FORT LAUDERDALE, FL (1 March 2021) – After making a dramatic change to its program in the off-season, TR3 Racing is eager to go racing again in 2021 as the Florida-based team prepares for its return to the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS.
The team will now field a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for its assault on the 2021 World Challenge America championship. The team has engaged a dynamic Pro-Am class driving line up as Ziad Ghandour returns to the team to pair with young up and coming Lamborghini specialist Giacomo Altoe.
A six-year veteran of Ferrari Challenge competition, Ghandour first made the move to GT World Challenge America with TR3 Racing in 2020, contesting a partial schedule of events.
Ghandour made progress with every outing, scoring fifth in the opening race of the year at Circuit of The Americas before moving up to a podium result in the second race. The move to World Challenge followed Ghandour’s best season in Ferrari Challenge, taking three poles as well as winning four of eight race wins in 2019 on his way to scoring second in the North American championship.
The native of Lebanon is currently based in California, and has eight career triumphs in international Ferrari Challenge competition.
“I am looking forward to my first full season in World Challenge America and to continue to develop my racing career with TR3 Racing,” said said Ghandour. “The Lamborghini is really exciting to drive, and we have a lot of potential working with this new car. It will be a lot of good teams and drivers this year. I am eager to go racing with this package along with Giacomo (Altoe) as my co-driver.”
Altoe is a 20-year-old Italian who captured the 2019 International GT Open GT3 Pro championship, after winning the 2018 title in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final Pro division. He has 23 victories and 50 podium finishes in 137 races during his five-year career.
“I’m really motivated to be racing for the first time a full championship in the USA this year with TR3 Racing and my mate Ziad,” said Altoe. “It will be my first season in America and we will try to fight for the PRO-AM title with our Lamborghini GT3 Evo.
It will be a challenging season, competing in the most popular category and I’m really looking forward to it. Can’t wait for the 1st race weekend in Sonoma!”
Altoe raced in the 2019 Rolex 24 At Daytona in the Ebimotors Lamborghini, finishing 17th.
In 2020, TR3 Racing also finished second in the Amateur Teams championship in 2020 GT World Challenge America. The team entered two races, winning both rounds at VIR, with John Megrue and Bill Sweedler leading the class in the No. 31 Ferrari 488 GT3.
The move to the Lamborghini platform is being bolstered by a partnership with Lamborghini Miami, one of the oldest Lamborghini dealer in the United States. Lamborghini Miami has a new state of the art showroom and service center in North Miami Beach that has attracted customers from all over the world. The dealership offers customers a buying experience that is different than the traditional dealership, with a focus on building and maintaining relationships with every one of our customers.
Brett David, the CEO of Prestige Imports and Lamborghini Miami was excited to collaborate on this unique partnership, and said “I believe that Lamborghini is the most dynamic luxury brand on the market today, with innovative technology and a cutting edge esthetic. Joining the TR3 Racing, challenges the senses and excites the heart and with my personal relationship with family behind TR3, I have the full confidence that this is the winning team to take us to the finish line and to the checkered flag, we are ready.”
“We are very exited to start this new venture with Lamborghini, Giorgio Sanna and Chris Ward really have made it a flawless transition from what we were running last year,” said TR3 Racing CEO Gregory Romanelli. “We worked hard in the off-season to put together this program. The car is in is built with such a high standard and the support behind it is like nothing else. We look forward to Sonoma and to a great season together with Ziad and Giacomo, being Giacomo‘s first year Racing in United States and Ziad’s first full season in World Challenge.”
The 2021 Fanatec GT World Challenge America Powered by AWS season is set to open March 7-5 at California’s Sonoma Raceway.
About TR3 Performance:
TR3 Performance was founded by Arthur, Oliver, and Gregory Romanelli in August 2012. Frustrated with the rising costs and plummeting quality from local shops, the brothers saw an opportunity to establish a shop of their own that would live up to their high standard of excellence, where they could hold themselves to the caliber of workmanship they had sought out in the marketplace as enthusiasts. In 2015, TR3 Racing was established as the team stepped into racing at the professional level. What started out as a modest 2,300-sq.ft. enterprise has now exploded into the premier performance shop in South Florida.
