Stefano Comandini nearly quit racing: “Then Best Lap called and said, ‘No, no, we have a car, you have to race’”

Two-time Italian GT champion Stefano Comandini returned to the grid at Imola with unfinished business, and a very different situation to the one he left behind.

After years as a key figure within BMW Italia-Ceccato Racing Team, Comandini nearly stepped away from racing last winter before a late call from Scuderia Best Lap brought him back for the 2026 Italian GT Championship (CIGT). Within weeks, he found himself back in the paddock at Imola, sharing the car with his old friend Vito Postiglione.

Adapting on the fly

“Everything happened suddenly because I was going to end my career,” 58-year-old Stefano Comandini said. “Then Best Lap called me and said, ‘No, no, we have a car, so you have to continue to drive, to race.’ So everything came very quickly.”

“I saw the car for the first time two weeks ago. I did 15 laps in Vallelunga, so it was not so easy at the beginning.”

The adjustment from BMW M4 GT3 to Ferrari 296 Challenge was immediate, and not straightforward.

“The car is very different from a GT3 car,” he said. “Especially with the braking. The Ferrari 296 has brake-by-wire, so you just put a small pressure and the car is braking.

“For me, I was used to give very hard pressure on the brake, so it was a bit difficult.”

Still, by Friday, things were already moving in the right direction.

“Little by little, on Friday morning and also in the afternoon, I was trying to improve my driving style, my new driving style,” he said. “In the afternoon I did the second best lap, so I was very happy.”

Experience still counts

Sharing the car with 2013 Italian GT champion Vito Postiglione, Comandini forms one of the most experienced pairings on the GT Cup grid — something that can make a difference in a field filled with younger drivers.

“I’m one of the most experienced in GT. Also Vito, my teammate,” he said. “Experience is very important because we have to fight with very young drivers, very fast drivers.

“To add a little bit of experience can be helpful for us. Vito is one of the fastest drivers, even if he’s 49 – I’m 58.

“But we can fight for something important.

“We were second in Free Practice 1 and second in Free Practice 2,” the Roman said, before going on to finish fifth in Race 1 on Saturday.

“It will be difficult to manage 46 cars on track, so many cars, so many different drivers. But we start with good feelings, and let’s see what happens.”

The challenge of success

A 46-car GT Cup grid is not a common sight in the Italian GT Championship. It underlines the strength of the championship, which has grown to the point where GT3 and GT Cup now run in separate races, both with full and competitive fields.

At Imola, however, that depth came with its own challenges.

Qualifying, in particular, exposed the limits of such a large field, with traffic and red flags leaving little room to put together a proper lap.

“I only managed to do one lap, obviously stuck in traffic, and it was not a clean one,” Comandini said. “Despite everything it was eighth — because with three red flags and 46 cars you can imagine how complicated it gets.

“It’s not a qualifying session. It’s just driving around and waiting for things to happen.”

Finding space on track came down more to luck than execution.

“Either you are lucky enough to have a pseudo-clear lap and you can do something in a couple of sectors, or like me, I was completely unlucky,” he said. “I always had maybe 20 cars in front of me and you simply can’t overtake them all, because everyone is doing their qualifying lap.

“At a certain point it even becomes dangerous. There are too many cars, and also drivers from the second division who are slower, so it gets complicated. I risked hitting other cars two or three times, and also being hit.”

Despite the chaos, simply making it through qualifying without damage became an achievement in itself.

“In the end, I’m happy the car is still in one piece,” he said. “Starting eighth is better than starting thirtieth. Now we’ll see — I’m in the car for race one, so we’ll see what happens. The race will certainly be a bit different, because up front there are all those who more or less set the same time, so it should at least be a slightly calmer affair — then we’ll see how it goes.”

Finding a way through

If qualifying was unpredictable, the race brought its own version of the same challenge.

“That part is difficult,” Comandini said. “The first part of the race will be a bit calmer — calmer in a manner of speaking — but overtaking is not easy.

“When the lapped cars come into play it becomes really difficult, because there are blue flags, but they are also running their own race. You have to be lucky to find them at the right moment.”

In those moments, decisions have to be made instantly.

“You decide in a flash, in one second, if you go or if you wait one corner more,” he said. “If you are lucky you can gain something. If not, you stay behind and maybe the others who were more lucky pull away.”

For Comandini, it is part of racing in a field of this size.

“It’s a bit of a wild card situation,” he said. “There are too many cars, in my opinion. Thirty cars would already be a lot, let alone 46.

“For the race it’s one thing, but for qualifying, I think the federation needs to fix something.”

Building confidence

Despite the challenges of the weekend, the overall feeling remained positive.

“The car is good, it works,” Comandini said. “We’re confident that for the race we can still fight for those positions — stay there or try to move forward a bit.

“Of course, starting on the fourth row is better than starting on the fifteenth, but the car is good. I’m building my confidence little by little, and I think I can have my say.”

After more than 30 years in motorsport, there is still a new chapter to write.

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