IMSA - The road to Daytona 24H: No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari

Maranello, 27 January 2016 - Ferrari.com continues its journey of discovery of the Ferrari customer teams competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona, one of the classics of American and world motorsport. Our survey of the 488 GTEs registered for the GT-Le Mans (GTLM) class concludes with car no. 72 of the Russian team SMP Racing, which is making its debut in America's greatest endurance race.   Champion crew. The crew dominated the 2015 season in the GTE-Am class of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), winning both the Le Mans 24 Hours and world team and drivers' titles with Andrea Bertolini, Viktor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov. Two of the WEC champion drivers will be at Daytona, with two other key WEC drivers, Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado, alongside them. This is Bertolini's fourth visit to Daytona. His best result was fifth place in 2012 in the 458 Italia Risi Competizione with Olivier Beretta and Toni Vilander. However, it is Shaytar's first appearance in the race.   New pair. As mentioned, Bertolini and Shaytar will be joined by Bruni and Calado, who are sharing a car for the first time since the announcement of the crew changes for the 2016 WEC. The Italian ace and the rising British star, as of 12 April will share the 488 GTE AF Corse in the World Championship, and will be among the favourites for the title. As for the 24 Hours of Daytona, while Calado is making his debut in Florida, this is Bruni's fourth appearance. This time though he will be hoping to dispel a sort of curse, with his previous appearances always dogged by misfortune.