Weekend notebook: Ferrari on the podium in IMSA and GT World Challenge Asia

The Prancing Horse cars achieved major results in America and Asia over the weekend. In the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Laguna Seca, there were two podium finishes with second place in GTD Pro and third in GTD. There were also class podium finishes in the second round of the GT World Challenge Asia with a win and third place in Silver class and second and third place in Am in the two Indonesian races. The third round of the NLS in Germany proved more complicated for Ferrari.

IMSA. DragonSpeed started on the GTD Pro pole in the No. 81 Antisocial Social Club Ferrari 296 GT3, and ran with the contenders throughout the two hour, 40-minute race that saw no caution flags and all 36 cars running at the finish.

Giacomo Altoé earned the pole with a sensational last-lap charge in Saturday’s qualifying, and backed it up by leading through his entire 46-minute stint. Albert Costa took over in the eye-catching, yellow-and-pink liveried Ferrari in fourth position, but regained the lead with just over one hour remaining. After the team’s final pit stop, he reemerged in second place and held that position for the remainder of the event. The team is now third in the GTD Pro class championship standings.

In the GTD class for Pro-Am lineups, Conquest Racing faced an uphill run after Manny Franco qualified eighth in the No. 34 Corsa Horizon Ferrari 296 GT3. Franco was running fifth before the opening round of pit stops, when he turned the car over to Factory driver Daniel Serra. In a patient race, Serra ran fourth throughout his final stint, closing in on third with a half-hour remaining. On the final lap, Serra made his impressive move to finish third.

Triarsi Competizione entered its two cars in the event, including the No. 023 which is concentrating on IMSA’s endurance races, but made a special stop to race at the historic seaside circuit. Owner/driver Onofrio Triarsi qualified fourth in the No. 023 Ferrari of Central Florida / David SW Ferrari 296 GT3 and with co-driver Riccardo Agostini, the pair finished seventh. The sister No. 021 JG Wentworth Ferrari 296 GT3 started 13th and had a close call with another car in pit lane after the driver change from Sheena Monk to Stevan McAleer. The team rejoined the race in 15th, but recovered to finish 11th in the competitive class.

Inception Racing placed 15th in the No. 70 Ferrari 296 GT3 co-driven by Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff.

Next up for Ferrari in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship will be the Detroit Grand Prix, a 100-mile sprint on the streets of downtown Motor City featuring the GTD Pro competitors along with the GTP class for LMDh and Hypercar Prototypes, scheduled from 30 to 31 May.

GT World Challenge Asia. Solid performances and class podium finishes for the Ferraris competing at the Mandalika International Circuit on the island of Lombok in Indonesia, which hosted an international car race for the first time.
In the first of the two races in the second leg of the series, the Chinese pairing of Deng Yi and Chen Weian took the win in the Silver class – and finished fourth place overall – at the wheel of the number 96 Winhere Harmony Racing entry, also thanks to an excellent pit strategy. The team also celebrated a podium in Race-2 with third place in class.
Also finishing in the overall top 10 in the opening race of the weekend were Indonesian driver Anderson Tanoto and the promising Thierry Vermeulen in the number 98 Absolute Corse 296 GT3, securing sixth place in the Pro Am class.
Another podium of the day came in the Am class from reigning champion David Tjiptobiantoro, alongside Christian Colombo in the number 75 of the Garage 75 team, who took third place in the second race of the weekend.
Race-2 also saw the number 60 296 GT3 of LM Corse – with Japanese driver Shigekazu Wakisaka and rookie Giancarlo Fisichella – claim seventh place overall and fifth in the Pro Am class.

It was a more challenging round for the second Winhere Harmony Racing car, the number 55 of Liu Hangcheng and Lorenzo Patrese, who after retiring from Race-1 managed to finish in eighth place in the Silver Am class.

The next round of the Asian series – featuring the fifth and sixth races of the championship – will take place in Thailand, at the Chang International Circuit, from 30 May to 1 June.

NLS. After an excellent fifth place in qualifying and a convincing start that even saw it leading the race, the number 45 Ferrari of Realize Kondo Racing with Rinaldi – with official Ferrari driver Thomas Neubauer, David Perel, and Axcil Jeffries at the steering wheel – the only Ferrari competing in the 56th Adenauer Rundstrecken-Trophy, was forced to return to the pits. After a long stop, the 296 GT3 returned on the track but ended the race towards the rear of the field.
The next round of the championship on the German Green Hell is the eagerly awaited qualifying session for the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, scheduled from 23 to 25 May.