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GRAND-AM
GRAND-AM: Ferrari Gunning For Daytona Glory
Five Ferrari F458 Italia Grand Am’s seek top step of GT podium in 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona...
Ferrari returns to Daytona with a brace of F458 Italia Grand Ams, gunning for the GT class win in the 50th Rolex 24. (Photo: John Dagys)
One of the most iconic names in motorsports returns to the Daytona high banks this weekend, as Ferrari debuts its new F458 Italia Grand Am for Rolex Sports Car Series competition.
In what was many years in the making, the Prancing Horse makes an official return with five of the mid-engined super cars having been entered for the 24-hour classic. It’s part of a new wave of GT3-based machinery being introduced into the highly competitive Rolex Series GT ranks.
For Risi Competizione team boss Giuseppe Risi, who is taking his championship-winning organization back to Daytona for the first time in nearly a decade, the words “Ferrari” and “Daytona” are almost one and another.
“The Ferrari name is synonymous with Daytona,” Risi says. “They made a very famous car, the Daytona Spyder, otherwise known as the 365 GTB/4. That was a race car. Those cars raced at Le Mans and back here. It's very special, historically.
“Ferrari, maybe in the last four or five years, and certainly this team has helped reignite that the interest of GT racing in this country. Ferrari's DNA is in racing, but first and foremost, it was in GT racing, before they started racing Formula One.”
Ferrari’s presence at the Rolex 24 dates back to the inaugural running of the Florida endurance classic, then known as the Daytona Continental in 1962, which featured nine Ferraris driven by the likes of Stirling Moss, Phil Hill and Pedro Rodriguez. One year later, Rodriguez scored the brand’s first of many wins at Daytona, piloting a Ferrari 250 GTO.
From the 330 P4, 512 S all the way through the aforementioned 365 GTB/4 Daytona and the 333SP, which scored an overall win in 1998 in the hands of Didier Theys, Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk and the late Gianpiero Moretti, Ferrari has held a special place in the Rolex 24 history books.
While recent attempts have been made in the GT ranks, notably with Risi’s 360 Modena, which finished second overall in 2003 and two privateer F430 Challenge cars which took part in last year’s running, this year’s Rolex 24, in its 50th anniversary, features the largest lineup of Ferraris since the 333SP era.
In addition to Risi’s pair of Prancing Horses, to be piloted by an all-star lineup of Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni, Raphael Matos, Toni Vilander, Olivier Beretta and Andrea Bertolini, F458 Italia’s will also be entered by AF Waltrip, Extreme Speed Motorsports and AIM Autosport Team FXDD, the latter the only team confirmed for a full-season program thus far.
Jeff Segal, who heads up AIM’s lineup with Emil Assentato, Anthony Lazzaro and Nick Longhi, returns to the wheel of a Ferrari after a four-year stint with Mazda in the GT category.
“As I kid I was a massive car nut, and one of my vivid childhood memories was going to the Ferrari dealership with my dad and pressing my face up to the glass doors to see the showroom full of bright red sports cars,” Segal says.
“Fortunately I got my first taste of driving a Ferrari at a young age, participating in the Ferrari Challenge and becoming the youngest winner in series history at age 17. At that point I certainly had aspirations of moving on to bigger things in racing and ideally with Ferrari, but I didn't necessarily expect that I would be fortunate enough to have the opportunity I have now.”
With the F458 Grand Am being based off the brand’s successful GT3 model, which debuted in worldwide competition last year, taking it to GRAND-AM appeared to be the next logical step, mainly down to a new-found demand in the U.S.
“They had a lot of requests over the years, but after all Ferrari is very small,” Risi says. “And [builder] Michelotto is very small. If there isn't a possibility there to make some cars, they aren't just going to make two or three cars.
“They've been looking at the rules for the last four or five years. Now finally, Ferrari gave it a shot. Because it would spawn over in what was in Europe with the GT... The transition from that was easier to do than go out and make a specific GRAND-AM spec car. It's basically a GT3 car in many ways.”
For the two-time American Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans champions, which brought the Italian brand back to North American GT racing some 10 years ago, adding a Rolex 24 victory would complete the endurance racing triple crown of wins for Risi.
