Mathias Villadsen Tackles Elite Field on GT3 Debut in Italy

The Danish racing driver made a promising start to the Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo season at Imola, gaining valuable experience in a field packed with seasoned front-runners.

Mathias Villadsen lined up this weekend for his first round of the Italian GT3 championship at the demanding Imola circuit, competing for Team Spirit Racing in a BMW M4 GT3. The Dane was also joined trackside by his regular coach, Jan Magnussen, and quickly got a taste of the level in the tightly contested field.

“It was a wild and very educational weekend with both highs and lows. The field is extremely strong with some very skilled factory drivers, so I feel like I’m right in the middle of a very high level. That’s exciting, but also challenging, partly because we haven’t quite found the performance we’re looking for yet,” said Mathias Villadsen.

The weekend’s first qualifying session showed solid pace, with Villadsen placing himself in the competitive end of the 34-car field. In the race, the Dane continued his strong form with a good start and managed to gain a couple of positions before being taken out by another competitor and forced to retire. The damage was limited to bodywork, however, and thanks to efficient work by the team’s mechanics, Villadsen was ready to take the start in Sunday’s race.

Starting further back in the field, it proved more difficult to make progress this time. A solid performance still resulted in some gains during the race, but a time penalty ultimately left Villadsen outside the points. While the results did not fully reflect the potential, the Dane takes valuable experience away from his debut weekend at Imola.

“The step up from GT4 to GT3 cars is a completely new way of racing. Aerodynamics play a much bigger role now. When you’re running behind other cars in a tight pack, the car behaves very differently compared to when you have clean air. There’s a lot to learn, but that’s all part of the plan. We need to keep learning and improving, and I feel ready for the next races,” he said.

The next round of the 2026 Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo season takes place at Misano on May 9–10. It will be the first endurance race of the season, where Mathias Villadsen will share the car with Jan Magnussen in a three-hour contest.