In North America last year Risi Competizione entered F430 GTs secured the drivers', teams', and handed Maranello, the manufacturers' titles, in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) last year.

Having conquered the top sportscar championships in Europe and North America the Ferrari F430 GT is now set to take on one of motor racing's toughest endurances challenges, the Nürburgring 24 hours. It will be entered in the VLN series under the banner of Fahrschulen Academy Racing and, if the project advances as planned, will take on the legendary race known to enthusiasts as the 'Green Hell' on 23-24 May.

The Ferrari F430 GT has rapidly become the racing machine of choice in international GT2 category racing on both sides of the Atlantic, its winning credentials are now in no doubt as it has quickly swept away Porsche's long time stranglehold on the class. In North America Risi Competizione entered F430 GTs secured the drivers', teams', and handed Maranello, the manufacturers' titles, in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) last year. while in the 2007 FIA GT Championship, AF Corse Motorola entered F430 GTs won 9 of the 10 races as they swept to the drivers' and teams titles and powered Ferrari a comfortable victory in the manufacturers' cup.

Now a new version of the F430 GT will be developed by the car's builder, Michelotto, to meet the unique regulations of the ADAC Nürburgring 24 Hours and the BFGoodrich Langstreckenmeisterschaft Nürburgring (VLN) Championship. It will be a more basic version of the cutting-edge GT2 machine, to be known as the 'Ferrari F430 GTC ADAC', a development project similar to the Porsche 997 GT3-RSRs used by Manthey Racing which have won the last two editions of the 24 hour classic.

The project will be headed by two of the most well known names in German endurance racing, Otto Altenbach und Jürgen Oppermann. The pair were at the forefront of the scene in the late 1980s in the fearsome turbocharged Porsche 930, and under the Obermaier Racing banner they had a long and diversified career in sportscar racing with the legendary Porsche 956 and 962C machines, including racing at Le Mans. More recently Altenbach has competed in the French GT Championship, and in the Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy (STT) with a Porsche 993 GT2.

The ambitious project will be run under the banner of the Fahrschulen Academy Racing, a driving school which is already a partner of the VLN series, a championship that takes place exclusively on the Nordschleife. While the team plan to contest the series, the immediate aim is to ready the Ferrari F430 GTC ADAC for the Nürburgring 24 Hours at the end of May, although the schedule will be extremely tight.

However the team is focused on this objective which will see Ferrari seriously taking on the challenge to win this race for the first time ever. Porsche, BMW, Ford, Chrysler and Opel are all already embedded into the roll call of the winners of this prestigious race since its first edition took place in 1970. Drivers to have won the tortuous marathon include Niki Lauda, Hans-Joachim Stuck, Johnny Cecotto, Klaus Ludwig, Andy Priaulx, Pedro Lamy and Michael Bartels. Last years winners were Marc Lieb, Timo Bernhard, Romain Dumas and Marcel Tiemann in a Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3-RSR, while this year the Ferrari F430 GT ADAC will be up against stiff competition including Porsche, Aston Martin and Lamborghini; and the Prancing Horse is aiming to put its name on the winners trophy.