Pier Guidi, Calado lead Risi Ferrari GTD Pro lineup at Daytona
Ferrari's FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Pro title-winners Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado will contest this month's Rolex 24 at Daytona with Risi Competizione in the GT Daytona Pro class.
Pier Guidi and Calado will be joined in the Risi Ferrari 488 for the season-opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship by WEC regular teammate Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon, who lost his seat in the factory AF Corse GTE Pro team last year to Miguel Molina.
Giuseppe Risi's Texas-based privateer team has been a regular entrant at Daytona in recent years against the factory teams in GTLM, the class which has been replaced this season by GTD Pro, for GT3 machines with all-professional driver lineups.
Pier Guidi, Calado and Rigon took Risi's GTE-spec Ferrari to fourth together with Jules Gounon at Daytona last year, while the aforementioned trio finished second in 2019 with Molina.
While no additional plans have yet been announced beyond Daytona, a Risi team statement said that further appearances "are under consideration".
It has made 21 previous starts at the race, taking a single class win in 2002 when it ran a Lola B2K/40 to the SRP II victory and third overall.
“The 24 Hours of Daytona is always on my mind as a race for the team to compete for a victory,” said Giuseppe Risi. “This year we have a new Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 car and a strong line-up again of Ferrari Competizioni GT factory drivers with Calado, Pier Guidi, Rigon and Serra.
"They all are talented drivers, know the car well and compete regularly at the highest level of racing on a global scale. James and Ale won both the FIA WEC championship and Le Mans last year, so they are at the top of the sport. Davide and Daniel continue to add success to the Ferrari name as well.
“With the solid driver line-up and always-prepared race team, we’re ready to contend for victory at Daytona later this month.”
Rigon suffered back injuries in a multi-car accident during the early laps of last year's Spa 24 Hours, which kept him out of the remainder of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup campaign with Iron Lynx, although he subsequently made a comeback in an Italian GT round at Monza last October.
Corvette star Taylor says C8.R is ready for new GTD Pro “battle”
Andretti Acquisition Corp. begins trading on NYSE
Why Vasseur relishes 'feeling the pressure' as Ferrari's F1 boss
OPINION: Fred Vasseur has spent only a few weeks as team principal for the Ferrari Formula 1 team, but is already intent on taking the Scuderia back to the very top. And despite it being arguably the most demanding job in motorsport, the Frenchman is relishing the challenge
Toyota WRC boss Latvala plotting rally return
Toyota World Rally Championship boss Jari-Matti Latvala is plotting a competitive rally return with an outing behind the wheel of Toyota’s new Rally2 GR Yaris.
Why Vasseur isn't wielding the axe on Ferrari's F1 strategy team
As Ferrari reflected on the lost opportunities of the 2022 Formula 1 season, it did not take a genius to understand that strategy had been one of its core weaknesses.
Aitken confirms split with Williams F1 to focus on sportscars
Jack Aitken has confirmed that he and the Williams Formula 1 team have parted ways ahead of the 2023 season as he pursues a career in sportscar racing.
Inside BMW's long-awaited prototype racing return
Much like German OEM rival Porsche, BMW's absence from sportscar racing’s top flight will be ended this weekend when a pair of M Hybrid V8 prototypes make their debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A programme focused on IMSA for now will expand to the WEC and Le Mans next year, in a sign of both its ambition and pragmatism.
How Porsche and Penske are gearing up for sportscar racing's bold new era
Porsche and Penske have teamed up to tackle the world's biggest sportscar races in 2023 with the new 963 LMDh car. Autosport was on hand at the recent Daytona test to hear from key players in the partnership as it prepares for dual campaigns across the IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship...
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
Nyck de Vries’s Italian GP exploits weren’t the first post-eleventh-hour call-up in motorsport history, and won’t be the last either. Here are some offbeat tales from the past
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, are arguably the greatest sportscars of all time.
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad.
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's sportscar push
Have you heard the one about two British guys driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian!
Why Peugeot couldn't afford to take a Le Mans gamble in 2022
Ahead of the much-anticipated arrival of its new 9X8 Hypercar, Peugeot revealed that it would not be entering this year's Le Mans 24 Hours with its incoming machinery. Although development restrictions for homologated cars are partially responsible, the French marque can draw on its own lessons from its history in sportscars
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.