It was an unlucky 24 Hours of Daytona for the Prancing Horse, whose best result in the first round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship was the sixth place of the 296 GT3 number 81 from DragonSpeed, in GTD Pro. In the GTD class, on the other hand the number 50 Ferrari of AF Corse finished seventh.
One year after the historic success at Daytona in 2024 in the GTD Pro class, for the Maranello marque, the 63rd edition of the classic Florida marathon did not end with the result hoped for on the eve of the race. The conditions in which the Ferraris had to compete forced drivers and teams to go beyond the limits imposed by an unfavourable BoP, seeking the best possible performance in an attempt not to lose too much ground on the top positions.
GTD Pro. During the course of the race, the Dragonspeed Ferrari, driven by the three official drivers Davide Rigon, Miguel Molina and Thomas Neubauer together with Albert Costa, were never in a position to aspire to a high ranking position. They were also slowed down by an off-track on the return with cold tyres after a stop just before the tenth hour, when the French driver was at the wheel which forced the car to return to the pits to replace the door. Later on Sunday morning, Molina was touched by another car – later sanctioned with a Drive Through – losing 20 precious seconds. In the final, with the cars regrouped after the 15th full-course yellow of the race, the Spanish driver recovered one position, allowing the team to achieve an excellent final result. The gap to the class leaders, number 65 Ford, at the end was 28 seconds.
GTD. The protagonist of the challenge for the top ten right to the end of the 24 Hour contest was the number 50 Ferrari of AF Corse entrusted to factory driver Arthur Leclerc (making his debut in a 24 Hour) along with Custodio Toledo, Riccardo Agostini and Conrad Laursen. The quartet took seventh place thanks to an excellent performance by both the AF Corse team and the drivers. Agostini was behind the wheel of the 296 GT3 to the finish line passing under the chequered flag with a gap of 8 seconds from class winner number 13 Chevrolet.
Less lucky were the other Maranello Marque’s cars. Triarsi Competizione’s 296 GT3, the 021, shared by Ferrari factory driver James Calado with Sheena Monk, Stevan McAleer, Mike Skeen, suffered front right suspension damage following a collision caused by the #32 team (sanctioned with a Drive Through), forcing the team to send Calado to the garage with an hour to go until the chequered flag. The crew finished in 11th position.
A couple of technical glitches between night and morning, and a Drive Through, slowed the pace of the number 34 Conquest Racing’s Ferrari, driven by official Ferrari driver Daniel Serra, along with Manny Franco, Cédric Sbirrazzuoli and Giacomo Altoè, who finished twelfths.
The second car fielded by Triarsi Competizione, the 023 entrusted to factory driver Alessio Rovera along with Onofrio Triarsi, Charles Scardina and Eddie Cheever, were delayed by a long stop in the morning, retired after 569 laps due to technical problems.
The Ferrari number 70 of Inception Racing, which at the stroke of 12 hours was leading with the line-up formed by Frederik Schandorff, Brendan Iribe, David Fumanelli and Ollie Millroy, was forced to retire after 392 laps due to damage to the support of the right front suspension.
The 296 GT3 number 21 of AF Corse shared by official drivers Alessandro Pier Guidi and Lilou Wadoux, with Kei Cozzolino and Simon Mann, long time in the Top-5, were forced to retire after 555 laps due to the consequences of an accident that occurred five hours from the end when the Italian driver was at the wheel. Finally, the Ferrari number 47 of Cetilar Racing driven by official driver Antonio Fuoco, Roberto and Nicola Lacorte, and Lorenzo Patrese, retired during the night due to a technical problem.
