Ghorpade joins FFF Racing for Lamborghini Super Trofeo season

The Indian driver, who made a switch from single-seaters to sportscar racing last year competing in the European Le Mans Series, will continue on the GT career path in 2017.

The Kolhapur-based driver racing for Algarve team in the LMP2 category, was forced to pull the plug midway into his debut season after injuring his knee and since then has only made one-off appearance in the MRF Challenge.

For 2017, Ghorpade will race for FFF Racing in the one-make series of Lamborghini and also joins the team's Young Driver Development Programme after a positive test on the Huracan at Cremona, Italy.

"Lamborghini Super Trofeo is completely different to what I’ve experienced before and it’s an important step in my career,” said Ghorpade, upon the announcement.

“Racing an LMP2 in the European Le Mans Series gives me a head-start, as it’s a good stepping stone between single-seaters and GTs, but I tested a Super Trofeo car in Cremona recently and, while it took a day to adapt, I was happy with how things had gone by the end of the second day.

“FFF Racing is a nice and professional team and having an experienced driver like Andrea [Caldarelli] as the Team Principal will be a big help, as he knows the cars and the circuits inside out and can assist with things like data analysis.

"I will use the Middle Eastern series to get in the groove and ensure I’m strong for the Asian series, but it isn’t going to be easy.

"I’m particularly glad to have the support of Pacific Ventures, which sponsored a Formula 1 team in 2013. I'm proud to have the support of a company with F1 credentials.

"It’s really good of them to return to motor racing as part of my programme and I’m sure their connections in Dubai will be good for everybody," he added.

Ghorpade becomes the second Indian driver in the Super Trofeo series after Armaan Ebrahim, who has already raced for two seasons in 2015 and 2016, in the Asian category.

The 2012 Asian Formula Pilota series winner joins the already announced German female racer Carrie Schreiner and British GT4 Vice Champion Jack Bartholomew for the inaugural season of the Middle Eastern leg.

The races will be held between February and March, with the first round at Abu Dhabi (February 9-11) and the remaining two rounds in Dubai (February 16-18 and March 2-4), before the start of the Asia, Europe and North America seasons.