Five months have passed since the Endurance Cup of the GT World Challenge Europe was resolved in Barcelona. The 2021 season ended with Alessandro Pier Guidi, Côme Ledogar and Nicklas Nielsen as champions after a great campaign at the controls of Iron Lynx’s #51 Ferrari, although only the last of them is in a position to defend the title. For that reason, the Endurance Cup seems like a real ‘pitched battle’ to achieve the title, since among the 52 vehicles present there are nine brands represented and 17 vehicles entered in the Pro class.
The Enzo e Dino Ferrari Autodrome, known as the Imola circuit, was not part of the GTWC Europe plans. However, the track located in Emilia-Romagna has become an alternative to Monza to host the first 3-hour race of this season. Beyond this detail, Imola is a narrow track It offers very few overtaking options along its 4,908 meters in length, so classification and strategy will be very important. the layout has a total of 17 anglesbeing ‘Tamburello’, the ‘Variante Alta’ and ‘Rivazza’ its most iconic angles.
With such a volume of GT3 vehicles, it is difficult to make a list of favorites. However, if there is at least one car per manufacturer to watch closely. Among the eleven Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II must be highlighted #32 with Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, current GTWC Europe and Sprint Cup champions alongside Kelvin Van der Linde. However, there are four other Audis entered in the Pro class. For its part, Mercedes has the strengths of #88, which we will talk about later, and #2 with Maro Engel and Luca Stolzinseparable couple, together with Steijn Schothorst.
Continuing with the German brands, We will have to be very attentive to the level of the new BMW M4 GT3. For its part, the Porsche #54 is the best asset of the Stuttgart firm this year. In the ‘Italian side’ it is impossible not to notice in the Lamborghini #19 led by Giacomo Altoè or in the #63, while the Ferraris to follow closely are the two Iron Lynx units. Finally, the weight of the ‘British squad’ falls more on McLaren than on Aston Martin or Bentleywith #38 from JOTA and #111 from JP Motorsport as great exponents.
Schedules of the GT World Challenge Europe in the 3 Hours of Imola 2022
Photos: GT World Challenge Europe