Ferrari factory drivers Miguel Molina and Toni Vilander combined to give R. Ferri Motorsports an impressive home track victory in Saturday’s Blancpain GT World Challenge America race at Mosport Park.
Molina started third in the No. 61 Ferrari of Ontario/Toronto/Alberta Zekelman Industries Ferrari 488 GT3 and worked his way into the lead on lap 31 when his closest rival pitted at the beginning of the 10-minute pit window midway through the event. Molina waited until near the end of the pit window, when he stopped and turned the car over to Vilander.
“There’s no better way to win,” said Molina. “This was my first time here, and I’m really happy to achieve the victory, especially for Remo (Ferri). I know he’s been looking for this for a long, long time, and it’s always special to win the home race.”
Vilander returned to the track in the lead, which he retained for the remainder of the 90-minute race and took the checkered flag with a 2.485-second advantage. The Ferrari led the final 39 of the 69 laps on the 10-turn, 2.459-mile circuit.
“It was a great day,” Vilander said. “Everything worked out perfectly. Since Thursday, when we had a 30-minute practice, I felt the car was really good. We kept believing in what we had, and we were confident it would pay off in the end of the race. What a great day for us, for Ferrari and for R. Ferri Motorsports. It was a perfect day.”
Toronto-based team owner Remo Ferri brought plenty of experience to the circuit once known as Mosport Park.
“It’s nice to be home,” said Ferri, who began coming to the track as a technician in the 1970s. “We have a bunch of customers and friends here. It’s exciting to be back at Mosport. I’ve been coming here for years – it seems we’ve been racing here forever. Today, we had a very good car and a very good race.”
The winning result sees the team takes over provisional World Challenge America point lead with its second victory of the season.
There is another chance for victory on Sunday, and Vilander will start the second race of the weekend from the outside of the front row to conclude the traditional Victoria Day Weekend competition. He was second in Friday’s qualifying session, with his lap of 1:15.711-seconds only 0.143-seconds shy of winning the pole.
Sunday’s 90-minute event takes the green flag at 9:55 a.m., and will be televised on the CBS Sports Network beginning at 2 p.m. ET.