Cédric Sbirrazzuoli, a respected Monégasque GT and endurance racer, died on Thursday, August 20, his 39th birthday, following a recent cancer diagnosis. He leaves behind his wife Martina, whom he married just two months earlier, in June.

Born in Monaco in 1987, Sbirrazzuoli began his motorsport career in single-seaters in the mid-2000s, making his debut in 2005 across the Formula Azzurra and Formula Gloria championships, before transitioning into closed-wheel GT racing. He went on to compete in GT4, GT2 and the Porsche Carrera Cup, later joining one-make series including the Trofeo Maserati and Lamborghini Super Trofeo, where he served as part of Lamborghini’s GT3 Junior Driver Programme. He won the 2011 Trofeo Maserati World Series title with AF Corse, and finished third at the 2016 Lamborghini Super Trofeo World Final in Jerez, Spain.

It was his long association with AF Corse, however, that came to define his career, opening the door to Ferrari machinery and seats in the 458 Italia GT3, the 488, and more recently the 296. His breakthrough in GT3 competition came in the 2014 European Le Mans Series, racing a Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 alongside Adrien De Leener, a season that also brought a podium finish at the 4 Hours of Red Bull Ring. Over the following decade, Sbirrazzuoli built a career across some of endurance racing’s biggest stages, competing in the European and Asian Le Mans Series, GT World Challenge Europe and America, and the Italian GT Championship, picking up wins and podiums along the way, including Invitational class honours at the 2024 Bathurst 12 Hour.

In North America, Sbirrazzuoli spent parts of four seasons competing in IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD class across two separate stints, the first beginning in 2016 with Dream Racing Motorsports, where he finished sixth at that year’s Petit Le Mans. He returned to IMSA in 2024 as Conquest Racing’s designated third driver for Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, partnering regular drivers Albert Costa and Manny Franco. That year delivered the biggest win of his career, a GTD class victory at Petit Le Mans in Road Atlanta, aboard the team’s No. 34 Ferrari, alongside a GTD podium finish earlier that season at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

News of his death was announced by AF Corse, who paid tribute to Sbirrazzuoli as both a driver and a person, describing him as highly talented, determined and professional, with the passion and desire to win that belong only to those who truly love racing, while also praising him as an authentic, respectful and radiant presence within the team, one who brought genuine enthusiasm and his own special way of living out his passion for motorsport. The team said it had been a privilege to work and dream alongside him, adding that his race had come to an end far too soon, but that his memory would continue to race on forever, extending their deepest condolences to his wife, his parents and all his loved ones.

Sbirrazzuoli’s death also fell just over two years after that of his close friend and fellow GT racer Luca Persiani, killed in a road accident in Italy in August 2024. Fellow driver Michelle Gatting, reflecting on the connection between the two in her own tribute, said Luca had been joined in heaven by his close friend Cédric, adding that it was incredibly hard to believe another truly amazing person had left the world far too soon, and that Cédric had fought his illness with everything he had, in a battle he ultimately couldn’t win. She said what she did know was that he had lived his life to the fullest, and that his story was perhaps a reminder to everyone of just how short life can be.

Tributes have continued to pour in from across the motorsport community, with the European Le Mans Series among those to publicly mourn his passing, describing him as a talented GT racer who represented his love of motorsport on some of endurance racing’s biggest stages, and extending their thoughts to his family, friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing and racing alongside him.