Maranello, 19 April 2026 - Alongside the eagerly awaited FIA WEC debut at Imola, a busy motorsport weekend sees Prancing Horse cars on the grid across multiple championships. In the United States, the IMSA championship hosts the Grand Prix of Long Beach with two Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo cars entered, while in Japan, the second round of Super Taikyu takes place at Suzuka with one Ferrari in the race.
In Europe, Ferrari will compete in four events: at Portimão for the opening round of the International GT Open, with Maranello official drivers Thomas Neubauer and Tommaso Mosca; at Spa for the 12 Hours, the first round of the 24H Series; at Mugello for the opening round of the National GT Challenge; and at the Nürburgring for two qualifying races for the 24 Hours, counting toward the NLS championship.
IMSA. After competing for 36 hours in the two longest events of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, Ferrari shifts to sprint mode when two of its new Ferrari 296 GT3 Evos compete on North America’s oldest street course event.
Conquest Racing and Inception Racing are set for Saturday’s 51st edition of the Grand Prix of Long Beach – a 100-minute dash on a 1.968-mile circuit in the seaside community – where the GT3 machinery driven by Pro-Am lineups in the GTD class compete alongside the GTP Prototypes.
Inception Racing returns with 2025 Indianapolis Battle on the Bricks winners Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff, sharing the No. 70 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. Last year at Long Beach, the pair battled from a 13th-place start to finish eighth – taking the Bronze Cup victory.
Conquest Racing fields the No. 34 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo for 2023 Le Mans LMP2 winner Albert Costa and Manny Franco. Costa had a brilliant run for the team at Long Beach in 2024, starting third and making a pass for second on the opening lap of the race. He held the position for the remainder of his stint, and meanwhile Franco qualified an impressive fourth for Conquest in last year’s event.
Ferrari’s history at Long Beach includes three victories in eight Formula 1 races at the circuit, won by Clay Regazzoni in 1976, Carlos Reutemann in 1978 and Gilles Villeneuve in 1979. Ferrari also captured the ALMS GT2 class in 2007 and 2008.
The Long Beach round comes on the heels of Ferrari dramatically capturing the GTD victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring with AF Corse USA. That crew is concentrated on the five Endurance Cup events on the IMSA schedule.
Long Beach opens with a pair of practice sessions on Friday at 9 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. (all times PT), followed by GTD qualifying at 5:25 p.m. The 100-minute race begins at 1:05 p.m. on Saturday.
International GT Open. As tradition dictates, the undulating Portimão circuit hosts the first of eight scheduled rounds in 2026, with a 29-car starting grid across three classes and a strong Ferrari presence.
AF Corse fields two new Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo cars in the Pro class: the number 51 features Tommaso Mosca – runner-up in 2025 and recently named a Prancing Horse official driver – alongside young Spaniard Rafael Duran, both coming off the opening round of the GT World Challenge Europe at Paul Ricard. Promising young Ukrainian Yaroslav Veselaho is joined in the number 96 by French champion Thomas Neubauer, who will compete in selected rounds.
Also in the Pro class, British team Elite Motorsport arrives with high ambitions and an unchanged line-up – Tom Emson and Tom Lebbon in the number 17 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
The Pro-Am class is set to be the most crowded, with four Ferraris on the grid, two entered by AF Corse. The number 81 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo sees the new pairing of Norikazu Shibata and Charlie Fagg, while the number 55 is entrusted to the experienced crew of Laurent De Meeus and Vincent Abril.
Polish team Olimp Racing fields former class champions Marcin Jedlinski and Karol Basz in the number 777 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, while Into Africa Racing by Dragon returns for the full championship season after its debut appearance last year, with Xolile Letlaka and Axcil Jefferies in the number 25 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.
With three cars on the grid at Portimão, Ferrari will be the best-represented manufacturer in the Am class. Marcelo Hahn makes another return to the series with AF Corse in the number 16 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo. The Brazilian, a former Pro-Am champion, is looking for another title, this time alongside Galid Osman. The Baron Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 features the father-and-son pairing of Adrian Lewandowski alongside the more experienced Andrzej, a former GT Cup Am champion. The other Polish pairing of Stanislaw Jedlinski and Krystian Korzeniowski once again lines up in the Am class in the number 5 Olimp Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
The weekend programme includes free practice on Thursday and Friday, followed by qualifying on Saturday 18 at 10.05 a.m., with the 70-minute Race-1 kicking off at 2.15 p.m. On Sunday 19 April, the second qualifying session takes place at 9.35 a.m., with the 60-minute Race-2 getting under way at 2.30 p.m.
