The driver from Caerano with four editions of the 24 Hours of Le Mans behind him this year will be engaged on two fronts with Cetilar and Iron Lynx
CAERANO. This year it is better not to look for Giorgio Sernagiotto on weekends. Just send him a text message, but if you call, it will be easy for you to always find yourself busy: between European and World Endurance he will have very little free time.
The four-hour Le Mans driver will share his commitments between Cetilar racing and Iron Lynx, the Italian team at the start of the European Le Mans Series with three Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. One will also be from Serna: he will have the number 60 and will share it. with Paolo Ruberti (Veronese with 8 Le Mans behind him and the GT2 silver medals of 2008 and 2009) and Claudio Schiavoni. His season will begin in three weeks with the 4 Hours of Barcelona at Montmelò, valid for Elms. It will be then that for the first time in many years Sernagiotto will get back into a Prancing Horse car in the race.
The European Championship will then take him to Zeltweg, Le Castellet, Monza, Spa and Portimao. All great tracks, all names that have made motorsport history. But this program will be added to the other, that of the World Championship with Cetilar racing. After the painful experience of the 24 Hours of Daytona (class victory at hand ruined by the failure of the gearbox), the roads of Cetilar and the Dallara P217 have separated. Nowadays only officiality is missing, but the asphalt also knows it in the paddock: Cetilar will race with the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo managed by AF Corse.
In short: Sernagiotto will be at the start of at least twelve races this year and in all of them he will drive the same car model. He will be able to learn all the secrets and use more time and kilometers to fix it, an advantage that any driver would be willing to sign with blood: «It has been a long time since I dreamed of racing so much and at a high level. I’m really happy », said the Caeranese after the official announcement of the Iron Lynx program, the team that fielded two other Ferraris in the European Championship in addition to that of Serna and two more has entered them in the World Championship.
Serna has already tested the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in tests conducted by Iron Lynx at Le Castellet in mid-March. He summarized the three days in a hashtag for his social networks: #tantaroba. A lot of stuff, yes, but the differences compared to the Dallara Lmp2 are: «Not the engine, which is really impressive. The difference is felt above all in the corners: with the prototypes we could have entered them harder, but the traction of the Ferrari really surprised me. If there were no balance of performance in GT cars, it would be a missile ”, says Sernagiotto.
If before he was skeptical, now the prospect of having a GT class world championship with Ferrari, Porsche and Aston Martin and a total of 17 cars at the starting line leaves him ecstatic. The World Championship will start from Spa two weeks after the European Championship. There will be Portimao, Monza (where the 1000 km returns even if it will be called “6 Hours of Monza”), Fuji and Bahrain. Something is missing? Yes: Le Mans, but not by chance. The extreme attempt carried out by the organizers of the Aco to have a 24 Hours with the public led them to move it to August 21-22.
After the September edition of last year (the first time in 52 years), here is a new record: in 98 years of history it had never happened that the Sarthe race was set in August. Today at 7 pm the live streaming on Facebook with the announcement of the world championship program of Cetilar racing: you can see it on their Fb page. –