Former EuroNASCAR teammates Gianmarco Ercoli and Nicholas Risitano are reunited for the 2025 CIGT season opener at Misano.
An unlikely reunion between two former EuroNASCAR teammates took place in last weekend’s Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo (CIGT) season opener at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
Gianmarco Ercoli and Nicholas Risitano found themselves in the same team for the first time since 2019 as they both shared driving duties at Double TT Racing’s GT Cup AM Division 2 team, the championship where Double TT – previously known as Double T – has competed since 2023.
Fittingly, their reunion is overseen by the same team owner that used to manage them in EuroNASCAR: Onofrio “Titi” Veneziani.
Risitano’s return to Double TT had been announced by the team long before the 2025 season started at Misano. The 36-year old’s signing was revealed on 13 January through an official announcement made by ACI Sport.
Risitano was initially tasked to mentor Double TT’s newest young talent, 17-year old Polish driver Dawid Zydlewski. However, Zydkewski sat out the season opener and is currently scheduled to make his debut later in the season.
Matteo Marulla and Gilles Renmans were later announced as Risitano’s teammates at the No. 575 Ferrari 488 Challenge squad. However, Renmans was unavailable for Misano, leaving Veneziani to find another driver as his third driver.
Fortunately for Veneziani, he knew just the man for it. Veneziani called Ercoli – who is part of his Titi’s agency TT Management – and the 2023 EuroNASCAR champion agreed to compete in CIGT’s opener.
The trio got off to a tough start in Misano. They were consistently in the bottom-five during Practice, even finding themselves in dead last out of teams that set a competitive lap time in both FP1 and FP3.
Qualifying sees some uptick in performance, despite poor results on paper. The No. 575 team found themselves in 37th overall, but they were in the middle of the GT Cup AM Division 2 pack.
“We are very satisfied with the qualifying,” said Risitano to Italian publication Race Diary after Qualifying.
“In the first stint we were third, then there were red flags and we finished fourth in the category. We have a good pace and we expect to recover tomorrow.”
“The race is long, it lasts 3 hours, we are aiming for the podium, maybe the top step.”
Risitano’s hopes would come true come race day. Double TT ran a steady pace and managed to stay out of trouble. By the time the 100th minute mark was reached, the No. 575 team had already climbed up to 24th overall.
At that point, they were only five seconds behind the class leaders ZRS Motorsport, who were running in 21st overall.
Double TT even got the chance to battle the recovering GT3 squad Star Performance, who fielded another EuroNASCAR graduate Henri Tuomaala in their No. 33 Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2.
Ercoli, Risitano and Marulla continued to rack up the laps for the remainder of the 3-hour race. However, an ill-timed Safety Car late in the race denied them from a possible victory.
Due to their position in respect to the race leading Tresor Audi R8 GT3 when the SC was called, they found themselves stuck one lap down behind ZRS’ Porsche, who narrowly missed being lapped by the Audi.
Nevertheless, Double TT had another lap of advantage to their closest chaser SP Racing Team. This allowed Ercoli, Risitano and Marulla to cruise to a comfortable runner-up finish in their class, finishing 21st overall in the checkered flag.
“The race went very well,” said Risitano to Race Diary after the race. “We started fourth and managed to recover to second place. It’s a shame about the last Safety Car that prevented us from fighting for the victory.”
“I’m super satisfied with the work done all together and I thank the Double TT Racing team”.
“It’s a great job by the Double TT Racing team and my crewmates at Misano!” said Ercoli on social media after the race. “Tough weekend on a racetrack where I had never lapped.”
“With only 7 or 8 laps in Free Practice, we went into Qualifying with only one shot because of a red flag.”
“I considered myself half-happy. I would have liked to take full advantage of the new tires for a good time, but I had pure fun in my two stints where I tried to be as consistent as possible to get back up.”
“Always a unique thrill to be driving a GT. Thank you to Veneziani for this incredible opportunity!”
After his outing in Misano, Ercoli will continue his pursuit for a second EuroNASCAR PRO title at Vallelunga on 17-18 May 2025. Ercoli will have some work to do after a disappointing performance in the season opener at Valencia.
As for Risitano, he is expected to continue to spearhead Double T’s GT Cup efforts alongside Marulla and Zydlewski.
Disclaimer: Credits for all photos are listed underneath each image.