Kateyama March Test Days at Monza gallery

Following the Speer Racing test day last week, more teams made their way to Autodromo Nazionale di Monza in preparation of the 2021 racing season. The three-day test day organised by Kateyama was visited by many GT World Challenge Europe and Italian GT teams, as well as Michelotto Automobili who had brought along a GTLM spec Ferrari 488 for development testing.

Garages at the Autodromo were filled with well over fifty cars.

GTWCE newcomer Iron Lynx was out with two Ferrari 488 GT3s pilot by Davide Rigon, Antonio Fuoco and Callum Ilott (#71) — the latter complementing his Formula 1 test role for Ferrari this year with a drive in GT — and Alessandro Pier Guidi, Nicklas Nielsen and Côme Ledogar (#51). It was the #71 Ferrari that set the fastest GT3 time of the week with a 1:46.782.

Ferrari was out in force on home soil with Rinaldi Racing (#33), AF Corse (#21, 39), Kessel Racing (#111, #7 GTE, #25 Challenge) and Rossocorsa (#72 Challenge Evo) also showing up with their prancing horses.

However, the fastest of them all was Michelotto Automobili. The developer of the Ferrari 488 GTE and GT3 race cars had brought a GTLM spec 488 to Monza and timed almost consistently the fastest time over the six sessions during the three days of testing with an overall fastest lap of 1:45.525.

Another team of interest was Nova Race. The Honda NSX GT3 crew is preparing for its first season with the Japanese brand and got out both its machines. With the NSX’s European developer JAS Motorsport at hand — JAS itself also testing the Honda Civic TCR — the team as well as its young drivers Jacopo Guidetti and Francesco Massimo De Luca got in their much-needed mileage before the Italian GT Championship starts in just over two months. Furthermore, JAS Motorsport’s junior drivers Reece Barr and Erwin Zanotti took turns in the NSX as well ahead of their first GT3 season.