The Italian GT Championship isn’t on the radar of most American BMW racing fans, but a BMW team and its drivers have had great success in the series this year, led by works driver Jens Klingmann and the BMW Italia Ceccato Racing team.
Like the GT World Challenge Europe series, the Italian GT Championship has separate Sprint Cup and Endurance Cup races on the schedule at historic tracks like Imola, Monza and Mugello. BMW teams are competing in both series, but the most success has come with Klingmann driving the #7 M4 GT3 EVO in the Sprint Cup series, as he has partnered with a cadre of BMW works drivers.
In the first two rounds of the year at Imola, Klingmann had Raffaele Marciello as a co-driver, which resulted in a second place in race one and a win in race two. For rounds three and four at Vallelunga, Max Hesse joined Klingmann and the two scored a win in race two after a tire issue in race one dropped them to 25th.
Klingmann (left) and Ugo de Wilde celebrate at Mugello.
In the most recent and penultimate Sprint Cup rounds at Mugello in late July, Klingmann had Ugo de Wilde as a co-driver and the pair finished fourth in the Pro class in race one and won race two, giving Klingmann a firm grip on the driver championship. “The team did a fantastic job, and everything also went flawlessly with Ugo,” said Klingmann. “Now we head into the finale as the championship leaders. That’s the position we’ve earned, and the position we wanted to be in. Now the goal is to bring the championship home and secure the title for Ceccato Racing and BMW M Motorsport for the third time. We’re really looking forward to the season finale at Monza, where we’ve enjoyed some excellent results over the past few years.”
North American drivers Anthony McIntosh and Parker Thompson have paired up in the Italian GT Championship Pro-Am class in addition to their campaign in the FIA WEC championship, also in a BMW. Driving the #8 M4 GT3 EVO for BMW Italia Ceccato Racing, McIntosh and Thompson won the class in both races at Vallelunga and finished third and first in class in the races at Mugello. With those wins, McIntosh and Thompson are second in the Pro-Am standings.
Anthony McIntosh (left) and Parker Thompson have three wins and are second in Pro-Am points.
The final rounds of the Italian GT Sprint Cup championship are at Monza on the weekend of October 9th-11th.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Italian GT Championship]
