Pasin Lathouras is the recipient of an important Ferrari award thanks to his success in winning the 24 Hours of Spa Pro-Am last year, the Thai youngster collecting the prestigious trophy during a glittering gala evening held at the ‘Museo Ferrari’ in Maranello.

Ferrari’s ‘Competizione GT’ department conducted the ceremony. The annual awards gala this year rewarded drivers who had secured major national and international titles behind the wheel of the Ferrari 458 GT3 during 2015. Ferrari CEO Amedeo Felisa and Senior Vice President for Commercial and Marketing Enrico Galliera were the evening’s special guests.

Last July 22-year-old Pasin impressively won the Pro-Am class in the famous 24 Hours of Spa, one of the world’s most important and long running sportscar endurance races, and, along with his teammates Gianmaria Bruni and Alessandro Pier Guidi, he collected a trophy to commemorate that landmark achievement.

Arguably, most attention during the evening event was paid to a ‘special guest’, as on display at the ‘Museo Ferrari’ was the brand new Ferrari 488 GT3 racecar, presented for the guests to examine.

Pasin will drive the new 488 GT3, which ushers in a new generation of racing sportscar for Ferrari as it’s equipped with a 3.9-litre twin turbocharged V8 engine, in Blancpain GT Endurance Series this year for AF Corse. His teammates will be Alessandro Pier Guidi and Michele Rugolo.

The first round of the series is scheduled to take place at Monza, Italy, on 23-24 April, but before that date comes into view the Thai driver has two pre season tests with the new car.