After six hours of running, all three Ferrari entrants have shown strong pace and largely kept out of trouble as the long night of the 24 Hours at Daytona begins. Even after six hours, the race has already had two drastically different themes, with the opening three hours marked by seemingly continuous and lengthy caution periods for various indiscretions in the prototype class. Once the clock ticked past three hours, however, the character of the race changed and has been uninterrupted green flag running, allowing the true pace of competitors to show.
GTLM. The no. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE of Risi Competizione has certainly suffered the most in the early going. After opening lap contact that luckily did no significant damage, Alessandro Pier Guidi handed the car over to James Calado who was forced to dodge an early-braking competitor and suffered a bit of contact. The Risi squad was served with a drive-through penalty, but thankfully no meaningful damage. The drive-through has left the car on the lead-lap but over a minute behind the leading GTLM Corvette. The car currently sits fifth with Alessandro Pier Guidi behind the wheel.
GTD. The no. 21 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of AF Corse has certainly been the star Ferrari of the race thus far, briefly leading the GT-Daytona category with Matteo Cressoni behind the wheel. The AF Corse team has also benefited from the long caution periods when Am driver Simon Mann was behind the wheel, thus allowing the team to accomplish much of his drive-time without losing any pace. Pit stop cycles have sent them back to 7th in the category with Simon Mann again behind the wheel. Meanwhile, the no. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Scuderia Corsa sits in 9th, with Marcos Gomes currently behind the wheel. Similar to the 21, the 63 car is prioritizing drive time for their Am driver, Bret Curtis who has already completed two stints at the wheel.
Schedule. With six hours complete, there are 18 remaining before the 24 Hours at Daytona will have its thrilling conclusion at 3:40pm ET.