Ferrari completes Sebring sweep, AF Corse records 11th victory of season

Ferrari completed its sixth weekend sweep in the Am class of the GT World Challenge America powered by AWS competition, with AF Corse returning to the winning ranks on Sunday after taking second in the Saturday race. 

Conrad Grunewald and Jean-Claude Saada led all the way in the No. 61 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020, taking their 11th victory in 12 races en-route to capturing the Am class championship. The Sebring circuit is rich with not only Ferrari highlights, but also renowned for its tough and tricky nature, which proved to be the case again on Sunday. 

“Unfortunately, our competitor had a mishap and I feel bad about that,” Saada said. “That’s not the way we want to win, but it is what it is. It was an endurance race, so it was a matter of keeping clean and staying on track, avoiding any accidents. I’m just lucky that we kept the car on the track and no incidents. The track was pretty hot and very slippery, so we had to tip-toe around the corners.”

Grunewald agreed with his teammate’s assessment of the circuit. “It was survival,” he said. “It’s a tough place, and it was rough and slippery out there. Our tires were falling off at the end, and everybody was struggling. I’m very happy that we made it through.”

Winners in their series debut on Saturday, Triarsi Competizione suffered heartbreak when an incident eliminated the new No. 23 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 driven by Triarsi and Charlie Scardina. Triarsi shadowed Grunewald throughout the opening stint of the event. Following the pit stop, though, Scardina spun on cooler tires exiting the first turn and impacted the tire barrier with the left-front of the Ferrari, putting him out of the race.

Only one race remains in 2021 competition for the SRO squads, the Indianapolis 8 Hour on Sunday, Oct. 17. The GT World Challenge competitors will be awarded double-points at the three-hour mark of the event, although they will be allowed to continue without points for the remainder of the event, which has attracted international attention.