Ferrari came through with a strong showing in Friday’s final practice for the 24 At Daytona, leading the GT Le Mans class while setting the third quickest practice in GT Daytona.
Three Ferraris will be on the grid when the 2021 IMSA WeatherTech Championship season opens with America’s premier endurance race, with each looking to add to Ferrari’s total of 13 class victories at Daytona International Speedway.
Top spot for Risi in GTLM. Alessandro Pier Guidi led Friday’s one-hour session in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, turning a lap of 1:42.584-seconds. He will be co-driving with James Calado, Jules Gounon and Davide Rigon. The quartet will launch their 24 effort from fourth on the grid on Saturday.
“The session went well, and we’ve been good so far,” said Pier Guidi. “We tried to have a longer run to test its reliability for the race, and the car looks good. It’s strong, and so far it’s been real nice. The team has done a good job. We’re looking forward to the race tomorrow. We were P-1 at the end of the last session; now we want to be P-1 at the end of the race. That’s when it matters.”
Pier Guidi was the most recent 24 Hour class winner for Ferrari in 2014, driving for Level 5 Motorsports.
Strong Showing in GTD. Daniel Serra was third-quickest in the final practice in the GT Daytona class, running 1:45.987-seconds in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3. He will co-drive with Simon Mann, Nicklas Nielsen and Matteo Cressoni.
Scuderia Corsa played it conservatively in the final session, opting to run only seven laps to save tires for the race. Ryan Briscoe, Marcos Gomes, Ed Jones and Bret Curtis will co-drive in the race. Scuderia Corsa has been competing at Daytona since 2013. The car will roll off from seventh on the GTD class grid for the start of the race.
Schedule. The 59th running of the 24 At Daytona takes the green flag at 3:40 p.m. ET on Saturday.