On the weekend we race in the Florida basin
Under the Florida sky this weekend the race will take place 62nd edition of the 24 Hours of Daytona, the inaugural round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the first act of the Endurance Cup. The Maranello company presents itself at the starting line with five Ferrari 296 GT3s, and seven official drivers engaged in the two classes reserved for cars derived from the series. At the end of the qualifying sessions, staged as part of the Roar Before the 24, Daniel Serra at the wheel of the Risi Competizione Ferrari achieved the fifth fastest time in the GTD Pro class, while Albert Costa with the Conquest Racing car set the sixth fastest time in GTD. The race starts on Saturday 27 January at 1.40pm (local time).
The race. 59 crews are taking part in the 24 Hours of Daytona, divided between the GTP (10) and LMP2 (13) class prototypes – where Ferrari officials Nicklas Nielsen and Lilou Wadoux, with Luis Perez Companc and Matthieu Vaxiviere, compete with the Richard Mille AF Corse team. Among the derivatives of the series, there are 12 and 24 cars entered in the GTD Pro and GTD classes respectively.
GTD Pro. Risi Competizione entrusts its Ferrari 296 GT3 number 62 to official drivers Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, who in qualifying, stopping the clocks in 1'44”831 with the Brazilian at the wheel, achieved the fifth fastest time class, 12th overall.
GTD. The reference time among the Ferraris in qualifying was set by the 296 GT3 number 34 with Albert Costa (1'44″722) at the wheel of the Conquest Racing car shared with Manny Franco, Alessandro Balzan and Cédric Sbirrazzuoli, which earned him sixth place class, eighth overall.
Followed by Cetilar Racing with Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Eddie Cheever III; Triarsi Competizione with Alessio Rovera, Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Riccardo Agostini; and AF Corse with Miguel Molina, Simon Mann, François Heriau and Kei Cozzolino, seventh, eighth and eleventh respectively in the class which includes crews made up of professionals and gentlemen drivers (tenth, 13th and 17th overall).
The route. The Daytona International Speedway was inaugurated in 1959. The famous banked curves, the “bankings” which reach an inclination of 31°, characterize the racetrack. The layout used for the 24 Hours, which largely uses the tri-oval, has a length of 3.56 miles (5.73 kilometres) and includes 12 corners.
History. Since 1962, the facility has been the main theater – like Sebring, both in Florida – of American endurance races. In the Daytona roll of honour, five overall victories and 16 class victories stand out, signed by the Prancing Horse. Among the memorable successes, the class success of the Ferrari 250 GT designed by Stirling Moss (1962), and the overall success of the Ferrari 330 P3/P4 of Lorenzo Bandini and Chris Amon (1967) which triumphed in the edition – which ended with the arrival in the parade – completed by the second and third places respectively of the 330 P4 of Mike Parkes and Ludovico Scarfiotti, and of the 412 P of Pedro Rodriguez and Jean Guichet.
The most recent victory dates back to 2014 when Pier Guidi and the Americans Tucker-Sweedler-Bell-Segal won among the GTDs in a 458 Italia GT3 of Level Five Motorsport.
The championship. The IMSA SportsCar Championship, as anticipated, opens its season with the only 24 Hours included in the seasonal calendar. The Endurance Cup, therefore, will include the 12 Hours of Sebring (13-16 March), the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen (20-23 June), the 6 Hours of Indianapolis (20-22 September) which represents the novelty of the 2024 calendar , and the Petit Le Mans over the 10 Hours distance at Road Atlanta (9-12 October).
The program. The first free practice session open to all classes will take place on Thursday 25 January, from 10.05am; the second from 2.10pm and 2.25pm for the GTD and GTD Pro respectively; finally a third test session for all those registered, from 6.35pm. On Friday 26th the program includes a fourth free practice session from 11.20am. Green light at the 24 Hours on Saturday 27 January at 1.40pm (the times indicated are local).
#Ferrari #platoon #ready #Daytona #GT3s #start
