AIM Autosport Team FXDD and R.Ferri AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari Qualify Both Cars in Top 12 for Rolex 24 At Daytona
By Max Papis Racing | January 25, 2013 at 1:30 pmDAYTONA BEACH, Florida (January 24, 2013) – The No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD and No. 61 R.Ferri AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari F458s qualified both cars in the Top 12 Thursday for their first race as an expanded two-car team at this weekend’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. North America’s premier 24-hour race begins Saturday at 3:30 p.m. with live coverage on SPEED beginning at 3 p.m. EST/12 p.m. PST.
The championship-winning No. 69 AIM/FXDD Ferrari has split its title-winning drivers. Emil Assentato stays in the car with new full-season co-driver Anthony Lazzaro and Rolex 24 additions Nick Longhi and Mark Wilkins. Guy Cosmo was scheduled to race alongside but has withdrawn as he is still recovering from a minor but unexpected nasal canal operation. Lazzaro qualified the AIM/FXDD Ferrari in 10th after a lap of 1:48.577 (118.036 mph).
“We have very little left in the car,” Lazzaro said. “It is tough. Today we realized we don’t have the straight-line speed of the Porsches. I was a little disappointed because I was the third quickest Ferrari, just a few tenths off the fastest 458, but as a team we did very good. Jeff is just behind me and we always have a good little personal battle, so it is a lot of fun and, in all honesty, he and Nick Longhi are the reasons I am here anyway. Jeff helps me out quite a bit with this car so I owe a lot of the performance to him I think.”
Segal has moved to the new No. 61 AIM/R.Ferri Ferrari and will contest the full season with fellow GRAND-AM Rolex Series Champion Max Papis. Joining the team for this weekend’s day- long race at Daytona is the all-star duo of Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, winning pro- division GT drivers at last year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. Segal qualified the AIM/R.Ferri Ferrari in 12th after a lap of 1:48.643 (117.964 mph), less than one tenth off its teammate.
“The top lap times were really strong,” Vilander said. “We knew that the race was going to be tight but I honestly I didn’t expect the other guys to be that fast. Apart from that, we will keep working. We still have a few hours of practice and we will work more and then we will see for the race. I am relatively happy as the AIM car was top-10 and we are 12th, so we are up there and nothing is done for the race yet.”
Fisichella and Vilander also drove Ferraris in last year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona, with Vilander finishing fifth in his car. Segal qualified second a year ago in the AIM/FXDD Ferrari’s debut and finished eighth in the race co-driving with Assentato, Longhi and Lazzaro.
Fisichella’s background was in Formula 1, where he won three races in a career that spanned more than 200 starts from 1996 to 2009. He switched to sports car racing in 2010 driving several iterations of Ferraris, and looks forward to the opportunity to make his second Rolex 24 start and first with the AIM/R.Ferri team.
“The atmosphere is amazing, just fantastic, and I like the race itself, the paddock and all of the people around,” Fisichella said. “This is my second time here but we only got five hours into the race last year before the car broke. It is good now, I did five laps this morning, the car balance wasn’t too bad and I was P2 when I was driving, so I am pretty happy considering I wasn’t at the test in January.”
Wilkins takes on a more active role than originally anticipated in the No. 69 AIM/FXDD Ferrari. He was called on when Longhi completed some race car testing in Europe during the Roar Before the Rolex 24 test weekend, and will now be part of the four-driver lineup with Cosmo’s unfortunate withdrawal.
Both Ferraris concluded the day with competitive top-four runs in Thursday night practice that ended at 8:00 p.m. EST. Final practice is Friday with this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. EST local time this Saturday.
Noteworthy
– Cosmo has officially withdrawn from the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari 458, as he is still recovering from endoscopic surgery of the posterior nasal canal from a sudden onset of epistaxis. “I’m extremely disappointed that I won’t be able to compete in this year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona,” Cosmo said. “I’m a race car driver and I live to race. I’ve really been looking forward to working with the guys from AIM Autosport. While I genuinely appreciate the opportunity to join them for this important race, it’s best I take the advice of my doctors and cheer them on from home. Here’s wishing a safe race to everyone participating this weekend.”
– Wilkins, who joined as the No. 69’s fifth driver before Cosmo’s withdrawal, will make his 10th start in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and fourth with AIM Autosport (2007 to 2009). He finished second overall with his same AIM/FXDD co-driver Lazzaro at December’s 25 Hours of Thunderhill.
Conrad Italiano
Communications
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