The 62nd Daytona 24 Hours, the first round of the 2024 IMSA SportsCar Championship, got underway at the tri-oval track in Florida with the Ferrari 296 GT3s getting off to a great start, with all the Maranello cars making up positions at the green flag. Within the first sixty minutes, each of the teams made their first pit stops and two yellow flag regimes shuffled the provisional placings. When the first hour of the race was over, Risi Competizione's Ferrari 296 GT3 was twelfth in GTD Pro, while the Conquest Racing car with Manny Franco at the wheel was second in GTD class.
Dry track conditions and partly cloudy skies characterized the start of the US endurance classic in which a total of 59 teams are entered.
GTD Pro. In the first half hour, the number 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Risi Competizione, driven by the Brazilian, Daniel Serra - and shared by the other official drivers Davide Rigon, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado - gained three positions to occupy second place, two tenths from the leader. After the first stop, in the window following the first yellow flag, Serra had to serve a Drive Through for not respecting the minimum time set for refuelling.
GTD. Also starring in the first leg were crews including professional and gentlemen drivers. Conquest Racing with the number 34 296 GT3, driven by Manny Franco - shared with Albert Costa, Alessandro Balzan, Cédric Sbirrazzuoli -, is second, gaining four spots compared to the start.
Fourth position for the number 47 Ferrari of Cetilar Racing, with Giorgio Sernagiotto at the wheel, in the team completed by Antonio Fuoco, Roberto Lacorte and Eddie Cheever III. Ferrari official Alessio Rovera, author of an excellent start that had earned him provisional second position - before the two yellow flags -, is thirteenth with the 296 GT3 number 023 of Triarsi Competizione, shared with Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina, Riccardo Agostini. Seventeenth is the 296 GT3 number 21 of AF Corse entrusted to Simon Mann entered in the American race with Miguel Molina, François Heriau and Kei Cozzolino.