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Crewed by Jaime Melo, Toni Vilander and Mika
Salo, the new Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 was
forced to retire around ninety minutes from
the end of the race, because of an
electrical problem, having produced an
impressive performance up to that point. |
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The Ferrari F430 GTC entered by AF Corse and
crewed by Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria
Bruni and Pierre Kaffer, was forced to make
an additional visit to pit lane for a
drive-through penalty that wiped out the
advantage of starting from pole. |
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The Sebring 12 Hours on
Saturday kicked off this year’s American Le Mans Series
and the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup, as well as marking
the international debut of the Ferrari 458 Italia GT2,
entered by Houston-based Risi Competizione. Its maiden
outing was watched by Ferrari managing director, Amedeo
Felisa, in Florida to witness this special moment.
Crewed by Jaime Melo, Toni Vilander and Mika Salo, the
car was forced to retire around ninety minutes from the
end of the race, because of an electrical problem,
having produced an impressive performance up to that
point. In fact, the new Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 was very
much in the fight for the top class places and but for
the fault, looked set to be in with a chance of a podium
finish.
While naturally disappointed with the final result,
Antonello Coletta, head of the Ferrari Corse Clienti
department reckons the new sports car showed plenty of
potential on its debut. “I was positively surprised with
how the 458 Italia GT2 went and the drivers were also
very impressed with its performance. It is an
encouraging sign for the future.”
The F430 GTC entered by AF Corse, crewed by Giancarlo
Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Pierre Kaffer, was
forced to make an additional visit to pit lane for a
drive-through penalty that wiped out the advantage of
starting from pole. With 311 laps completed, the Ferrari
team ended up fifteenth overall, one lap down on the BMW
Motorsport car of Andy Priaulx, Dirk Mueller and Joey
Hand, the class winners. “The F430 GTC proved to have
strong performance, consistency and reliability,”
commented Antonello Coletta. “During 12 hours of racing,
the AF Corse crew showed great quality and experience.”
The American driver, Tracy Krohn, crossed the line with
a significant advantage over the Proton Competition
Porsche, to record his team’s first win in the American
Le Mans Series and the first victory for the crew of
Krohn, Jonsson and Rugolo.
The second round of the American Le Mans Series takes
place on 17 April at the Long Beach street circuit in
California, while the AF Corse team will be busy
alongside other competitors in the Le Mans Series in the
new eight hour race at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit,
over the weekend of 3 April.
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