Weekend notebook: triumphs in Germany and Italy

Jack Aitken claimed Ferrari’s first win of the DTM championship season. The win came in Race-2 at the Lausitzring circuit with the Emil Frey Racing 296 GT3. Double podium in the Pro Am class at the 12 Hours of Misano in the 24H Series. Wins and plenty of strong results in the Sprint series of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship, which kicked off at the Vallelunga circuit. At the Nürburgring circuit, in the second qualifying race for the 24 Hours, the Ferrari 296 GT3 with official driver Thomas Neubauer finished eighth.

NLS. The weekend in the “Green Hell”, during the Nürburgring 24 Hours qualifying race, was affected by bad weather both on Saturday and Sunday. Heavy rain fell during Race-1, while in Race-2 it disrupted the plans of many teams: the wet track right up until a few minutes before the start led many drivers to opt for rain tyres, only to change strategy a few kilometres into the race with a mandatory pit stop entry to fit slicks. For the number 45 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi, the weekend had started well with the third-fastest time in qualifying. Unfortunately, David Perel, Felipe Fernandez Laser, Axcil Jefferies and official driver Thomas Neubauer failed to finish the first race. In Sunday’s race, however, number 45 finished eighth. 

The next event is the Nürburgring 24 Hours, scheduled for 19–22 June.

DTM. The Lausitzring circuit delivered the first win of the season for Jack Aitken in the number 14 Ferrari 296 GT3. The Emil Frey Racing car took victory in Race-2: Aitken started from pole and held off attacks until the mandatory pit stop when the Englishman dropped to second place. Aitken didn’t give up and reclaimed the lead with two laps to go thanks to an overtake in turn six, then pulled away to cross the line first. The other two Emil Frey Racing Ferraris took seventh with Thierry Vermeulen’s number 69, while Ben Green, after a strong qualifying session, was forced to retire after several contacts with rivals that sent him into the side barriers. In Saturday’s race, Aitken had finished seventh and now lies fifth in the overall standings with 49 points to the leader’s 69. Ben Green finished tenth, while Vermeulen came fifteenth. 

The next DTM event is scheduled for 6–8 June at the Zandvoort circuit.

24H Series. Thanks to fifth place in the 12 Hours of Misano, the third European round of the series, the Scuderia Praha team with the number 56 Ferrari 296 GT3 retains the lead in the standings. For Miroslav Výboh, Matúš Výboh, Josef Král and Dennis Waszek, fifth place also secured second in the Pro Am class. A class podium also went to the other Ferrari entry, number 81, fielded by Era Motorsport and driven by Dwight Merriman, Kyle Tilley, Nico Verdonck and Ryan Dalziel, which finished third place in class and eighth overall. The fourth round of the season is scheduled for 4–5 July with the 12 Hours of Paul Ricard.

Italian GT Championship. A weekend full of satisfaction for Ferrari at the Vallelunga circuit which opened the season of the Sprint series of the Italian GT Championship. In the final race on Sunday, overall (and class victory) went to AF Corse’s number 51 Ferrari 296 GT3. Lorenzo Ferrari and Raghunathan Mahaveer had already taken second place in class in Saturday’s race, ahead of the team’s number 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Leonardo Colavita and Badawi Ibrahim (the pair repeating the same class result in race two). Thanks to these results, the number 51 pairing moves to the top of the overall standings with 35 points.

Race-1 also saw second place in GT3 Am for the number 39 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Target Racing with Huilin Han. In Saturday’s GT Cup, third place (and third in the First Division Pro Am) went to AF Corse’s number 169 Ferrari 296 Challenge with Stefano Gai and Fabrizio Fontana. The number 244 Ferrari 296 Challenge of DL Racing with Pierluigi Alessandri took third place in the First Division Am. Second place in the Second Division Am went to the number 533 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of SR&R with Lyle Schofield. In Race-2, third place was claimed by the number 111 of Best Lap with Lorenzo Pegoraro and Filippo Croccolino, (third in the First Division Pro Am). There were also twin wins: Pierluigi Alessandri triumphed in the First Division Am, and Lyle Schofield secured victory in the Second Division Am. 

The Italian GT Championship resumes from 20 to 22 June at Monza circuit with the second round of the Endurance Series. 

British GT. Oulton Park hosted the third round of the British GT, with races contested on Monday, 26 May only. Also among the entrants was the Spirit of Race SA Ferrari 296 GT3 number 55 with Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin, which finished seventh in the first race and ninth in Race-2. The next scheduled round involves a trip to Spa-Francorchamps from 20 to 22 June.