Qualifying for the 56th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona saw the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTD car qualify on the front row in class with Spaniard Miguel Molina at the wheel. The rookie Daytona driver is making not only his first appearance at Daytona, but this is his inaugural race in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The No. 82 Ferrari was first in practice session one and second in practice session two in a field of 21 GTD cars. Molina's best lap time of 146.502 was .453 seconds behind pole sitter and Spirit of Race Ferrari driver Daniel Serra.
Molina's co-drivers include Matt Griffin, from Ireland, and Mexican drivers Ricardo Perez de Lara, Martin Fuentes and Santiago Creel. Ferrari driver Daniel Serra was awarded the GTD pole.
The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM was qualified by Finn Toni Vilander in the seventh position in the very competitive GTLM class with a best lap of 1:43.601 during the session, .822 behind pole sitter, Jan Magnussen.
Vilander's co-drivers are Brit James Calado and Italians Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon.
Risi Competizione, who celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, is making an appearance at the Rolex 24 for the 13th year. Their Daytona records include
The twice-around-the-clock enduro will start at 2:40 p.m. EST on Saturday, January 27 at the 3.56-mile Daytona International Speedway.
Risi Competizione has competed at Daytona 12 times and with 14 entries (two-car teams in 2003 and 2012). Victory has eluded the popular American racing team with roots in Italy, but they have graced the podium in 1999 and 2003 (second place) and last year with a third-place finish.
QUOTES:
Miguel Molina, qualifying driver No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTD:
"I think it was a good qualifying. Starting from the front row in the Rolex 24, I think it's a nice start. We know that the race will be quite long, 24 hours, but we are very happy. We are satisfied with the result that we achieved in qualifying. We are working on the setup to try and have a good race car and right now I think we are working well and on our way to having a good preparation for the race on Saturday and Sunday."
Toni Vilander, qualifying driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"We had some issues this morning, so I went into qualifying pretty blind. We made some changes and it started improving towards the end of the qualifying session, but it was a bit too late. Obviously, it's disappointing (qualifying position), but it's an early start of the weekend so we will work on things and then we will see from there what happens."
Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
"It was a pretty disappointing qualifying. We changed brakes before qualifying because we were having some issues with them. Sometimes it takes the rear pads five or six laps to bed in and that's what happened. Our fastest lap was at the end, but still wasn't there. I think the tires had already peaked. It's a long race and we'll see where we end up come Sunday."
Tune-In Information:
The 56th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona begins Saturday, January 27th at 2:00 p.m. EST. The first three hours of the race will air live on FOX. A total of over 14 hours will air live and broadcast on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2:
Saturday, January 27 on FS2 from 5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m. EST
Saturday into Sunday, January 28 on FS1 from 11:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
Sunday, January 28 on FS1 from 8:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Sunday, January 28 on FS1 from 10:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The entire race will be streamed live on FSGO with FS1 authentication. Fans can also listen in with audio commentary via IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and Sirius XM Radio and follow the race live with in-car cameras, IMSA Radio and timing and scoring available worldwide on IMSA.com and the IMSA App.
