cover
FFF Racing confirms Bortolotti and Couto for FIA GT World Cup in Macau
Fri 07, Oct, 2016

FFF Racing Team is pleased to confirm Mirko Bortolotti and Andre Couto as its drivers for the 2016 FIA GT World Cup at the 63rd Macau Grand Prix (17-20 November).

The Pescara, Italy-based outfit announced its entry to the GT World Cup in August, but can only now confirm that Bortolotti and Couto will drive its Lamborghini Huracan GT3s in the Macau event.

After several years of karting, Bortolotti began his single-seater career in the 2005 Italian Formula Renault Winter Series and Formula Gloria, before finishing runner-up in the 2006 Formula Azzurra Drivers’ Championship.

Two successful seasons of Italian Formula 3 yielded a championship title and earned him a coveted test in Scuderia Ferrari’s 2008 Formula 1 challenger, as well as valuable backing and guidance from Red Bull.

Campaigns in the F3 Euro Series and GP3 Series preceded another championship-winning year in the 2011 FIA Formula 2 Championship and a return to an F1 cockpit with Williams, but the Trento, Italy-domiciled driver then switched his focus to ‘tin-tops’, with great success.

A race win on his debut in the ADAC GT Masters was complemented by the Eurocup Megane Trophy, but he would be selected for Lamborghini’s official Young Driver Programme and embark on triumphant campaigns in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo, Italian GT Championship and Blancpain GT Series, while also assisting with the development of the latest Huracan GT3 racecar.

FFF Racing’s second Lamborghini will be piloted by Macanese racer Couto. Influenced by the Macau Grand Prix, Lisbon-born Couto enjoyed a lucrative karting career before moving on to cars in the mid-Nineties.

An F3 campaign in Germany came before he finished runner-up in the 1997 Italian Championship, embarked on a season in F3000 and, most notably, achieved a sensational race win on home soil in the 2000 Macau Grand Prix, to the delight of his family and local fans.

Appearances in the FIA World and European Touring Car Championships and Japanese Super GT have followed and Couto returns for his second shot at the FIA GT World Cup in one of two Roger Dubuis-backed Lamborghini Huracans.

Head of Lamborghini Motorsport, Giorgio Sanna, said: "Lamborghini Squadra Corse is proud to compete in the next FIA GT World Cup In Macau with a top Asian team like FFF Racing, as we share the same passion and interest in promoting the best and most talented young drivers. We look forward to this important challenge.”

FFF Racing Team Owner, Sean Fu Songyang,added: “It is fantastic for us to be asked to run Lamborghini Huracan GT3s for Automobili Lamborghini in the FIA GT World Cup this year in Macau, and we have two fantastic drivers in Mirko Bortolotti and Andre Couto who are both very capable of winning. The team is ready, so bring it on!”