Weekend tip: The racing world looks to Imola 🎥
VIVA VALE! At the opening round of the GT World Challenge Endurance Cup, many eyes are on Nico Müller's Audi R8 - because motorcycle star Valentino Rossi is his celebrity partner. Emil Frey Racing represents the Swiss team colors. Watch live on the Internet.
52 sports cars from Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche are entered for the first endurance race of the GT World Challenge Europe. More brand diversity is almost impossible.
One GT3 car in particular stands out, even though it's not really a contender for victory. One of five new Audi R8 LMS GT3 evo2 cars from WRT, the current champion team from Belgium, will start the three-hour race with the legendary number 46 of the multiple motorcycle world champion Valentino Rossi.
Five special races for Nico Müller
After retiring from MotoGP as a rider, the Italian has decided to continue his career on four wheels. His regular partner in all ten races (Sprints and Endurance) is Belgian Frédéric Vervisch. In the five endurance races, Nico Müller is the third man.
The Bernese is himself excited about the premiere.
Nico Müller: "We made great progress at the test day in Imola and at the official pre-season test at Paul Ricard. Our pace is already pretty good. Let's wait and see where it takes us at the start of the season. In any case, it's great to be able to do business with a star like Vale."
With Patric Niederhauser and Lucas Légeret, two more Swiss drivers in the Saintéloc Junior Team share a new Audi. The third driver is the German Christopher Mies, ADAC GT Champion 2021 with Ricardo Feller. Like Raffaele Marciello on a Mercedes-AMG, they race in the 17-car premier class Pro, in which a majority of the drivers are professionals.
Silver category boom
New to the circle of Swiss drivers in the world's strongest GT3 racing series is Alain Valente, who, however, brings experience from other GT championships. The driver from Bern competes for the Silver Cup in the Haupt Racing Team in a Mercedes-AMG.
With 18 participating vehicles, the category with at least two silver drivers under the age of 25 per team sets a new record. Last year's winner was Emil Frey Racing with Alex Fontana in the individual classification and the all-Swiss trio Feller/Ineichen/Fontana in the Endurance Cup.
Emil Frey Racing with three Lamborghinis, but without Swiss driver
This season, the Safenwil-based team is concentrating on the five endurance races, because apart from the new commitment in the ADAC GT Masters is no longer possible. The three Lamborghini pairings are Mirko Bortolotti and Albert Costa with Jack Aitken in #63, Giacomo Altoè with Arthur Rougier and Léo Roussel in #19, both in the Pro class. Stuart White, Konsta Lappalainen and Tuomas Tujula are racing in #14 in the Silver Cup.
Other silver drivers are Dominik Fischli and Mauro Calamia in two different Porsche 911 GT3 R cars. After finishing runner-up in the GT3 Challenge Suisse 2021, Fischli is now entering the big stage, whereas Calamia already has several such races behind him.
Golden Rahel Frey
The newly announced Gold Cup replaces the previous Am classification and includes 13 sports cars for the first time. As already reported, Rahel Frey is racing in the Ferrari 488 from Iron Dames for the first time in this series with Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy.
In the all-women team from Italy, the Solothurn native is the gold driver. Karim Ojjeh, a native of Lausanne with Saudi roots, is part of the Audi team in Imola.
First guest appearance in Hockenheim
The race will start at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 3. The starting positions will be determined six hours earlier in qualifying from 9 to 10 am. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo, GT2 European Series and GT4 European Series will also hold their first two races of the season in the supporting program.
After the opening race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the Endurance Cup of the GT World Challenge Europe has four more endurance races on the calendar: at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France (June 5), at the Hockenheimring (September 4) and at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (October 2). The season highlight is the legendary 24 Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps on July 30/31.
Live on YouTube with German commentary
All practice, qualifying and race sessions can be viewed live on the official website at this Link as well as on the YouTube channel of the organizer; in addition, live timing of all races of all weekends is offered.
The highlight: For the first time, the broadcasts on YouTube are also commented in German (in addition to English, French and Italian).
Starting list GT WCE 2022 Monza
