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Ten Italian drivers for their home round

Engaged in several championships this year, the team AF Corse aligns ELMS, three Ferrari F458 Italia and two in the LM GTE category and one in GTC and the majority of drivers are Italian.

#60 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia: Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci, Matt Griffin

#60 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia: Piergiuseppe Perazzini, Marco Cioci, Matt Griffin

Daniel James Smith

The second round of the European Le Mans Series will be held at Imola this weekend and among the 68 drivers entered in the second meeting of the season, ten will make their home race. Moreover, the only Italian team presents AF Corse run into two categories: LM GTE and GTC.

First, the German team Proton Competition (Porsche 911 GT3 RSR # 77), one of its drivers, the Italian Gianluca Roda, who associated with Christian Reid Nick Tandy won the first race of the season Silverstone, and thus occupies the head of the LMGTE.

Well known in the world of endurance for winning four times the FIA GT Championship, Andrea Bertolini, a native of the province of Modena, renews its participation in the JMW Motorsport team. With teammate Joel Camathias they finished the first round in fourth position and have at heart to the overall classification of the LM GTE, driving the Ferrari F458 Italia 66.

A new team made ​​its debut in the European Le Mans Series in Italy: SMP Racing in the GTC class. Two of the nine pilots of the Russian team are transalpine who want to shine on their land. Fabio Babini has made ​​a large number of endurance races in the FIA GT from 2000 to 2004, he also participated in three rounds of the American Le Mans Series between 2001 and 2003.

With his extensive experience in Italian GT Championship, FIA GT or his champion title Superstars GT Sprint 2010 Maurizio Mediani is an instructor pilot since 1995. After participating in many races in the Blancpain Endurance Series, GT Open or Asian GT Championship, he was hired in 2013 in the World Endurance Championship FIA WEC with the Krohn Racing team, but also in the stable SMP Racing Imola for ELMS.

The only Italian team of the plateau is called AF Corse!

Engaged in several championships this year, the team AF Corse aligns ELMS, three Ferrari F458 Italia and two in the LM GTE category and one in GTC and the majority of drivers are Italian, eager to honor the prancing horse on the Transalpine round of the ELMS.

Q & A with Amato Ferrari, owner of AF Corse.

AF Corse is involved in several championships this year, what are your expectations ELMS? Indeed, AF Corse is engaged in a number of series and endurance championships. This is our workhorse. In ELMS, our goal is clear: we want to win both categories LM GTE and GTC with two Ferrari F458 GT2 and GT3.

AF Corse is the only Italian team plateau in 2013, what are your most direct competitors, and how do you see the season? After the first round at Silverstone, we can say that LM GTE, Ram Racing and IMSA Performance Racing are our biggest rival because they are powerful and have great potential. In GTC, the fight is fairly balanced and it will not be easy, because all of our competitors may target the title.

How was your first race of the season? The Silverstone race was largely influenced by the disastrous weather we experienced and the intervention of the safety car during our last stint. In LM GTE, accidents have completely compromised the results of our two cars.

In GTC, second place is only a small consolation, because without the input of the track safety car, our trio Rizzoli-Gay-Casé could have won the race.

What are your drivers Imola? Piergiuseppe Perazzini and Marco Cioci be driving the Ferrari F458 Italia No. 55 while Yannick Mallegol, Jean-Marc Bachelier and Howard Blank will share the No. 54 in the category LMGTE.En GTC, Andrea Rizzoli, Stefano Gay and Lorenzo Casé will fight for victory aboard the F458 Italia GT3 # 62.

The second round of the European Le Mans Series will take place on the Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari. This event will take place as part of a weekend of races shared with the FFSA GT Tour. Also will be on track throughout the weekend, the cars of the Classic Formula 3 and Formula XL and the Peugeot RCZ Racing Cup.

European Le Mans Series

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