Ferrari Continues Strong Run Mid-Way through Petit Le Mans

Ferrari has been in the thick of the GT Daytona class battle since the waving of the green flag in Saturday’s Petit Le Mans.

Halfway through the 10-hour IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event, Alessandro Balzan was running a solid second in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa WeatherTech Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

Jeff Westphal qualified second, but roared into the lead on the opening lap. He paced the opening 20 laps before pitting to take advantage of the first caution period, turning the car over to Cooper MacNeil.

The recently crowned Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli champion was running second at the end of his double stint, when he turned the car over to Balzan. MacNeil returned to the wheel for another stint to complete his two-hour, 30-minute drive time.

“We have a great race car,” MacNeil said. “The WeatherTech Ferrari has been strong since we rolled it off the truck, and that’s not to say that the guys haven’t been working hard on it all weekend. We had a lot of setup changes to make early on, but the WeatherTech Ferrari is running strong now.”

A second caution period ended a long three-hour, 26-minute stretch of green-flag racing. MacNeil pitted under the yellow, returning Balzan back into the action. Celebrating his 40th birthday, Balzan passed the pole-winning Acura to regain second place with four-hours, 32 minutes remaining.

Moments before the five-hour mark, Balzan was clipped by a Prototype exiting pit road, driving into the glare of the setting sun. The Ferrari was able to continue without apparent damage, while the incident brought out the third caution of the race.

At halfway, conditions are changing at the Georgia circuit. The sun will set at 6:57 p.m. ET, leading to darkness for the final three hours, 40 minutes. The checkered flag is scheduled to wave at 10:40 p.m.