Weekend preview: start of ELMS, Le Mans Cup and GT WC Australia

This weekend marks the start of the 2025 European Le Mans Series, with seven Ferrari 296 LMGT3s taking to the track at Barcelona. The same Catalan circuit also hosts the Le Mans Cup opening round, with four Prancing Horse cars competing. The GT World Challenge Australia also kicks off this weekend with two rounds at Phillip Island.

European Le Mans Cup. Following collective testing at the start of the week, the European Le Mans Series officially opens with the 4 Hours of Barcelona. Ferrari is well represented, with seven entries and various Ferrari drivers. In Richard Mille AF Corse's number 50, Custodio Toledo and Riccardo Agostini are joined by official driver Lilou Wadoux. AF Corse's number 51 will feature Charles-Henri Samani, Conrad Laursen and official driver Davide Rigon. Duncan Cameron, David Perel and Matthew Griffin will take the wheel of the number 55 from Spirit of Race, while Scott Noble, Jason Hart and Gianmaria Bruni will drive JMW Motorsport’s number 66.
Kessel Racing fields two entries: number 57 with Takeshi Kimura, Ben Tuck and Prancing Horse official driver Daniel Serra, and number 74 with Andrew Gilbert, Fran Rueda Mateos and another Ferrari official driver, Miguel Molina. Finally, Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera and Tom Fleming – the 2023 Finali Mondiali Ferrari champion and second-best performer – will take to the track in GR Racing's number 86.
After the qualifying session on Saturday, 5 April at 3:05 p.m., the race will kick off on Sunday at 12 p.m.

Le Mans Cup. Four Ferrari 296 GT3s are entered for the Le Mans Cup opening round, following earlier testing at the Barcelona circuit. Swiss team Kessel Racing will field two cars: number 17, crewed by Lorenzo Innocenti and Andrea Belicchi, and number 33, with Murat Cuhadaroglu and David Fumanelli – the latter having set the fastest time of 1’41”466 in testing. Biogas Motorsport’s number 23 will be driven by Josep Comadira Mayola and Marc Carol Ybarra, while AF Corse’s number 51 – which claimed the team title in 2024 – will feature Alessandro Cozzi and Eliseo Donno, winner of the 2023 Ferrari Challenge Europe.
The GT3 qualifying session is on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. The race will start at 6:20 p.m. that same day. 

GT World Challenge Australia. The 2025 GT World Challenge Australia season opens at Phillip Island – the first of seven rounds on this year's calendar. Two Ferrari 296 GT3s entered by Arise Racing GT will compete in the Pro-Am class. In car number 26, New Zealander Jaxon Evans will share the wheel with Elliott Schutte, while Stephen Wyatt and Jordan Love will drive number 77. 

The weekend features two one-hour races: the first on Saturday, 5 April, at 3:50 p.m., and the second on Sunday, 6 April, at 12:45 p.m.

All times are local.