered two consistent performances, remaining in the upper part of the standings to finish seventh and tenth across the weekend.
After a short break, the British series will be back on the track at the Brands Hatch circuit on 23-24 August.