IMSA SCC - Austin Podium For Ferrari Puts Stranglehold on Championship

Austin, 17 September 2016 – Chasing a championship, the no. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 finished in a podium position on Saturday afternoon in the IMSA SportsCar Championship race at Circuit of The Americas. With that result, Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen have built a 32-point lead in the GT-Daytona drivers’ championship and have all but secured the season title.   Target close. With only the Petit Le Mans left this season, Balzan and Nielsen only have to complete the minimum drive time to earn the championship. The two have scored two victories and four additional podium finishes in the new Ferrari 488 GT3. In Saturday’s two hour and forty-minute race, Nielsen started in fifth position and gained one position before the first pit stop. Balzan took the car over in tenth – for strategy reasons, the team pitted one lap later than the majority of the field – and raced through the field to put the Ferrari into third position in the final laps.   Unlucky race. The race at Circuit of The Americas provided more heartbreak for Risi Competizione at the team’s home track. Toni Vilander took the lead of the GT-LeMans race at the start, and both he and teammate Giancarlo Fisichella handily led the field in the no. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE throughout the afternoon. Near the finish, however, Vilander was forced to make an unscheduled pit stop and the Ferrari ultimately finished in eighth position.   Last race. The final IMSA race of the season is the 10-hour/1000-miles Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, on October 1. Stay up to speed at @FerrariUSA and join the conversation with #FerrariGTRacing and #FerrariFirsts.