How Simonazzi Adapted, Reset and Found His Rhythm in GT3
Ahead of the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup at Portimao, I heard from Dinamic GT driver Francesco Simonazzi about his racing career and first season in the series.
The Italian spoke on the progress himself and the team have made in the first season stating that there have been “many ups and downs” following a result of 37th in the opening race of the season at Paul Ricard, commenting that “we were not in the right setup, both in terms of the car and mentality to fight for a race like that.” With Monza being the second round for the Endurance Cup, it came with Dinamic GT’s best result of the season so far, a tenth place finish overall and a fourth place in the Silver category, Simonazzi described it as one of “the best races” he’s ever done.
He reflected on the 24 Hours Of Spa and spoke on the fact that he was proud that the team finished the race but there was definitely more room for improvement, stating that he “feels like we almost wasted a full week of work in preparation for the race.”
Simonazzi spoke about how he had to adapt to the GT cars after making the jump from single-seaters to which he was asked if there were any habits he had to unlearn from previous series he had raced in. He stated there were a few things he had to unlearn from the Formula cars including how to manage the car on the braking as it’s quite different.
When asked whether training for racing in GT’s is harder or easier than training for single-seaters and the difference between the two, Simonazzi commented that “you focus on different aspects, with formula cars you focus mainly on the aerobic side and cardio training whereas with GT’s you focus more on the strength as races are more relaxed focusing more on managing your energy, not only physical energy but also mental.”
With having to train his mental energy and the difficulty to train the mindset for a series like GT World Challenge Europe, the Dinamic GT driver actually argues that “GT races are long but it is actually less challenging on the mental side if you know the car really well as the cars are slower, so there is more time to adjust to what the car is doing and what is coming from it.”
Article written by Ria Wiktor ©️ Ria Wiktor 2026
