Earle & Zanotti For Kessel Racing

Following their participation in the Winter Test at Barcelona, it has been confirmed that Stephen Earle and Erwin Zanotti will drive one of the Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 throughout the season

The International GT Open paddock celebrated in Barcelona the return of a familiar, popular face: Stephen Earle, “the Doc”, is back! The 70-year-old American racer and renowned spinal surgeon, is making his return to the GT Open grid for the first time since 2016. Earle has opted to stay with his long-standing team, Kessel Racing, and will partner with young Italian Erwin Zanotti (21).

Speaking of his decision to compete in GT Open for the 2022 season, Stephen Earle said: “What brought me back was watching the competition on TV, and then of course I had to take 2020 off because of the COVID restrictions. I couldn’t afford to take a week of quarantine each side of a race weekend. If I tried to be gone from my medical practice for two weeks, my patients and my office staff would revolt!

“I came back in 2021 in the Italian GT Championship, which I had done before GT Open. But racing is a big family. And after doing it for 32 years, you develop relationships with people, and you’d like to see them again; I don’t think people understand that it’s basically the same people. They just move from country to country, but it’s the same people all the time.

“So that’s part of why I wanted to come back. And the tyres! It’s hard to beat Michelin!”

Zanotti raced against Earle in last year’s Italian GT Championship, piloting a Honda NSX GT3 Evo for the Nova Race outfit. The Italian raced with Kessel Racing at the Gulf 12 Hours, in his first outing behind the wheel of a Ferrari, and has now elected for a full campaign with the Swiss team.

Erwin Zanotti commented: “I’m very happy to be here in GT Open, and I think that we will have a lot of fun this year. The Ferrari is very different from the Honda I drove in 2021, especially under braking. Both cars have their strong points, but right now I prefer the Ferrari; I’m not just saying that because I’m Italian!”

“In my opinion, the team here at Kessel is the most organised team I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing how they work, and the team is compact; everyone knows everyone. That’s really important.”

The pairing are the third of an expected four line-ups from Kessel, following on from Ziemian-Jefferies and Jackson-Hollings. The fourth pair will be announced shortly.