PRE-SEASON COLLECTIVE TEST FOR PORSCHE CARRERA CUP ITALIA: MASTERS SHINES
The 19th edition of the Porsche Carrera Cup Italia kicked off last Wednesday, April 16, at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza with a day of collective testing ahead of the first round of the tricolor one-make series scheduled to take place at the Misano World Circuit over the weekend of May 4.
Thirty-one drivers representing eight different nationalities and at the wheel of the 27 510-horsepower Porsche 911 GT3 Cups in the pits. The 2025 preview was disrupted by the rain that fell the previous day and then in the afternoon, but in addition to training on Michelin wet-weather tires, teams and protagonists still managed to set some outstanding chrono times when they found dry conditions.
As many as nine rookies were present, including very young ones. Among the 12 talents included in the Scholarship Program, reserved for under-23s, in fact, three drivers not yet 18 took part in the collective test (2009 class Mattia Marchiante is the youngest ever and is registered with Omnia Racing, a team making its debut in Carrera Cup Italia). On the Pro front, five already champions are at work in the run-up to the new title. Among them is defending champion Keagan Masters: confirmed standard-bearer of Team Q8 Hi Perform, the 25-year-old South African driver, who was best youngster in Carrera Cup Italia 2022, achieved the fastest lap in 1’48″576, the only one to break the wall of 1:49 with an important chronometric reference, the best ever as far as collective test days held at Monza with the current model of the 911 GT3 Cup (the previous ones in April 2022 and 2023).
In the time list, Masters preceded 2021 champion Alberto Cerqui: back under the Ebimotors team banner after 12 years. The driver from Brescia ended the day with his best time of 1’49″198, followed in turn by Marvin Klein. The two-time Carrera Cup France champion, in his first season with BeDriver, lapped in 1’49″346. Two other champions like Gianmarco Quaresmini (2018 and 2022) and Simone Iaquinta (2019 and 2020) followed within not even a tenth: Quaresmini set the fourth fastest time of 1’49″395 in his first appearance with Malucelli Motorsport, while Iaquinta, confirmed in Prima Ghinzani Motorsport, is sixth in 1’49″488. Between them was Francesco Braschi: the 20-year-old driver from Cattolica, this year in the forces of Ombra Racing, inaugurated his second season in the Porsche single-brand with the top-5 of the day in 1’49″445, the best among the talents of the Scholarship Program, in which he already distinguished himself last year.
The fastest among the new protagonists was instead Huub Van Eijndhoven, author of the seventh time in 1’49″663. He was followed by Diego Bertonelli, confirmed in The Driving Experiences team (1’49″671), and another new-entry, the 1998-born German Jan Seyffert, ninth in 1’49″938 with Target Competition and the fastest of the contenders for the Rookie classification, introduced last year for under-30s in their debut season in 911 GT3 Cups.
The top-10 was rounded out by compatriot and teammate Alexander Tauscher, the only driver to improve on the morning in the afternoon session and the last of the protagonists to drop below the 1:50 wall in 1’49″990. Not far from that limit, with the 12th overall finding, the fastest of the Michelin Cup contenders in 1’50″275 was Alberto De Amicis: the driver from Guidonia inaugurated the new season by confirming himself in front of everyone after the category title won last October precisely at Monza and always with the Ebimotors team and Centro Porsche Varese. More distant, they are followed by Malucelli Motorsport’s Tuscan standard bearer Stefano Stefanelli and 2024 vice-champion Francesco Maria Fenici, this year’s bearer of The Driving Experiences.
The Porsche Carrera Cup Italia will return to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza for the final race of the season scheduled for October 24-26, 2025.
(source Porsche press office)