A1GP World Cup of Motorsport will race in Italy for the first time this season.

A1GP Mugello, Italy will be held on 19 to 21 September 2008 and the focus for the patriotic local fans is sure to be A1 Team Italy, which unveiled its new car for the first time at its home track yesterday.

Said Piercarlo Ghinzani, A1 Team Italy Seatholder: "At present we are preparing the Italian driver team. Our goal is to run a team of four drivers: two rookies and two official drivers. The goal for this season is to guide A1 Team Italy to victory. If the Italian driver market will supply us with good drivers I will certainly provide them with what is needed in order to win."

Yesterday also marked the first public running of the A1GP Powered by Ferrari car.

Ferrari's Mario Almondo said: "It is a pleasure to cooperate with A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. The project and the development of the chassis-engine package has been done in a record-time frame. The eight-cylinder engine, which will be the basis of the new family of Ferrari road cars engines, has shown excellent performance and driveability. It is also important that the first race weekend of the 2008-2009 season will take place at the Mugello circuit, a top-class venue in motorsport in terms of safety and facilities, as shown during the last Italian Grand Prix of MotoGP."

Ferrari Corse Clienti are also taking part in the A1GP Mugello weekend, alongside the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, Ferrari FXX Programme and Clienti in Pista, with the event being open to the public for free on Friday.

Italian Andrea Bertolini has been one of the drivers tasked with putting the new car through its paces during the development stages and has completed nearly 3000-kilometres of testing so far. Although doing a job for all the teams he will be taking a particular interest in the progress of his home nation, A1 Team Italy, this coming season.

"I am happy to contribute to the development of this car," said Bertolini.

"I have done a few days of testing and I have to say I am quite happy with the results. The car is growing up very quickly and is nice to drive it. The engine also has good driveability and the level of performance is very high. This package will help make the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport ever more interesting."

For season four there is also a new brand logo, highlighting the Ferrari relationship, with the first public showing being at Mugello Circuit.

"Partnering with a world-class organisation like Ferrari officially cements A1GP's position on the international motorsport calendar," explained Tony Teixeira, A1GP Chairman.

"Ferrari adds significant value to our brand and in our opinion there is no better partner to progress the series. This is the first time Ferrari has partnered with another series and we are extremely proud for them to be working with A1GP as the series moves forward into its fourth season."