The addition of the Ferrari 458 GT3 racer will boost the line up of sports car brands set to contest the 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship particularly as All-Inkl Munnich Motorsport is switching from the Lamborghini Murciélago to the Mercedes SLS AMG GT3 for 2012 while champions, Hexis, is set to run the McLaren MP4-12C. SRO allows one brand per two car team to ensure diversity and other front teams so far announced are Team WRT (Audi) and Vita4One (BMW).

SRO promises that identity of the team running the pair of Ferrari 458 Italias will be officially revealed later this week.

However development work will be needed if the 458 Italia is to be made into a competitive proposition for the FIA GT1 World Championship as it isn't the current pick of the GT3 crop. The 458 GT3 also spawned a GrandAm version which was outclassed on its debut in last month's Daytona 24 Hours despite a long development programme. However for the 'Rolex 24' Porsche brought improvements in race engines and mapping after intensive testing and Ferrari faces added problems with expected restrictor changes if the 458 remains in GrandAm for the rest of the season.

“The addition of Ferrari to the 2012 line-up makes for a mouth-watering array of supercars racing in one world championship,” FIA GT1 World Championship promoter Ratel said. “The Ferrari team brings to five the number of confirmed teams and we are in advanced talks with a number of other teams. For reasons of confidentiality, we are respecting the wishes of those teams to announce their participation in their own time.” The final deadline for entries is next month following a decision laid down by the FIA GT Commission in November, 2011.

Ratel at the same time confirmed that Pirelli will be the official tyre supplier for the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship in 2012. Both series will have the same regulations as the current breed of GT1 machines are pensioned off.

In confirming Pirelli’s involvement, Ratel said: “We are delighted to confirm a partnership with Pirelli as the official tyre supplier for the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship for the 2012 season. Pirelli have an unrivalled reputation in global motorsport and we are pleased that our teams in both GT1 and GT3 will benefit from the technical expertise and experience the company brings. Their recent success in helping to create competitive racing in Formula One through their innovative approach underlines that point.”

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director Paul Hembery said the company was looking forward to linking up with the FIA GT1 World Championship and the FIA GT3 European Championship for the coming season. “We have a long and rich history in all categories of motorsport, particularly GT racing,” he said. “GT racing is an important segment for us as a number of our customers drive the vehicles which compete in the GT categories, particularly our premium customers so the relationship makes a lot of sense.