The FIA GT3 European Championship will have a new competitor this season. The Ferrari F430->ke390s in competition are being replaced by the F430 Scuderia. This particular example of the F430 Scuderia GT3 was developed by Kessel Racing of Switzerland. The race team has already proven themselves in the European championship winning the GT3 title in 2007 with an F430 GT3.

Like the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale, the F430 Scuderia is a racing car meant for daily driving on the streets. This should be advantageous for the Swiss racecar builders because most of their work has already been done in Maranello. The Scuderia in street trim is 220 lbs lighter than the normal F430 and the 4.5 liter engine means gains of about 30 HP bumping maximum output to 508 HP. The F430 Scuderia also features Ferrari’s signature Superfast transmission that shifts gears almost as fast as the F1 car.

More after the jump.

Kessel Racing will not be the only team fielding a GT3 Scuderia in 2009, both JMB Racing and CRS Racing will be placing Ferraris on the grid at the first race of the season on May 3rd at Silverstone.

“We had a great test at Guadix in Spain last week,” said Team Director for CRS Racing, Andrew Kirkaldy. “The drivers we ran went very well and we are very close to signing up drivers for one of the Ferraris. We have had significant interest in our GT3 programme so we are now actively looking for the best driver combination for the second car so that we can run two cars that are both capable of winning.”

When the GT3 Scuderia enters the first turn it will be competing against some of the most exotic automobiles in the world. Like the Ascari KZ1R and Aston Martin DBRS 9. Representing the United States are the Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper Competition Coupe, Ford GT and Mustang Cobra. Also competing is the Porsche GT3, Jaguar XKR, Lamborghini Gallardo, Morgan Aero 8 all modified to meet GT3 specifications. If Alpina has their way you might even find the B6 GT3 competing as well.

The FIA's GT3 Championship is still on the rise; the series began in 2006 as a support race for the FIA GT Championship. In the GT3 Championship the manufacturers are not allowed to develop their car throughout the season, and the racing variants are much closer to their road car versions than in other series. The GT3 class is reserved for what the FIA likes to call “gentleman drivers”, racing drivers who are non-professionals. The FIA’s view is that the manufacturer's role is simply to sell the cars and parts to racing teams without attempting to get too hands on.