Weekend preview: the stage is set for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, alongside CIGT and British GT

Following the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans, it’s time for another of the world’s most important endurance races: the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, serving as the second round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The German Green Hell will also see the 296 GT3 of Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi on the track, with Ferrari official driver Thomas Neubauer – among others – at the steering wheel, who will start from second on the grid.
Meanwhile, the Italian Gran Turismo Championship and GT Cup return to action at Monza, with no fewer than fifteen Prancing Horse cars fielded across both series.
Lastly, the fourth round of the British GT is set to take place at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

24H Nürburgring. A total of 136 cars divided across 21 classes will battle over the 25.378-kilometre circuit combining the Nordschleife and the GP-Strecke, in one of the four biggest endurance races in the world alongside Le Mans, Spa and Daytona. In the German Green Hell, the number 45 296 GT3 will start in the top class, SP9, with South African David Perel, Axcil Jeffries, local driver Felipe Fernandez Laser and Thomas Neubauer at the wheel. The young Frenchman, who joined the ranks of Ferrari’s official drivers in 2024, was previously a protagonist in the Ferrari Challenge where he was crowned champion at the 2022 Finali Mondiali, and has already claimed a class win at the German endurance race in SP10. In qualifying – heavily affected by bad weather – the Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi car secured eighth place as its best result. After Friday’s qualifying, in which the Maranello car set the second fastest time in a session that was redflagged for a couple of hours after a major incident, the weekend programme includes a 40-minute warm-up at 12 p.m. on Saturday 21, with the race set to get underway at 4 p.m.

CIGT. The second date of the Endurance series will be contested at the Temple of Speed in Lombardy following the season-opener at Mugello, with a three-hour race. The Maranello-based manufacturer boasts an ambitious presence with four 296 GT3s driven by AF Corse. In the number 50, entered in the Am class, Simon Mann – fresh from a second place at Le Mans – will compete alongside Edoardo Borelli and Christoph Ulrich. Also competing in the same class is the number 83 car, featuring Jason Ambrose (winner of the Coppa Shell in the Ferrari Challenge UK in 2022), David McDonald and Francesco Castellacci, who also started in the 24 Hours at Circuit de la Sarthe. The latter are currently at the head of the GT3 Am standings thanks to a standout performance in the season-opener and arrive at Monza determined to defend their category lead. In Pro Am, the number 51 car features Lorenzo Ferrari, Mahaaver Raghunathan and Riccardo Ponzio, while the number 62 car is crewed by Leonardo Colavita, Ibrahim Badawi and David Vidales. The same class also includes the number 98 Easy Race entry with Luigi Coluccio, Leonardo Gorini and Carlo Tamburini, while in Am, Stefano Marazzi and Samuele Buttarelli will drive the number 74 Rossocorsa car, with Paolo Ruberti and Terje Haugen at the wheel of Pellin Racing’s number 3 488 GT3.

In the GT Cup, reserved for single-marque series cars, eight Ferraris will compete. In the 1st Division Pro Am, all eyes are on the number 169 AF Corse Ferrari 296 Challenge of Stefano Gai and Fabrizio Fontana, who lead the standings after Misano. Joining their teammates on the track will be Leonardo Megna, Edoardo Barbolini and Vincenzo Scarpetta in the number 151 car, and Andreas Bögh Sorensen and Mikkel Mac in the number 107. Best Lap fields the number 111 car with Sabatino Di Mare, Filippo Croccolino and Pietro Pio Agoglia.
In the 2nd Division Pro Am, the Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo of Lorenzo Bontempelli, Diego Di Fabio and Vito Postiglione will compete, while the 2nd Division Am features the number 552 Ram Autoservice 488 Challenge of Simonini-Parisotto-Hirsiger and the number 577 Double TT entry with Marulla-Ercoli-Risitano.

The schedule includes free practice sessions on Saturday 21, followed by qualifying at 4 p.m. The race will kick off on Sunday 22 at 2.30 p.m.

British GT. The British GT championship ventures beyond national borders to the Old Continent for its fourth round, held at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The format features a three-hour race with three mandatory changes, each stint capped at 65 minutes. Among the entrants is the number 55 Spirit of Race SA Ferrari 296 GT3 with drivers Duncan Cameron and Matt Griffin, who took seventh and ninth place in the most recent round at Oulton Park.

After Friday’s free practice sessions and another session on Saturday, pre-qualifying runs from 1.05 to 2.05 p.m., followed by qualifying from 6.35 to 7.02 p.m. The three-hour race starts on Sunday 22 June at 12.30 p.m.

All times are local.