The newly-launched Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus (SCG) Customer Racing Programme, run by Traum Motorsport, will continue this weekend at one of the most famous circuits in Europe: Monza in Italy – also known as the ‘Temple of speed’.
The SCG003C will compete at the latest round of the GT Open series, one of the many championships for which the bespoke race car is eligible. GT Open is now in its 11th season, confirming itself as one of the top Pro Am championships in Europe that visits prestigious circuits also used by Formula 1.
The SCG003C will be driven by Swiss gentleman driver Beniamino Caccia, sharing the car with Italy’s Lorenzo Bontempelli. Both drivers have plenty of experience: the 46-year old Caccia has competed in both the Italian GT and GT Open championships before, finishing on the podium, as well as taking part in endurance series such as the Blancpain GT championship. He has taken part in the Spa 24 Hours in Belgium five times – and has also been in the top three of the Am class in the overall Blancpain championship.
Bontempelli, aged 50, started off in single-seaters before moving onto the Ferrari Challenge – where he was a race winner – and the Italian GT Championship, where he claimed the GT3 title in 2009. He then moved on to the GT Open series and became champion in 2011, and has remained a regular presence in the category since while also appearing in the Blancpain GT series and – like Caccia – frequently contesting the Spa 24 Hours.
Both drivers will be making their race debuts in the SCG003C, which made its own debut as a gentleman driver car in Zolder earlier this month as part of the DMV GTC series. The same car used in Monza this weekend finished fourth overall with the factory team recently at the latest four-hour race in the Nurburgring-based VLN Series recently, underlining its reliability as well as its performance.
At Monza, the penultimate round of the GT Open championship, there will be two free practice sessions today (Friday) of one hour each to get the weekend underway. On Saturday, a 30-minute qualifying session takes place (using just one driver) followed by a 70-minute race with a pit stop to change drivers. Exactly the same format is adopted for Sunday, with the driver who did not take part in Saturday’s qualification session qualifying the car, and the race lasting only 60 minutes.
With a variety of top GT3-specification machinery taking part in the weekend, the competition is sure to be extremely tough: previous GT Open champions have included Le Mans winners.
Chiara Garella, CEO of Traum Motorsport, commented: “We’re very happy to be racing at such an iconic circuit this weekend with two drivers of the calibre of Beniamino and Lorenzo. The early days of our Customer Racing Program have been extremely successful, and we look forward to this continuing at Monza in another new championship for us this weekend. We aim to provide our drivers with exactly the same experience as they would have within the factory team, giving them the driving pleasure and exposure that would be hard to replicate with any other car.”
Qualifying and the races are broadcast live on Fox Sports channel and on www.gtopen.net.
