Kessel Racing transforms riders into drivers

Last Friday (27) the Switzerland-based team Kessel Racing presented their fleet of cars that will race in the Gulf 12 Hours, to be held at Abu Dhabi on December 10th, and between the trio of Ferrari 458 GT3 models and the nine drivers that will be on it, there is a name in the list that caughts attention: Loris Capirossi. Yes, that Italian rider Loris Capirossi.

The triple Moto GP champion will make his return into competitive racing, but will switch from two wheels to four, as he will be part of one of the Gentleman class cars that the Loris Kessel-led team will field at the Yas Marina Circuit. His companions in the desert adventure will be Alexis de Bernardi and Nicola Cadei, while the other Gentleman entry features Marco Zanuttini, Vadim Gitlin and Michael Lyons. The Pro entry will be driven by Michael Broniszewski, Giacomo Piccini and the Ferrari LMGTE driver Davide Rigon.

This will be the first time that the former Ducati ace will drive a race car, in what seems to be a common practice by Kessel Racing as they already had some Moto GP champions behind the wheel of their Ferraris. The legend Valentino Rossi took part of two rounds of the 2012 Blancpain Endurance Series season alongside Alessio Salucci and Andrea Ceccato, finishing 18th and 19th overall, while the current Moto GP Champion Jorge Lorenzo took part of the 2014 edition of the Gulf 12 Hours with Zanuttini, Jacques Duyver and Liam Talbot, ending 18th overall.

At the moment, the entry list of the Gulf 12 Hours has 22 cars in it, spread between GT3 cars from five manufacturers, including a GT3-balanced version of the Renault RS01, as well Porsche Cup cars and CN prototypes, which at the moment is represented only by the Wolf GB08 model. History can help in Kessel Racing’s bid for the win, as a Ferrari 458 GT3 from AF Corse was the winner last year.

PHOTOS: Loris Capirossi, MotoGP, Kessel Racing