Amongst the seemingly year round catalogue of endurance races there are some with real heritage.
One of these is the Vallelunga 6 Hours, first held back in 1973 and held every year since 1994, the 2014 race will be the 24th running of the event, the winner of which is awarded the prestigious Vallelunga Gold Cup.
Previous winners include such illustrious names as Henri Pescarolo, Jochen Mass and Jacky Ickx and in recent years the race has been dominated by GT cars, with ‘local’ marque Ferrari having won the race for the last four years.
Aiming to halt that run will be a very Italian team, Nova Race, based just minutes from Ferrari’s heartland, their weapon of choice couldn’t be further from the mid engined 458, instead they will be fielding their brand new Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3, built in the UK by JRM Group.
Nova Race will be attempting to become the very first team to win the race in a Nissan, the V6 twin turbo engined ‘Godzilla’ ideally suited to the twists, turns and potential mixed bag of weather conditions that the Vallelunga Gold Cup can throw up.
Long-time driving partnership Luca Rangoni and Daniele Mulacchiè will contest the race together for the team. Rangoni the Pro to Mulacchiè’s gentleman status.
The pair have enjoyed much success together in a variety of machinery, in both sprint and endurance racing, they are friends in life and on track with Rangoni performing the invaluable role of driver coach for Mulacchiè and helping the team to develop their understanding of the GT-R, establishing the best set up to suit both drivers.
Ahead of the racing weekend Nova Race Team Manager Elisa Maioli said:
“Our team is young and this is our first year in GT3 after becoming the biggest team in the European GT4 series with our Ginetta. Since taking delivery of our first Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 we have taken huge steps forward, first racing the car in Italian GT Sprint races in May, then in the International GT Open, and now our first real endurance event.
“The Vallelunga 6 hours is not only the last race of the season, it’s an important and historic event for many Italian drivers where we as a team, and our drivers, can measure ourselves against our peers from a number of well known and well established competitors. We’re really looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.”