Pescara, Italy – After the podium conquered in the last round in Barcelona in 2016, Solaris Motorsport confirms its presence in the 2017 International GT Open season. The Italian team will field an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 for the Italian Francesco Sini and the Swiss Mauro Calamia. Thanks to the good results obtained in 2016, Solaris Motorsport will be an Aston Martin Racing Partner Team also in 2017, continuing to work in close relationship with the historic English brand.

Francesco Sini, in his second season with the Italian Aston Martin, is ready for this new challenge: “I’m excited to come back on the European scene! After the 2014 EuroV8 Series title conquered with Solaris Motorsport, I missed a bit the possibility to race on the most beautiful tracks in Europe. We tasted the International GT Open in the 2016 final round at Barcelona, conquering the third place on the Race 2 podium. We liked it so much we immediately started to work on a 2017 full season program!” commented Sini, who won also the 2008 Radical Master Series and the 2007 Italian Prototype Series titles. “I’m very happy to share my Aston Martin with Mauro. He’s a young and fast guy and, moreover, he already has a great experience on the international tracks. I can’t wait! I want to be back in my favourite office!”

25 years old, coming from Laupen, Switzerland Mauro Calamia started his career in motorsport in single seaters, until he competed in the 2012 Formula Two season. In 2014 Calamia switched to the GT racing, gaining soon good results. In 2014 he won the Trofeo Maserati World Series in a fantastic season which saw the Swiss driver conquering also the Europe Trophy, the Pirelli Pole Position Award and the Under 30 Trophy of the Italian manufacturer’s championship. In 2016 Calamia took third place in the Abu Dhabi 12h: “I’m very happy to be now part of the Solaris Motorsport family! I’m excited about this new challenge! I have to discover the car and know all the secrets, but I’m confident with Francesco we could reach important goals. On my side I will give my best to be as fast as I can. To have the chance to race with an Aston Martin Racing Team Partner makes me very proud and energizes me a lot in this new challenge!” commented the young Swiss driver – I know I’m in the right team, with the right teammate to be competitive this season!”

“After two years in the Italian series we felt the need to take on a new challenge. We decided to race in an European contest against a lot of strong competitors. The podium we got in Barcelona motivated us to accept this new project, with a car, the Aston Martin GT3, that proved to be very competitive last year.” said Roberto Sini, Solaris Motorsport Team Principal. “We have one year more of experience, I’m confidente Francesco will assist the talent of Mauro in order to find the last tenths, helping all the team to grow up as quick as we can. It will not be easy, the International GT Open is a well growing series with a lot of strong drivers and teams, but this is the kind of challenge we like at Solaris Motorsport!”

The International GT Open is the European series for GT3 cars promoted by Jesus Pareja’s GT Sport. The championship will start in Portugal, on the Estoril track, at the end of April, on the 29-30th, and it will take place on the most beautiful and historic European circuits, most of them theater of F1 races. In May, the 27th and the 28th, the GT Open will race in Spa-Francorchamps, while on the second week of June there will be the French round at Paul Ricard. One month later the Solaris Motorsport Aston Martin is expected in Hungary, for the Hungaroring round on the 1st and the 2nd of July. At the end of the summer break, it will be the turn of England on the historic track of Silverstone on 2nd and 3rd of September, while on the 30th of September the ‘temple of speed’ of Monza will host the Italian round. Once again, Barcelona will be the last round of the season on the 28 and 29 of October.