Ferrari Doubles Up in Sebring GT Qualifying

It was all Ferrari in qualifying for the two GT classes at Sebring International Raceway Friday morning the famed manufacturer's cars turning “rapido” laps in both Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) classifications to lead the lineup for Saturday’s 73rd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Spain’s Albert Costa earned the Motul Pole Award in the GTD PRO Class. He recorded his first career IMSA pole position after turning in a quick lap of 1 minute, 59.225 seconds (112.929 mph) around the famous 3.74-mile course in the No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3.

While Costa’s time was marginally slower than GTD polesitter Alessandro Pier Guidi in a second Ferrari, he’ll start at the head of the combined 31-car GT field – 11 GTD PRO entries, then the 20 GTD cars. Costa will share his car, which also features a partnership with Risi Competizione, with Giacomo Altoe and Davide Rigon.

Costa’s Ferrari will line up alongside No 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) whose lap by German Laurin Heinrich was second fastest in class by only 0.172 of a second. Heinrich set his best lap with less than two minutes remaining in the session run under sunny skies with Central Florida temperatures comfortably in the mid-70s.

“We are in pole position for Ferrari, so we are happy,” said a smiling Costa, whose fast time proved substantial enough it held up for the final eight minutes of the 15-minute session.

“For us, the car was very strong, and we must keep focused on the end of the day. We are on pole position but the race is very long and we must survive the first 10 hours of it because last year was a big war in GTD and I learned a lot.’’

“First pole position is always nice,” he added, “I think everything was together today and it was very nice to close on pole position. Tomorrow, I want to be on the podium.”

American Neil Verhagen turned the third fastest GTD PRO lap in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Last year’s GTD PRO class winner, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, was only seventh fastest in class. The No. 65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang GT3, which earned the model’s first global GT3 victory in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, was 10th fastest in class.

Pier Guidi Wins First IMSA Pole Since 2017

Italian Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 21 Af Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 led all production-based GT class cars in qualifying, as his best lap was 0.094 of a second faster than Costa’s at 1 minute, 59.131 seconds (113.018 mph).

Pier Guidi deftly put his Ferrari 296 GT3 on pole position fairly early in the session and then had to wait to see if it held up. It did for his second career Motul Pole Award and his first since the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona, also in GTD. He’ll share his car with Lilou Wadoux and Simon Mann.

“I think it was a great session for Ferrari with us both scoring the pole, and a great comeback from Daytona,” said Pier Guidi, whose car retired early in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona. I always prefer to start in the front, though.”

His fast lap around the storied circuit bettered American Kenton Koch in the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 by a slight 0.382 of a second. Great Britain’s Jack Hawksworth was third quickest in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 – only 0.387 off Pier Guidi’s time.

The top four GTD class cars – also including the defending Sebring winning No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG were separated by just over half a second and will feature six makes among the top-10 gridded cars.

Of note, the Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R – a new chassis this race qualified by Orey Fidani – was 17th among the 20 cars in GTD class.

Results are HERE