The GT World Challenge America and Australia championships kick off this weekend. In the United States, racing takes place at Sonoma Raceway with two Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo cars on the grid. The Californian circuit also hosts GT America over the same weekend, with a further six Prancing Horse cars in action. In the southern hemisphere, the focus shifts to the Phillip Island circuit, where three Ferrari cars will be on track for the opening round of the series.

Last weekend saw the start of the Super Taikyu series, with a double podium for the D’Station 296 GT3 Evo at the Japanese circuit of Motegi.

GT World Challenge America. The season gets underway in California with several changes, the most significant being a new format: a single three-hour race per event, replacing the previous two 90-minute races. The final round is the 8 Hours of Indianapolis, which also forms part of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Twenty entries will line up for the opening event at Sonoma Raceway, divided into three classes: Pro, Pro-Am and Am. In the Pro class, AF Corse USA fields the number 12 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, crewed by Argentina’s Matias Perez Companc and Denmark’s Frederik Schandorff. The number 163 car, also entered by AF Corse USA, competes in the Am class with Jay Schreibman and Oswaldo Negri.

Following test sessions and free practice, drivers will take part in qualifying on Sunday 29 March from 8.45 a.m., with the race set to start at 1.45 p.m.

GT America. The GT America series also opens its season at Sonoma Raceway, with a strong Prancing Horse presence boosting an already healthy entry list across the various classes. In SRO3, Scuderia Corsa fields the new number 23 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, driven by Thor Haugen. Three Ferrari 296 GT3 cars will also compete in the same class: the number 04 of HP-TECH Motorsport with Tony Davis, the number 013 of R.Ferri Motorsport with Canadian driver Marc Muzzo, and the number 16 of AF Corse USA with Rodin Younessi. In the Cup class, Gotham Motorsports deploys two Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars: the number 3 of Yousuf Nabi and the number 270 of Radu Muntean.

The qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday 28 March at 9.15 a.m., with Race-1 over 40 minutes starting at 5.20 p.m. Race-2 follows on Sunday 29 March at 11 a.m. over the same duration.

GT World Challenge Australia. Seventeen cars from seven manufacturers line up for the start of the Australian series season at the iconic Phillip Island circuit. Ferrari expands its presence with three cars set to contest the entire championship, all in the Pro-Am class.
The ARGT 296 GT3 car return from last season with the number 26, driven by 2025 runners-up Jaxon Evans and Elliot Schutte.
The new entries are the number 181 Ferrari 296 GT3 of OnlyFans Racing, which will field 2025 Am Cup champion Renee Gracie alongside Supercars driver William Davison, and the number 23 of Zagame Autosport with Cameron Campbell and Josh Buchan, who made their debut together last year in New Zealand.

The weekend programme includes free practice on Friday 27 March, two qualifying sessions on Saturday 28 March at 11.15 a.m. and 11.35 a.m., and two one-hour races, the first on Saturday at 3.55 p.m. and the second on Sunday 29 March at 1.40 p.m.

All times are local.

Super Taikyu. The opening round of the seven-round Super Taikyu series took place last weekend at Mobility Resort Motegi, with the number 777 D’Station Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo in action. Makoto Fujii, Yuta Uemura and Satoshi Hoshino were among the front-runners in both four-hour races, securing second- and third-place finishes. The team’s two podium finishes leave it second in the overall standings of one of Japan’s longest-running championships, which returns to action from 16 to 19 April at the Suzuka circuit.

(credit Brock Baldwin Photography for the photos of ARGT)