Ferrari scored a podium finish in the Gulf 12 Hours, an enthralling contest at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit, which was also the final round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge championship. The substantial Prancing Horse contingent, with six cars, came away with a best result of second place for the 296 GT3 of Kessel Racing in the Pro-Am class and a series of positive placings. The Swiss team assigned the new Maranello-brand racing car, the number 11, to the quartet of Anton Dias Perera, Giorgio Roda, Scott Andrews and David Fumanelli. With consistent and improving performance, they crossed the line in seventh place overall and second in the Pro-Am class.
The top-finishing AF Corse car, the Ferrari 296 GT3 number 25, which started from eighteenth place overall on the grid, came back to finish fourth in the same class. Alessandro Cozzi, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Marco Pulcini and Alessio Rovera took turns at the wheel, with the Prancing Horse official driver taking over the car for the final stages, finishing fourth in class and eleventh overall.
The race of the third Ferrari 296 GT3 in the Pro-Am class, the number 26 of Racing One, ended before the checkered flag came into sight. Omar Jackson, Axcil Jefferies, Ramez Azzam and Zaamin Jaffer, who started from fifteenth on the grid, finished in twentieth place overall and eighth in the Pro-Am.
Three Maranello-brand cars also competed in the Am class, all driven by AF Corse. The Ferrari 296 GT3 number 20 achieved the best result, crossing the line fifth in class and sixteenth overall. Christian Colombo, David Tjiptobiantoro and Stephane Lemeret shared the wheel of the Prancing Horse’s new GT3, which set off from twenty-first on the grid, before handing over the steering wheel for the final stint to the young Frenchwoman Lilou Wadoux, also an official Ferrari driver.
The Piacenza-based team’s other cars were less fortunate. Both were forced to drop out of the challenge prematurely but were still classified. The Ferrari 296 GT3 number 61 with Laurent de Meeus, Jean-Claude Saada, Conrad Grunewald and Miguel Ramos crossed the line in nineteenth, seventh in class, while the only 488 GT3 Evo 2020 in the race, the number 51 crewed by Nicola Marinangeli, Kriton Lendoudis, Christoph Ulrich and ‘Alex Fox’ closed in twenty-first place overall, eighth in the Am category, forced to retire after a collision damaged its rear axle.
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