Cetilar Villorba Corse enters 2015 ELMS in LMP3

Pharmanutra brand will partner the Italian top team opening their Road to Le Mans programme with Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto at the wheel of the new Ginetta-Nissan prototype

Villorba Corse has announced that it will join the LMP3 category in the 2015 European Le Mans Series with the new Ginetta-Nissan prototype. The team has signed a deal with Italian drivers Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto. Their 2015 ELMS entry represents the first step of a racing programme called “Road to Le Mans” which aims to a future participation in the Le Mans 24 Hours. Conceived by Lacorte, founder and CEO of the Pharmanutra group, the project involves Villorba Corse and Pharmanutra with one of its brand. Their partnership will ensure that, for their own racing programme, the team will be renamed as Cetilar Villorba Corse.

Lacorte said; “Thanks to this significant step, the Le Mans 24 Hours is closer than ever before. It is a honour to be on this road with Cetilar Villorba Corse. The European Le Mans Series will be a hard training season that will strongly involve team and drivers towards the only goal of doing a good job. I thank my teammate and our team principal Raimondo Amadio who has welcomed this challenge with so much passion since the start.”

Lacorte and Sernagiotto, who is a very experienced driver (among his wins there is the 2009 Ferrari Challenge/Trofeo Pirelli title), have been racing together since 2012, first in the Italian Touring Endurance Championship then in the VdeV Endurance Series to increase prototype driving skills and experiences. Sernagiotto added; “I am aware that it [ELMS] will not be an easy job because of the high level of competition and the short time for the delivery of the car, but I'm over the moon about this development of my career. I always dreamed about Sport Prototype cars and thanks to Cetilar Villorba Corse and my teammate this dream is about to come true! However, we have to work hard, then, if we deserve them, results will come”.

To the team it is like a comeback to an old passion: prototypes and great endurance racing. To be ready for the 2015 ELMS Cetilar Villorba Corse has purchased a Ginetta-Nissan LMP3. Built by the British car manufacturer for the brand new LMP3 class, this car incorporates all the safety requirements demanded by the ACO and FIA and it will be powered by a Nissan V8 engine capable of 500bhp with an Xtrac 6-speed sequential gearbox. Lawrence Tomlinson, Chairman at Ginetta Cars said; “The ACO have hit the mark with LMP3. The category is developing very quickly, and it’s great to see the Ginetta-Nissan at the forefront of this. The class is attracting high profile teams and it is a privilege to be able to welcome Villorba Corse, one of GT racing’s most successful teams, into the Ginetta fold”.

Alongside their GT “Racing with Ferrari” programmes, this LMP3/Endurance project with Cetilar Villorba Corse represents another challenging commitment to the Italian squad led by Raimondo Amadio. The team has already increased its motorsport horizons but keeps on planning new business joining forces with international excellences and focusing on very demanding target.

“This prototype programme - said Amadio, Team Principal - brings great motivation inside our whole structure. It represents a firm step towards consolidation and diversification of our sporting activities. I'm happy to start from a brand new category such as LMP3 which I believe is perfect to start a process that will see us racing in the most important endurance events also with Sport Prototype cars. To take part in the 'Road to Le Mans' project alongside so determined people and companies represents a further incentive to do well”.

European Le Mans Series calendar: 23-24 mar. Official Test Days at Le Castellet (FRA); 10-11 apr. Silverstone (GBR); 16-17 may Imola (ITA); 11-12 july Zeltweg (AUT); 5-6 sept. Le Castellet (FRA); 17-18 oct. Estoril (POR).


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