NLS. The two four-hour races scheduled over the weekend promise plenty of spectacle on the Nordschleife. The two 24H Nürburgring Qualifiers serve as preparation for the eagerly awaited 24-hour race on the Green Hell over the weekend of 17 May but also count towards the NLS championship standings.
Among more than 130 entries across all classes, the Prancing Horse will be represented in the SP9 class, which has 37 entries, by the number 45 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo of REALIZE KONDO RACING with Rinaldi, crewed by Thierry Vermeulen, Dennis Marschall and David Perel.
The qualifying session for Race-1 takes place on Saturday 18 April at 8.30 a.m., with the green flag for the race at 5.30 p.m. On Sunday 19 April, the second qualifying session is at 8.14 a.m., with Race-2 starting at 1 p.m.
24H Series. Just weeks after the opening round at Mugello, the participants in the 24H Series are back on track for the 12 Hours of Spa on the legendary Belgian circuit – the ninth edition of a race run in two separate parts. Two Ferrari cars will compete in the GT3 class, with one return and one debut. Following the Mugello round, the number 81 Era Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3 returns with a mixed American and British crew of Dwight Merriman, Oliver Bryant, Ryan Dalziel and Jake Hill.
The sister car, number 29 of Pellin Racing, makes its debut with Canadian Kyle Marcelli and American Jeff Westphal alongside Andres Latorre and Lisa Clark, a regular competitor in the Ferrari Challenge Europe and North America.
The GT3 class qualifying sessions take place on Friday 17 April from 4.10 p.m., with the first part of the race – five and a half hours – getting under way on Saturday 18 April at 11.30 a.m. The final six and a half hours begin on Sunday 19 April at 10.30 a.m.
National GT Challenge The series opens its 2026 season at the Mugello circuit in Italy, where GT cars in a variety of configurations will compete. The Prancing Horse will be strongly represented, with 12 cars on track across the classes. In GT3, Best Lap fields the number 18 Ferrari 488 GT3 for Maurizio Pitorri and Gianluigi Simonelli.
Ferrari’s remaining entries, in single-marque trim, will compete in GT Cup 2. Best Lap also fields four Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo cars: the number 43 for Elio Marchetti and Riccardo Romagnoli; the number 157 for Giuseppe Marinaro and Alessandro Palazzo; the number 5 for Stefano Maestri and Alessandro Rodio; and the number 15 for Domenico Vincenzo Golia and Giovanni De Cuntis.
Rodolfo Massaro and Maia Meneghin represent Scuderia Emme in the number 11 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo. Formula Racing enters the number 23 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo for Danish driver Thomas Petersen, the number 50 for Lee Hsuan and Daniele Pialorsi, and the number 151 for Luigi Ferrari and Leonardo Megna. RC Motorsport fields the number 24 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo for Matteo Merulla and Gian Luca Roda. Seven Hills Motorsport enters the number 25 Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo for Nicholas Risitano and Turkish driver Barkin Pinar, while Michele and Giovanni Giraudi will race the number 27 Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo of GRT Motorsport. Finally, Aramis and Emilio Gennaro Rocchi will compete in the number 33 Ferrari 458 Challenge Evo entered by SR&R.
The qualifying session takes place on Saturday 18 April at 10 a.m., with Race-1 starting at 4.15 p.m., while Race-2 follows on Sunday 19 April at 1.10 p.m.
Super Taikyu. Following the Motegi opener, the Japanese series heads to the Suzuka circuit for round two of the season. The D’Station Racing 296 GT3 Evo will again represent Ferrari, having secured two podium finishes – a second and a third – in the opening races.
Currently second in the overall standings, the team will field the number 777 for Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fujii and Yu Kanamaru in the six-hour race.
Qualifying sessions get under way on Saturday 18 April from 2 p.m., with the race scheduled for Sunday 19 April at 12 p.m.
All times are local.
17 aprile 2026
Originally published by Ferrari
View original article →
Tags
Spotted an issue with this article, or is this your material? Rights holders
