Maranello, 26 April

This past weekend, the Misano World Circuit provided the backdrop for the opening round of the Italian Gran Turismo Championship, now in its eighth year. Of the 34 cars taking part, the F430s did well in the two races, which brought together competitors in both the GT3 and GT2 classes. The F430 driven by Andrea Montermini and Emanuele Moncini (Villorba Corse) was fifth in the overall classification behind the Porsche 991 GT3s of Patrick Pilet – Gianluca Roda, Paolo Ruberti – Fabrizio Del Monte and the two Audi R8s of Filipe Albuquerque – Marco Bonanomi and Rinaldo Capello – Gianluca Giraudi. This was enough to win its category ahead of the other two Ferraris of Rui Aguas – Alessandro Garofano and Massimiliano Mugelli – Andrea Palma. In the second race, the dynamic duo managed to take the lead at the start, crossing the line ahead of the AF Corse F430 GT2, crewed by Marco Cioci and Piergiuseppe Pierazzini and the Pilet-Roda Porsche 991 GT3, with third in the category going to the Ferrari of Palma and Mugelli.
The second round is two weeks away, over the weekend of 9 May, on the Piero Taruffi Circuit at Vallelunga, and Montermini and Moncini now head the Italian series on 27 points, ahead of Cioci and Perazzini, both on 19. Next up, one point down, are Palma and Mugelli.