FERRARI IDENTIFICATION…
Risi Competizione with American Canadian Racing’s two Ferrari 458 Italia Grand Am cars are identically prepared and liveried, both showing the strong support being received by the consortium of Ferrari dealers from within the North American dealer network. Alongside Motorola and QT Technologies, Ferrari of Ontario, Ferrari of Beverly Hills, Ferrari of Silicon Valley, Ferrari of Ft. Lauderdale, Boardwalk Ferrari, Ferrari of Vancouver, and Ferrari of Houston are all visible on the ‘Rosso Red’ cars.
To differentiate them, the No. 62 has black wing mirrors and rear wing end plates while the No. 63 has yellow mirrors and end plates.
DAYTONA AND FERRARI – AN INTERTWINED HISTORY…
The Ferrari name and history has long been linked with Daytona and the International Speedway. With this year being the 50th anniversary of the first running of a sports car race at the Florida venue, it is worth noting that Ferrari made a significant, early mark on the record books by winning three times in the 1960s. Pedro Rodriguez, driving for the North American Racing Team (NART) won twice in a Ferrari 250 GTO – the first time in 1963 and secondly with former Ferrari F1 World Champion Phil Hill in 1964.
In 1967 Chris Amon and Lorenzo Bandini took their Ferrari 330 P4 to victory at Daytona and the success was recognized with the launch of the Ferrari Daytona 365 GTB/4 – in production from 1969 to 1973.
A six-hour event at Daytona was won in 1972 by Mario Andretti and Jacky Ickx in a Ferrari 312 PB, and the marque’s most recent victory was in 1998 when the late, and much missed, Gianpiero Moretti and his team mates Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk and Didier Theys took their Ferrari 333 SP first past the checkered flag.
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FERRARI DRIVER AT DAYTONA…
Official Scuderia Ferrari F1 development driver and official test driver of the Maserati factory, Andrea Bertolini, has won more GT1 titles than any other driver, and is one of only seven Italians to get his hands on a motor sport world championship crown. He recognizes that this weekend’s Rolex 24 at Daytona will be a new test for himself and the three other Risi Competizione with American Canadian Racing drivers who are ‘rookies’ at Daytona [Bruni, Fisichella and Vilander].
“It’s like a dream to be here with Ferrari,” said Andrea. “You can see all around the track and paddock that everyone is really excited about Ferrari being here in Daytona again as there’s a great history with us and the track.
“I am really proud to be here with Giancarlo, Gimmi, Raphael, Toni and Olivier. We have developed a really strong relationship and are good team mates, and the team is doing a very good job on preparing the cars for us for tomorrow’s race.
“We now have to remain focused as the race will be quite different to 24-hour races we have run in Europe. There are a lot of cars, a lot of hours of darkness and we need to run without problems and stay away from any confusion and traffic – there could be lots of both!”
Credits: Risi Competizione