Raffaele "Lello" Marciello is a Swiss-born Italian professional racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for BMW M Team WRT. A former member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, he was the 2013 European Formula Three Champion, a reserve and test driver for the Sauber Formula One team in 2015, and spent three seasons competing in the GP2 Series. He switched to GT racing in 2017 and became a works Mercedes-AMG driver ahead of the 2018 campaign, where he stayed until leaving in 2023 and subsequently signing with BMW. In 2022, Marciello earned his first major endurance race victory by winning the Spa 24 Hours.
Marciello (center) after winning the 2012 Pau Grand Prix
Marciello took his only GP2 pole position at Silverstone in 2014.
Marciello during free practice for the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
Marciello competing at the Red Bull Ring during the 2021 ADAC GT Masters season.
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup
The Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup powered by AWS, formerly for sponsorship reasons the Blancpain Endurance Series from 2011 to 2015 and Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup from 2016 to 2019, is a sports car racing series developed by SRO Motorsports Group and the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium (RACB) with approval from the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). It features grand tourer racing cars modified from production road cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations. The series's goal is to be an endurance racing championship for GT3 cars, similar to the FIA World Endurance Championship which were using GTE cars and Le Mans Prototypes. The series was primarily sponsored by Swiss watchmaker Blancpain, and the company's Lamborghini Super Trofeo series serve as support races.
In 2019, SRO announced that their sponsorship deal with Blancpain had been discontinued and the series was renamed the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup for the 2020 season.
Presentation of the inaugural 2011 Blancpain Endurance Series season
Audi R8 LMS during Blancpain Endurance Series season
Audi R8 LMS Ultra from W Racing Team during the 2014 Blancpain Endurance Series round at the Nürburgring
Nissan GT-R GT3 driven by the 2015 Champions Alex Buncombe, Wolfgang Reip and Katsumasa Chiyo at the 2015 24 Hours of Spa