Reigning Goodyear Wingfoot Award recipient Alessio Rovera is making no secret of his ambitions for 2026. After finishing third in the FIA World Endurance Championship LMGT3 class standings in 2024 and second last year, he has only one objective as he approaches the forthcoming campaign.
Appointed an official Ferrari factory driver four years ago, Rovera has been a lynchpin of the Prancing Horse’s GT efforts in recent seasons. Crowned FIA WEC LMGTE Am champion in 2021 courtesy of four wins from six starts – including victory in the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans – the Italian added the LMP2 Pro-Am Cup laurels to his burgeoning career CV 12 months later prior to returning to GT competition in 2023.
Since the inception of the LMGT3 category, he has triumphed twice alongside VISTA AF Corse stablemates François Hériau and Simon Mann – in Bahrain in 2024 and Belgium in 2025 – and the #21 trio remains united for a third consecutive campaign, making the crew one of just four out of 18 to benefit from such consistency.
Rovera hopes that will enable them to hit the ground running when the season gets underway on home soil with the 6 Hours of Imola around the iconic Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari next weekend (17-19 April), as he prepares to rejoin the fray in the latest evolution of Ferrari’s 296 LMGT3 Evo – a car in whose ongoing testing and development he has played a significant role.
“I can’t wait to get back on-track for the many challenges that await us this year and to give my best for the team,” enthused the 30-year-old Varese native, who is heading into his sixth full campaign at the international pinnacle of the long-distance discipline. “We’re setting our sights high. The season will be very demanding, but I have a lot of faith in the new 296 Evo because we’ve worked really hard on it.
“The car seems to respond well to set-up changes, which gives me confidence and makes our job as drivers easier, but I know that from track-to-track, we’ll encounter different conditions and contexts, so we’ll have to figure out what to do as we go. We’re looking forward to getting started at Imola, and the goal is to win as soon as possible.”
Following the upcoming curtain-raising contest, the hunt for honours will continue with outings at Spa-Francorchamps (9 May), Le Mans (13-14 June), Interlagos (12 July), COTA (6 September) and Fuji (27 September), subsequently concluding with the rescheduled Qatar 1812km on 24 October and the traditional season finale in Bahrain on 7 November.
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