GRT GRASSER RACING TEAM AT MONZA’S ‘TEMPLE OF SPEED’: OPENING ROUND OF GT WORLD CHALLENGE EUROPE

The hunting season on home turf has officially opened for Austrian outfit GRT Grasser Racing Team, who went chasing points with their Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO in the great American endurance classics over the winter months but will now go on the attack once again in Europe this weekend. The first race meeting of the season in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Monza is on the team’s schedule, April 16th-18th.

For GRT Grasser Racing, lining up at the famous race track not far from Milan will mark their return to the hard fought GT3 endurance series with a three-hour race in prospect for the three Silver Cup drivers, who are itching to get started. Clemens Schmid will be joining Lamborghini Juniors Tim Zimmermann and Kikko Galbiati at the wheel of the number 16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO this season.

Zimmermann and Schmid completed their first season with the Austrian outfit in the ADAC GT Masters last year and will both race for the team once again in 2021. However, they will be entering new territory in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup with its extremely arduous races over many laps. Galbiati’s background is in the Italian GT3 championship and he knows the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, made famous by Formula 1, inside out.

GRT Grasser Racing can also look back on a fine record at the high-speed circuit which augurs well for the future, having notched up wins as the season got underway at the ‘Temple of Speed’ in 2015 and again in 2017. That triumph four years ago also laid the foundation for overall victory in the team and drivers’ championships.

Alberto Di Folco to reinforce GRT Grasser Racing Team in season’s highlight at Spa-Francorchamps

The team’s focus this 2021 season is on winning the Silver Cup. Once again, five race meetings are calendared to take place in this season’s top-class GT3 endurance series with the highlight being once more the legendary 24-Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The three drivers in car number 16 will have support from another Lamborghini Junior in the endurance classic.

25-year-old Alberto Di Folco from Rome, Italy’s capital city, will rock up at the Ardennes roller-coaster of a track on his first outing with GRT Grasser Racing. He will be able to deploy his vast amount of experience in racing Lamborghinis, having made his way into GT3 sport via the manufacturer’s own one make cup, the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. He has already had his baptism of fire in the 24-Hours of Spa Francorchamps where he took second place in the AM Cup in 2018.

Team Principal Gottfried Grasser: “We have three reasons to be cheerful about the weekend ahead. First off, we’ve been eagerly anticipating our return to the GT World Challenge Europe for quite some time now, plus, Monza marks the end of the winter break in Europe and is a particularly nice place to be getting started. I can still well remember winning there and am really looking forward to racing again at this very special circuit. We will be tackling this year’s very challenging endurance races with three juniors, which will obviously make a repeat of our overall victory in 2017 a mammoth undertaking. But still, I’m very confident that Tim, Kikko and Clemens will be contenders for the Silver Cup title. Victory in class is our number one priority. We’ll also have Alberto’s support at Spa. I’m real excited to be working with him this year. He’s had some fantastic races for Lamborghini in the past and will make a very fine addition to the team.”

Source. GRT Grasser Racing/Photo. Fotospeedy