The 2025 Italian GT Endurance Championship gets underway this weekend at Misano, where a record 41 cars across GT3 and GT Cup will line up for the season opener. With big teams, seasoned veterans, and emerging talent from Italia and abroad, the series promises another competitive year in Italy’s premier sports car championship.

GT3

Ferrari leads the GT3 charge with its successful 296 GT3 model, following last season’s dominance by Scuderia Baldini. Though Baldini’s title-winning crew has switched focus to the Sprint Series, Ferrari remains well-represented. AF Corse fields four impressive Ferrari 296 GT3 line-ups, including Simon Mann, Edoardo Borelli, and Christoph Ulrich; and the talented trio of Lorenzo Ferrari, Mahaveer Raghunathan, and Riccardo Ponzio. Riccardo Ponzio returns after a strong 2024 campaign with a race win at Mugello. Lorenzo Ferrari, who joins AF Corse from AKM Motorsport, adds proven speed from his time in ELMS and national GT competition. Raghunathan, with extensive single-seater experience including FIA F2, brings international pedigree.

Easy Race debuts in the Endurance series as a GT3 team, fielding a strong Pro-Am entry featuring Carlo Tamburini, Leonardo Gorini, and Luigi Coluccio. Tamburini is fresh from a successful international GT2 campaign and a runner-up finish in the 2023 Italian GT Endurance Pro-Am class. Rosso Corsa enters Stefano Marazzi and Samuele Buttarelli, while Pellin Racing fields a Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo2 for Paolo Ruberti and Thor Haugen.

Lamborghini mounts a robust challenge with Huracán GT3 Evo2 entries fielded by four teams: Imperiale Racing, Star Performance, Vincenzo Sospiri Racing, and Il Barone Rampante. Imperiale Racing features strong crews including Emanuele Zonzini, returning to the Italian GT Championship for the first time since 2019, Alessandro Tarabini, and Emanuel Colombini. Another Imperiale line-up boasts former Italian GT Sprint champion Jacopo Guidetti, alongside 2022 Italian GT Endurance Pro-Am champion Andrea Cola and American Phillippe Denes.

Vincenzo Sospiri Racing fields two cars, including entries for Michele Beretta, Andrea Frassineti, and Rodrigo Testa, as well as Ignazio Zanon, Mattia Michelotto, and Kevin Gilardoni. VSR won the 2024 Pro-Am title with Michelotto and also secured second place overall in the drivers’ standings with Alberto Di Folco and Riccardo Cazzaniga, who now drive for Tresor Attempto Racing.

Star Performance fields competitive cars for Milos Pavlović, Florian Spengler, and Aniwat Lommahadthai, as well as Sandro Mur, Andrés Mendéz, and Henri Tuomaala. Il Barone Rampante debuts in Italian GT Endurance with experienced drivers Giuseppe Cipriani, Leonardo Pulcini, and Fabrizio Crestani, aiming to replicate their past successes in International GT Open.

Audi expands its presence significantly, led by Tresor Attempto Racing with Alberto Clementi Pisani, Marco Cassarà, and Alberto Di Folco—a trio combining championship-winning experience from Porsche Carrera Cup and Lamborghini Super Trofeo. Another strong Tresor entry pairs rising talent Fabio Rauer with proven performers Rocco Mazzola and Riccardo Cazzaniga. Both Cazzaniga and Di Folco finished second in the overall standings in 2024 with Vincenzo Sospiri Racing. Audi Sport Italia introduces 18-year-old Argentine Nano Lopez alongside experienced drivers Andrea Bracalente and Nicola Cantu. Belgian newcomers Haas RT debut with Omar Jackson, Zaid Ashkanani, and Axcil Jefferies.

Completing GT3 are Antonelli Motorsport’s two-car Mercedes-AMG GT3 entry. The Pro-Am car features Florian Scholze, Colin Caresani, and Tanart Sathienthirakul, the reigning GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Silver Cup champion. Antonelli’s Am lineup includes Filippo Bencivenni, Beppe Fascicolo, and young American talent Aaron Farhadi.

BMW Team Italia-Ceccato Motors enters a BMW M4 GT3 Evo with Leonardo Caglioni, Stefano Comandini, and Francesco Guerra. The team was a consistent front-runner in 2024, with Comandini, Denes, and Guerra finishing third in the Endurance standings after a strong campaign highlighted by a second place at Imola. Nova Race completes the GT3 class with two Honda NSX GT3s: one featuring Giovanni Berton, Rodolfo Massaro, and Francesco De Luca—Berton making his Nova Race debut after previous experience in GT Cup—and the other crewed by Luca Magnoni, Paolo Rocca, and Andrea Bodellini. Nova Race returns looking to build on a 2024 season in which it showed flashes of speed, including an overall win in the rain at Imola, though consistent top-ten finishes in GT3 proved elusive.

GT Cup

In GT Cup, key title contenders include AF Corse’s Ferrari 296 Challenge duo of Stefano Gai and Fabrizio Fontana, aiming for victories with Gai’s proven pedigree as a two-time Italian GT champion and multiple Ferrari Challenge title winner.

Double TT Racing steps into GT Cup with Nicholas Risitano, Matteo Marulla, and Gilles Renmans, building on their successful GT3 Am title win from 2024. Racevent-Faems Team also fields strong contenders with a Porsche 992 GT3 Cup car, featuring a lineup of Ronnie Valori, Paolo Calcagno, and Daniele Corradi, alongside an all-female crew of Federica Levy, Emma Segattini, and Jenni Sonzogni.

Race format and points system

The three-hour race format remains unchanged for 2025, consisting of four events at Misano, Monza, Imola, and Mugello. Teams perform mandatory driver changes, with critical strategic decisions during pit stops shaping race outcomes. Points are awarded at both the race finish and the intermediate 100-minute mark.

Misano weekend schedule

Track action starts Friday with practice sessions at 11:35 and 16:30, continues Saturday with a final practice at 09:15 and qualifying from 18:00 to 19:50. The race begins at 14:10 on Sunday.

International fans can follow the action via online streaming on the championship’s official website, YouTube, and Facebook channels.