Jens Klingmann and Italian race tracks go really well together. The German BMW works driver clinched his third Italian GT Pro class drivers’ championship in the last four years behind the wheel of a BMW Italia Ceccato Racing M4 GT3 EVO. He did it with a trio of fellow BMW works drivers who supported him as co-drivers throughout the season.
Winning his third championship didn’t come easy. It was a tight battle in the points with a pair of Lamborghini drivers going into the final race, and Klingmann and Ugo de Wilde only managed a tenth-place finish in the first of two races on the final weekend of the Italian GT Sprint season at Monza. Race two was a nail biter, as de Wilde avoided a multi-car pileup on the first corner of the first lap, and Klingmann then had to gain some positions and got up to seventh place by the end.
Jens Klingmann celebrates his third championship in four years.
Seventh place was good enough for Klingmann to win the championship, but just barely. “It was an extremely exciting weekend, and in the end, the result is what counts,” he said. “We’ve taken our third title in five years, which makes us very proud for BMW M Motorsport, Ceccato Racing, and ourselves as drivers. In the end, we were tied on points, and the number of wins was also identical. But we had one more second place than our rivals in the Lamborghini, so we secured the championship. It was really a nail-biting finale and the emotional crowning of a breathtaking season with three wins and the third championship title.”
In eight races, Klingmann was on the podium four times, including wins at Imola, Vallelunga and Mugello. One of those wins came with Raffaele Marciello, one came with Max Hesse and one came with Ugo de Wilde, which is impressive considering Klingmann had to adjust somewhat to having different co-drivers throughout the year. The championship adds one more to the titles he won previously in the series in 2023 and 2024.
Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson had four Pro-Am class wins in 2026.
Fellow BMW Italia Ceccato Racing drivers Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson also had a fantastic year in the Italian GT Sprint Pro-Am class, but a DNF in the second race caused them to fall short of the championship by just 16 points to Ferrari drivers Braschi Francesco and Machiels Jef. When seeing the results that McIntosh and Thompson had, it’s hard to believe they finished second. They had five podium finishes in eight races, including four wins. They also finished in the top five overall three times.
—David Haueter
[Photos by Italian GT]
