GT Star to race Giulia ETCR by Romeo Ferraris in all-electric series
Baptista to partner Stefano Coletti and Luca Filippi at Italian teamLe Mans podium finisher joins fellow Brazilian Augusto Farfus on grid
Romeo Ferraris have announced GT Racing star Rodrigo Baptista as the third member of its 2021 PURE ETCR driver line-up.
The 24-year-old Brazilian joins Stefano Coletti and Luca Filippi at the Opera-based team to race the Alfa Romeo Giulia ETCR by Romeo Ferraris in the world’s first all-electric, multi-brand touring car championship.
Following a race-winning stint in Formula 3 in his homeland, the Sao Paulo racer, who is managed by fellow PURE ETCR racer Augusto Farfus, switched to GT competition aged just 19 and immediately showed his promise by capturing Brazil’s Porsche GT3 Cup title in 2017.
Since then, he has raced internationally and significantly finished second in GTE Am at the 2019 Le Mans 24 Hours while also coming third overall in the GT World Challenge America. Last year he was third in the Pro-Am class in the same series.
Michela Cerruti, Romeo Ferraris Operations Manager, said: “We are delighted to welcome Rodrigo – a driver who is still young, but has already shown his skills in different high-level series for tin-top cars – to our line-up. With him, Stefano and Luca, we have a very coherent trio in terms of experience and talent, and this will be an asset for us in our first PURE ETCR season and for the long-term development of our Giulia ETCR project. We are excited to be at Vallelunga for the 2021 season-opener.”
Rodrigo Baptista said: “I am very happy to open this new chapter in my career. The prospect of being part of a series with such a great future, with all-electric cars and based on environmental sustainability, appeared immediately very attractive. This is why I warmly welcomed the opportunity to race with Romeo Ferraris in PURE ETCR, and I am very happy to be able to participate in an ambitious project such as the Giulia ETCR. It will be exciting to race on prestigious tracks and fight against great names and brands. I want to thank FS Management, the company of Augusto Farfus and Mauricio Slaviero, who have chosen to support me in this journey. It will be an honour and lots of fun to share the PURE ETCR field with Augusto.”
