Scuderia Corsa opened its Sebring weekend with two practice sessions that showed the team to be in the thick of a very competitive GT-Daytona field. With the leading cars lapping just above the 2:00 minute mark, the seventeen car field remain separated by only three seconds, indicating that team reliability and clean pit stops will be critical to success on Saturday.
Historically Strong. The combination of Scuderia Corsa along with drivers Cooper MacNeil, Jeff Westphal and Ferrari Factory driver Toni Vilander have combined for remarkable results at Sebring. Since 2015, Scuderia Corsa has never finished off the podium at the 12hr classic, with a win coming in 2016 and consecutive 2nd place finishes in 2017 and 2018. On the driver front, Cooper MacNeil has had the strongest Sebring history of any of his teammates, taking a podium in his first ever Sebring 12hr and a win in the following year. He repeated that performance in 2018 in the 488 GT3.
Night Practice. In the utterly critical night practice session, the GT-Daytona field closed up to an unbelievably tight margin. The first 14 cars in the category were separated by less than a second with the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari finishing in 8th position, only five tenths of a second off of the leader. The night session has special significance for the IMSA field as it is the only practice session that will be held in the cooler conditions under which the race will end.
Weather on the Horizon. All of this practice may be for naught, however, as a rain system is forecasted to arrive in Florida. Peak precipitation should arrive between 2pm and 6pm before tapering off for the end of the race at 10:30pm, local time.
Schedule. Friday’s schedule opens with practice at 8am, followed by qualifying for the GT-Daytona category at 9:55. Racing action will begin on Saturday at 10:40am. All times are stated in the local time, Eastern Daylight.