China Premium Lifestyle Enterprise has announced that Italian Motors a division of Auto Italia Limited will be contesting the Asia Supercar Challenge this year with five examples of Ferrari 430 Challenge alongside a pair of 430 GT3s.

China Premium Lifestyle Enterprise, Inc. has revealed that Italian Motors (Sales & Service) (IMSS), a division of Auto Italia Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of its 49%-owned entity Technorient Ltd., will take to the track in 2008 as ‘IMSS Racing’. Motor racing is an important part of Ferrari’s global marketing strategy and so it is entirely fitting that IMSS uses this platform to market the company and its services.

This is not the first time that IMSS has been represented on racing tracks in Asia. The original founder of the company and China Premium Lifestyle Enterprise Inc.’s Director and COO, Herbert Adamczyk, achieved notable success on Asian circuits in the past, having won Macau’s famous “Guia” touring car race twice in 1976 and 1979, and the Malaysian Touring Car Championship in 1980. IMSS also started the ‘Supercar Challenge’ race series in 1984 specifically for its Hong Kong clients. This series has evolved over the past two decades into today’s Asia Supercar Challenge.

The newly structured team will manage a total of seven Ferraris this year, including two F430 GT3’s. This model is a bespoke racing car created by the renowned Swiss company, Loris Kessel Racing, under licence from Ferrari SpA. The team’s other five cars will be Challenge Pistas, Ferrari’s race car developed from its successful road model, the F430. The seven drivers will include six clients of IMSS from Hong Kong, with the seventh being a professional race car driver and instructor from Italy, Mimmo Schiattarella. Schiattarella has a most impressive CV including experience in the IMSA series, IndyCar, the American Le Mans Series and a class win in the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.

IMSS Racing will compete in the 2008 Asia Supercar Challenge (ASCC). The series commences in April at the Shanghai International Circuit in China, moves to Sepang in Malaysia in May and June, to Hong Kong’s local circuit in Zhuhai, China, in July, to Cheng Du in China in September and concludes in Shanghai in November.

“Motor racing is a natural extension of our business portfolio”, said John Newman, Executive Vice President of China Premium Lifestyle Enterprise Inc. “We’ve seen how the ASCC Championship has grown in recent years and having been approached by a number of customers wishing to participate, we’ve structured a comprehensive team and recruited seven drivers. We will be the largest team competing in the ASCC series in 2008 and with competitive race cars, we’re aiming for a Championship win from the outset.” He continued, “Motor racing is growing in popularity in Asia and so we see this initiative as the ideal platform to promote the company to a wider audience.”