Brazilian racer Rodrigo Baptista will join the Romeo Ferraris line-up in this year’s inaugural all-electric PURE ETCR series, racing an Alfa Romeo Giulia alongside Stefano Coletti and Luca Filippi.
The 24-year-old Formula 3 race-winner will race one of the team’s new electric Giulias, following a career spent in single-seater and GT racing.
Baptista was a race-winner in Formula 3 in Brazil, before switching to GT racing at the age of 19. In 2017 he won Brazil’s Porsche GT3 Cup title, before moving up to the international stage.
In 2019 Baptista finished second in GTE Am at the Le Mans 24 Hours, whilst also finishing third overall in the GT World Challenge America. Last year he was third overall in the Pro-Am class of the same series.
“I am very happy to open this new chapter in my career,” said Sao Paolo racer Baptista, who is also managed by tin-top veteran Augusto Farfus.
“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.”
Michela Cerruti, Romeo Ferraris Operations Manager, welcomed the Brazilian to the Opera, Italy-based team’s driver line-up.
“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,” said Cerruti.
“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.”