Weekend preview: Ferrari on the track in the Asian Le Mans Series and GT Winter Series

The third and final event of the Asian Le Mans Series on the Abu Dhabi circuit, which will see eight Ferrari 296 GT3s taking to the track. For the GT Winter Series, on the other hand, the race in Valencia will see no fewer than 17 Prancing Horse cars competing in the classes dedicated to single-marque cars.

Asian Le Mans Series. A week after the event in Dubai, the stars of the championship are back on the track, again in the United Arab Emirates, on the Yas Marina circuit for another two 4-hour trials.

There will be eight Ferraris competing in the GT3 class, starting with the one best placed in the overall standings before the final event, AF Corse’s number 28. After an excellent debut in Sepang, with a fourth and a third place as well as pole position for Race-2, the trio made up of official driver Davide Rigon, Massimiliano Wiser and Manuel Franco didn’t pick up any points in Dubai, but is currently in fifth position in the standings and still has hopes of success.

Mathematically, the other Prancing Horse driver, Daniel Serra, is also in the running for the title. He was the winner on his debut in Malaysia and is in pole position for the Dubai trials, where he will be joined by Takeshi Kimura and Casper Stevenson, who will share the number 57 Car Guy seat with the Italian again this weekend.

Also level in the standings with Serra are Ben Tuck, Dustin Scott Blattner and Dennis Marshall, on the podium for Race-1 in Dubai at the wheel of Kessel Racing’s number 74.

There’s still some hope for Cédric Sbirrazzuoli, Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini, second in Sepang, who will be at the wheel of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 number 51. Charles-Henry Samani, Conrad Laursen and Nico Varrone will be at the wheel of the Piacenza team’s third car, number 82.

The two Dragon Racing Ferraris will be expected to put in a worthy performance on the circuit. In number 88 – delayed due to contact in the first trial in Dubai preventing it from taking part in the second – will once again be the three Italians Nicola Marinangeli, Marco Pulcini and Giacomo Altoè, while in number 8 will be Todd Coleman, Blorcan Hanafin and Saaron Tellitz.

Rounding off the Maranello contingent is car number 23 of Absolute Racing with Carl Wattana Bennett, Gregory Bennett and Chris Van der Drift.

After the free practice on Friday 14, on Saturday it’s time for qualifying with the session scheduled for 10.50 a.m. in preparation for Race-1 which will start at 3 p.m. On Sunday 16, the qualifying round will be at 11.30 a.m. and the final race of the 2024/2025 series will start at 4.30 p.m. All times are local.

GT Winter Series. After the first two events in Portugal, the series reaches the halfway mark of the championship as it makes its debut in Valencia, Spain. There will be 14 Ferrari 296 Challenges competing in the Cup 1 class dedicated to single-marque cars. Eight of these will wear the colours of AF Corse: number 50 with Christiano Maciel and Rui Aguas, already key figures in previous events, as well as John Dhillon and Matt Griffin in 151 and Rafael Duran and Sean Hudspeth in 127. With the number 99 on their livery, Alberto Duran and Nicola Caldani will take to the track, with 198 Eric Cheung and Daniele Di Amato, with 175 Sven Schömer and Andrea Gagliardini, with 111 Paolo Scuderi and Stefano Gai and finally with 124 Talal Shair and Max Blancardi.

Two Reparto Corse cars make their series debut: 115 with Shintaro Akatsu and 168 with Germana Tognella. There will be a pair of Ferrari 296 Challenges for DC Motorsport as well: number 40 with Jacob Bidstrup and number 29 with Anders Bidstrup.

Araùjo Competição will once again be in the spotlight with the number 150 entrusted to Alvar Ramos and Gonzalo Araùjo. Finally, James Owen and Alois Meir will be in number 26 of Engstler Motorsport, while Oscar Ryndziewicz is confirmed for number 80 of Mertel Motorsport.

Two Ferrari 488 Challenge Evos, both belonging to AF Corse, will compete in the Cup 5 class: number 5 with Darren Howell and Sean Doyle, and number 117 with Giuseppe Casillo and Stefano Gay.

In Cup X, Protech Motorsport’s Ferrari F430 Challenge number 80 is at the starting line with Adam Fawsitt at the steering wheel.

The programme for the weekend includes the qualifying sessions on Saturday, 15 February, at 1.15 and 1.35 p.m. Race-1, a 30-minute sprint, will kick off later on Saturday at 5.30 p.m. Over the same time, Race-2 will start on Sunday, 16 at 12.10 p.m., while the 55-minute race will see the green flag at 4.35 p.m.