André Canard and Finn Gehrsitz will share Absolute Corse’s recently acquired Ferrari 296 during the upcoming Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS campaign.
The Hong Kong squad is an offshoot of series regular Absolute Racing, which announced plans to run the 296 last November. It will also continue to operate Porsche and Audi entries in 2024, with drivers for both already confirmed.
German racer Gehrsitz is just 19 but has already built solid sportscar experience. He made the jump from karting to GT4 in 2020, then spent the next two seasons competing in LMP3 machinery – culminating in a call-up to run the FIA WEC Rookie Test in 2022.
Fanatec GT Asia and the 296 GT3 are both new challenges, but Gehrsitz is by no means unfamiliar with GT3 racing: he contested the Asian Le Mans Series in 2022 and was a race-winner in ADAC GT Masters last term.
He will be joined for the upcoming campaign by Bronze-rated Filipino racer André Canard, allowing Absolute Corse to contest the Silver/Am class. The team got its first taste of the 296 this week during a test day at Sepang.
"While André and Finn are both new to racing in the Ferrari, they will be able to accelerate their learning rapidly with the help of the team," said Absolute Racing boss Ingo Matter.
"We proved last year with Andrew [Haryanto] and James [Yu] that a Silver/Am combination is capable of winning overall,” Matter continued, “so I don’t see any reason why we should not be able to aim for a good result overall while aiming for as many class wins as possible.”
Gehrsitz added: “While everything in Asia is quite new for me, I am thoroughly prepared to give it my all. I hope to contribute positively to the team and look forward to showing a strong performance.
“I am also very excited to announce my new partner, Infini88, which makes all of this possible. Let's have a successful season and kick things off with a strong start in Sepang.”
The 2024 Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia Powered by AWS season begins at the Malaysian venue next weekend (April 19-21) and is followed by events in Thailand, Japan and China.