Three Ferrari 360 Challenge racers took part in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona 24 hour race at the weekend, and all three cars successfully reached the finish line of the gruelling endurance encounter.

This was the 43rd edition of the legendary marathon race held at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway, with its famous 31-degree banking, in Florida, an historic event which is second only in terms of importance in the sportscar world to the Le Mans 24 Hours. Practice and qualifying took place last Thursday and Friday, before the race proper got under at noon Saturday, local time.

With the surge in popularity of the low-cost 'Daytona Prototype' category over the last few years, coupled to the burgeoning now-amalgamated GT and Cup classes for road production-derived cars, a bumper 62-car field was to be in store.

Three Ferrari 360 Challenge-based racers were posted on the entry list, two from Mastercar, and a single entry from JMB Racing USA.

In 2003, the Grand American organisers, buoyed by the success of the DP category, announced a two-year strategy to give the Rolex Series Grand Touring division a new format. While last season saw the series feature a two-class structure with the GT and SGS classes, now the transition to the new format has been completed, with a single GT class formed.

With the GrandAm's focus being firmly on holding down costs and providing exciting racing, the popular Ferrari 360 Challenge racer has proved an ideal machine adapt to the new regulations, with both JMB and Mastercar, making the necessary changes over winter.

The 2005 GT rules were established to let more brands compete by allowing some modifications to the basic production models that were not allowed in the older GT format. As well as the Ferrari 360 Challenge, the rules now list twenty seven different car models from eighteen manufacturers, which also include Acura, Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Corvette, Chrysler, Dodge, Ford, Honda, Jaguar, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes, Maserati, Nissan, Pontiac, Porsche and Toyota.

JMB Racing USA is in fact an offshoot of the highly successful European-based JMB outfit, a team that has won no less than fourteen titles with a succession of Ferrari race cars, including the 333SP prototype, since its inception ten years ago.
 

Three Americans, Matt Plumb, Peter Boss and Jim Michaelian, were joined in the Daytona line-up by Englishman David Gooding, for what would be the team's third consecutive appearance in the legendary twenty four hour race.

“It is always tough to find the right combination of drivers for Daytona when you are a young team coming to a 24-hour race with a new car” commented their team manager, Emmanuel Lupe, prior to the race. "Their primary objectives will be to be cautious with the heavy traffic and stay away from any unnecessary confrontation with DP cars, preserving the equipment and finishing the race as high as possible”, he concluded.

Mastercar, who make regular appearances on both the North American and European sportscar racing scene, brought two Eurotarget-sponsored cars to Florida last week. The no 51 entry was headed by veteran Italian racer Luca Drudi, who was joined for the occasion by fellow countryman, Gabrio Rosa, and a pair of Spaniards, Luis Monzon and Maria DeVillota. Meanwhile the no 52 example featured three Italians, Roberto Ragazzi, Giuseppe Chiminelli and Costantino Bertuzzi, joined by Jesus Diaz from Spain.

After final qualifying, the two Mastercar Ferraris were separated by just three tenths of a second, lining up next to each other, 20th and 21st in GT, while the JMB example, which failed to post a qualifying time, would have to start at the back of the grid.

JMB's race started in a difficult manner after their no 11 car was given a drive-though penalty at the end of lap one for jumping the start. However the marathon twenty four hour test went well for both teams, with all three Ferraris reaching the chequered flag, batter and weary, but most importantly still intact and running.

After 627 laps of hard racing, Drudi, Rosa, Monzon and De Villota in the no 52 car crossed the line in 24th place overall and 10th in the GT class, one place and four laps, ahead of the no 11 JMB Racing car. The no 53 Mastercar entry wrapped up the proceedings by finishing 31st overall and 16th in class, 70 laps further adrift of the JMB car. The race was won overall by Wayne Taylor, Max Angelelli and Emmanuel Collard in the Sun Trust DP Pontiac Riley, who covered 710 laps in 24 hours.