with R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari
Co-Driving this Weekend with Kenny Wilden, Segal Shooting for Two-in-a-Row in 2013 and at Road America
Defending race winner Jeff Segal returns to Road America this weekend looking for a repeat victory in Saturdays VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 and a second consecutive 2013 win after giving the No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari 458 Italia team its first victory one race ago at Indianapolis.
Round 9 of the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, the timed 2-3/4-hour VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 can be seen live on SPEED this Saturday, August 10, at 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT.
Segal earned last years Road America victory with co-driver Emil Assentato and teamed with Max Papis two weeks ago for the Indy win, but neither driver will be partnering Segal this weekend. Papis, Segals full-season teammate, was called to replace the injured Tony Stewart in this weekends NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, and winning Canadian sports car racing veteran Kenny Wilden will step in for Mad Max in the No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Ferrari.
I am looking forward to racing with Kenny and he put in plenty of laps and ran strong in a 458 at Indy in the last race, Segal said. He also has a lot of experience here at Road America which is major plus on a track this size. I am looking forward to getting to know him better and, another major positive, a lot of the guys on our team know him well, and Andrew Bordin and Anthony Lazzaro raced with him for years. He will fit right in.
Segals win in Indys Brickyard Grand Prix for the first-year No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM team was also the first GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series victory of the season for the 458 Italia. The Ferrari GT car now has four total wins since returning to GRAND-AM last year and Segal is the only driver to have been involved in each victory.
It is a fantastic situation to be affiliated with Ferrari, and even more so to be able to win with Ferrari over the past two seasons, Segal said. I have been connected with this brand for so long from my racing start in the Ferrari Challenge, to instructing at the Ferrari Driving Experience, and most importantly as a fan of the brand since I was old enough to know what a Ferrari was. Racing with Ferrari at a professional level is both a realization of a longtime dream and also a logical extension of the connections I have made over the past years.
It is no surprise that a great deal of pressure comes with racing for the legendary Prancing Horse, but Segal learned long ago to shift that energy into a winning effort.
With the racing pedigree that Ferrari has, expectations are always high, Segal said. And with expectations comes some pressure, but we all have the same goal, which is to win, so that pressure is OK.
The Indy victory still provided a major stress release for Segal and his teammates. Although he did break through for a third-place finish with his No. 61 teammates at Detroit in June, 2013 has mostly been a season of bad luck and obscure mechanical issues.
We have had so many good races and close calls up until Indy that we knew we were capable of it, and we knew we had to start winning some of these races soon to keep up with everyone's expectations, Segal said. Now that we've got the first one out of the way, hopefully that removes some of the pressure and lets us build some good momentum.
Segal joins the majority of his GRAND-AM Road Racing peers in looking forward to the annual race at Road America.
I really enjoying driving at Road America and even more so after winning there last year, Segal said. It is a very fast, flowing, natural road course that gives you a sensation of going somewhere like you only get at the older 'classic' circuits. There is good elevation change, and a lot of challenges in setup in order to be compliant enough in the slower corners like Turn 5, but stable enough for The Kink and some of the really fast bits.
Segal is in his first year with Papis and the new Remo Ferri-led R.Ferri/AIM team but last year delivered a trio of victories for Ferrari. The wins in the No. 69 Team FXDD AIM Autosport Ferrari 458 Italia included Miami and New Jersey, in addition to Road America. Segal, Assentato and the No. 69 FXDD/AIM Ferrari also captured the 2012 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series driver and team championships while playing a key role in Ferraris 2012 manufacturer title. Segal and Assentato also won the 2010 GT title for FXDD.A three-day event, the VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 begins today with Thursday afternoon practice. Friday includes only morning sessions with final practice preceding GT qualifying at 10:15 a.m. CDT. Race-day Saturday features only the VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 race that is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. CDT.