“It would be tremendous,” Risi says of prospects of a Rolex 24 class win. “It would be the crown and glory. It's the only long-distance race we haven't won. We've won everything else. Whether our own kind or other manufacturers, we've taken them on. But you're only as good as your last race.”
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
In what was many years in the making, the Prancing Horse makes an official return with five of the mid-engined super cars having been entered for the 24-hour classic. It’s part of a new wave of GT3-based machinery being introduced into the highly competitive Rolex Series GT ranks.
For Risi Competizione team boss Giuseppe Risi, who is taking his championship-winning organization back to Daytona for the first time in nearly a decade, the words “Ferrari” and “Daytona” are almost one and another.
“The Ferrari name is synonymous with Daytona,” Risi says. “They made a very famous car, the Daytona Spyder, otherwise known as the 365 GTB/4. That was a race car. Those cars raced at Le Mans and back here. It's very special, historically.
“Ferrari, maybe in the last four or five years, and certainly this team has helped reignite that the interest of GT racing in this country. Ferrari's DNA is in racing, but first and foremost, it was in GT racing, before they started racing Formula One.”
Ferrari’s presence at the Rolex 24 dates back to the inaugural running of the Florida endurance classic, then known as the Daytona Continental in 1962, which featured nine Ferraris driven by the likes of Stirling Moss, Phil Hill and Pedro Rodriguez. One year later, Rodriguez scored the brand’s first of many wins at Daytona, piloting a Ferrari 250 GTO.
From the 330 P4, 512 S all the way through the aforementioned 365 GTB/4 Daytona and the 333SP, which scored an overall win in 1998 in the hands of Didier Theys, Mauro Baldi, Arie Luyendyk and the late Gianpiero Moretti, Ferrari has held a special place in the Rolex 24 history books.
While recent attempts have been made in the GT ranks, notably with Risi’s 360 Modena, which finished second overall in 2003 and two privateer F430 Challenge cars which took part in last year’s running, this year’s Rolex 24, in its 50th anniversary, features the largest lineup of Ferraris since the 333SP era.
In addition to Risi’s pair of Prancing Horses, to be piloted by an all-star lineup of Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni, Raphael Matos, Toni Vilander, Olivier Beretta and Andrea Bertolini, F458 Italia’s will also be entered by AF Waltrip, Extreme Speed Motorsports and AIM Autosport Team FXDD, the latter the only team confirmed for a full-season program thus far.
Jeff Segal, who heads up AIM’s lineup with Emil Assentato, Anthony Lazzaro and Nick Longhi, returns to the wheel of a Ferrari after a four-year stint with Mazda in the GT category.
“As I kid I was a massive car nut, and one of my vivid childhood memories was going to the Ferrari dealership with my dad and pressing my face up to the glass doors to see the showroom full of bright red sports cars,” Segal says.
“Fortunately I got my first taste of driving a Ferrari at a young age, participating in the Ferrari Challenge and becoming the youngest winner in series history at age 17. At that point I certainly had aspirations of moving on to bigger things in racing and ideally with Ferrari, but I didn't necessarily expect that I would be fortunate enough to have the opportunity I have now.”
With the F458 Grand Am being based off the brand’s successful GT3 model, which debuted in worldwide competition last year, taking it to GRAND-AM appeared to be the next logical step, mainly down to a new-found demand in the U.S.
“They had a lot of requests over the years, but after all Ferrari is very small,” Risi says. “And [builder] Michelotto is very small. If there isn't a possibility there to make some cars, they aren't just going to make two or three cars.
“They've been looking at the rules for the last four or five years. Now finally, Ferrari gave it a shot. Because it would spawn over in what was in Europe with the GT... The transition from that was easier to do than go out and make a specific GRAND-AM spec car. It's basically a GT3 car in many ways.”
For the two-time American Le Mans Series and 24 Hours of Le Mans champions, which brought the Italian brand back to North American GT racing some 10 years ago, adding a Rolex 24 victory would complete the endurance racing triple crown of wins for Risi.
“It would be tremendous,” Risi says of prospects of a Rolex 24 class win. “It would be the crown and glory. It's the only long-distance race we haven't won. We've won everything else. Whether our own kind or other manufacturers, we've taken them on. But you're only as good as your last race.”
John Dagys is SPEED.com’s Sportscar Racing Reporter, focusing on all major domestic and international championships. You can follow him on Twitter @johndagys or email him at
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