IMSA - The road to Daytona 24H: Ferrari duo in GTD class

Maranello, 28 January 2016 - The 24 Hours of Daytona marks the race debut of the Ferrari 488 GTE and Ferrari.comhas so far presented all three GTLM crews class at the wheel of the new car. However, the 458 Italia is still competitive and is the reigning champion car in the GTD class of the IMSA series. Two 458 Italias will be on track at the 24 Hours of Daytona for Spirit of Race and Scuderia Corsa, the winning team in this class for 2015.   Car no. 63. The 458 Italia no. 63 Scuderia Corsa won the title in 2015 in the GTD class with Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell. The crew has changed for this season with Christina Nielsen lead driver. The excellent Danish woman last year battled to win the title for Ferrari until the final race. The highly experienced Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Segal will join Nielsen, along with Germany's Robert Renauer. Segal is clearly the driver with the most experience of this race having previously competed nine times and won in the GTD class for Ferrari in 2014 at the wheel of the 458 Italia of Level 5 Motorsports. Nielsen, Renauer and Balzan have each competed twice, their best results being a ninth, a tenth and a fourth at the wheel of the Ferrari 458 Italia Scuderia Corsa along with Pier Guidi, Frezza and Beretta in 2013.   Car no. 51. Peter Mann, Raffaele Giammaria, Marco Cioci and Matteo Cressoni will be in charge of the 458 Italia of Spirit of Race. This is a fast and highly experienced crew, although only Giammaria and Cioci have previously appeared at the 24 Hours of Daytona.