Talent meets experience: Villadsen and Magnussen join forces for GT3 campaign

Talent and experience unite in an ambitious Danish campaign as Mathias Villadsen and Jan Magnussen prepare to contest a full season of the Italian Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo.

Emerging talent meets proven experience as Mathias Villadsen teams up with Jan Magnussen for the 2026 season. Together, they will represent Team Spirit Racing with Italian Gino Motorsport as technical partner in a BMW M4 GT3 – with clear ambitions of fighting at the front of the field.

The partnership between the two Danes began in 2025. After three seasons in the DS3 Cup, Villadsen made the step into international GT4 racing in Italy, where a chance meeting with Magnussen developed into a close working relationship. Following a challenging start to the season, including a DNF in his debut race, Villadsen turned things around with Magnussen’s coaching and ended the year with a race victory.

"Having Jan by my side is a dream come true. He is an incredible coach with immense experience and an impressive amount of knowledge – his track record speaks for itself. At the same time, he is very technical and detail-oriented, and I find it easy to translate his input into practice. On top of that, he is simply a genuinely great person to work with," says Mathias Villadsen.

For Jan Magnussen, the collaboration with the 29-year-old Villadsen is a conscious decision – and a project with significant potential for the talented Dane.

"Mathias is one of those rare motorsport talents who may have started a little later than many others, but who develops impressively quickly in return. He has a maturity and an ability to think rationally, even under pressure, which is a clear advantage in endurance racing, where it is about building a race and a season rather than risking everything in the first corner," says Magnussen.

In the four Endurance rounds of the season, Villadsen and Magnussen will share the car, while Villadsen will drive solo in the Sprint rounds, with Magnussen taking on an active role as coach from the sidelines. The combination of experience and driver development is central to the project, where the ambitions extend beyond the Italian championship.

"My goal is for this to develop into a seat in the FIA World Endurance Championship and, in the long term, the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That is clearly the dream. With Jan as both coach and teammate, we have a strong foundation to get there, although it naturally also depends on my own development and on continuing to take the right steps," says Mathias Villadsen.

The 2026 season of Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo features a varied calendar with both sprint and endurance races at some of Europe’s most iconic circuits. The championship consists of four Sprint rounds with two 50-minute races, as well as four Endurance rounds featuring races of more than three hours.

The season opens this coming weekend at Imola Circuit and also includes races at Misano World Circuit, Vallelunga Circuit, Mugello Circuit and Monza Circuit, ensuring a versatile mix of high-speed tracks and more technically demanding layouts.

The opening round of Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo gets underway at Imola Circuit on Saturday, 25 April, with the first sprint race of the season starting at 3:00 pm. The second race will take place on Sunday, 26 April, at 2:00 pm. Both races can be streamed live on YouTube.

Campionato Italiano Gran Turismo 2026

24-26 April – Imola (Sprint)
8-10 May – Misano (Endurance)
22-24 May – Vallelunga (Sprint)
19-21 June – Monza (Endurance)
24-26 July – Mugello (Sprint)
4-6 September – Imola (Endurance)
9-11 October – Monza (Sprint)
30 October-1 November – Mugello (Endurance)