Weekend notebook: victories and podiums for Ferrari on European circuits
Maranello 08 July 2025
Ferrari secured two brilliant podiums in the European Le Mans Series at Imola, a weekend that also brought success in the International GT Open in Budapest and various podium finishes, including in the DTM. There were also class podiums in the 24H Series at Paul Ricard and in Britcar at Thruxton.
European Le Mans Series. In front of around 13,000 spectators at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, the adrenaline-filled and drama-packed 4 Hours played out, with rain starting to fall around the halfway mark. Seven Ferrari 296 LMGT3s were fielded, with a double podium – also decided by penalties handed out by the marshals after the chequered flag – clinched by number 74 of Kessel Racing, second, and number 55 of Spirit of Race, third.
It was the official Prancing Horse driver, Miguel Molina, who crossed the line in the Swiss team’s car after stints from teammates Andrew Gilbert and Fran Rueda Mateos, clinching a second place that had seemed lost due to a 5-second penalty. In reality, an infringement committed under FCY conditions also cost a position to number 51 of AF Corse, driven by official driver Davide Rigon, Conrad Laursen and Charles-Henri Samani, who ended the race in fourth, the same place they now lie in the overall standings, 7 points off the lead. With number 74 regaining the second place spot, Duncan Cameron, David Perel and Matthew Griffin climbed the podium in third in the number 55, now leading the drivers’ standings on 39 points.
Two other Ferraris finished inside the top 10. Number 66 of JMW Motorsport, with Antony Noble, Jason Hart and Gianmaria Bruni at the steering wheel, came sixth, while number 50 of AF Corse – winner of the previous round at Le Castellet – took eighth place. Official driver Lilou Wadoux, Riccardo Agostini and Custodio Toledo paid the price for a contact in qualifying that forced them to start from the back, along with other misfortunes during the race.
The race of number 86 of GR Racing – with Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Tom Fleming – and number 57 of Kessel Racing – with Fran Rueda, Ben Tuck and official driver Daniel Serra – lasted just 16 laps, both involved in an accident.
The next round of the fiercely contested series is scheduled for 24 August in Belgium with the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
DTM. The Norisring circuit proved particularly favourable to the three Ferraris competing in the fourth round of DTM. In Race-1, Thierry Vermeulen in the number 69 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, starting from the second row, mounted a comeback but ultimately had to settle for fourth, ahead of teammate Jack Aitken in the number 14 car. The third Emil Frey Racing Ferrari, driven by Ben Green, failed to finish.
Race-2 featured an all-Ferrari front row, with Vermeulen (starting from pole) keeping his rivals in check and avoiding damage in the early-lap incidents that saw the marshals bring out the red flag. He held the lead until the first mandatory pit stop, when teammate Aitken took over at the front. However, the number 14 Ferrari was overtaken during the second stop. Victory thus went to Manthey’s number 91 car, with Aitken taking second and Vermeulen third. Ben Green was sixth in the number 10 Ferrari 296 GT3. These results put Aitken back in title contention: the British driver now lies fourth with 101 points, just eight points behind the leader. The next round runs from 8 to 10 August at the Nürburgring.
International GT Open. Ferrari claimed an overall win and class victories in a scorching fourth round weekend of the series at Budapest’s revamped circuit in Hungary. Race-1 was dominated by the number 17 Elite Motorsport with Entire Race Engineering Ferrari 296 GT3, with Tom Lebbon and Tom Emson converting pole position into a lights-to-flag victory. The English duo followed up on their good momentum with fourth in Race-2, moving them to third in the overall standings. But victories for the Prancing Horse also came in the Pro Am class, with the number 92 Baron Motorsport Team car of Edoardo Bacci and Philipp Baron, and in the Am class thanks to Gino Forgione and Michele Rugolo in the number 21 AF Corse, who doubled up in Race-2 to move to the head of the class standings.
Podiums also went to AF Corse’s number 51 Pro-class car with Carl Bennett and Tommaso Mosca, second overall in Race-2 after an eighth-place finish in Race-1, and Olimp Racing’s number 5 Am entry with Stanislaw Jedliński and Krystian Korzeniowski, second in class in Race-1 and the race on Sunday.
The next round of the series is scheduled in two weeks’ time, from 18 to 20 July, at the French circuit of Paul Ricard in Le Castellet.
24H Series. Fifth place for the number 56 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Scuderia Praha at the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard, the fourth round of the European 24H Series season. The crew of Miroslav Vyboh, Dennis Waszek and Josef Kral also secured third place in the Pro Am class. After this round, the Czech team lost the lead in both the overall and class standings, slipping to third and second place respectively, with their rivals closing the gap. Sixth place overall, and fourth in Pro Am, went to the number 81 296 GT3 of Era Motorsport, driven by Kyle Tilley, Dwight Merriman, Jake Hill, Ryan Dalziel and Andreas Laskaratos. Twelfth place – sixth among the Pro Am – for the third Ferrari entered, the number 98 of Info Africa Racing by Dragon, with Letlaka Axcil, Jefferies Stuart White, Khaled Al Marzouq and Ramez Azzam, who had taken overall pole position in their debut race in the series.
The next and final round of the European series is scheduled for 27 September with the 24 Hours of Barcelona.
Britcar Endurance Championship.At the fourth round of the Britcar Endurance Championship held at the Thruxton circuit, the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of FF Corse & Red River Sport, driven by Bonamy Grimes and Johnny Mowlem, finished tenth place overall, securing second place in the Challenge Class. Grimes and Mowlem were unable to capitalise on the pole position secured in a wet Qualifying 1 and did not take part in Race-2. The next round is scheduled for 9 August at Donington Park.