WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen brings back the endurance racing element of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship after a trio of shorter ‘sprint’ races. It also signals the return of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class.
The Risi team and its primary drivers – Ferrari factory team pilots Daniel Serra and Davide Rigon – compete only in the five races that make up the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. And the opening pair of endurance cup rounds couldn’t have gone much better for the Texas-based team that has become synonymous with the legendary Italian marque in the eyes of American fans.
Rigon and Serra claimed the victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, assisted by Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, who finished third overall for Ferrari in the 24 Hours of Le Mans last weekend. Serra, Rigon and Calado then followed up their Daytona triumph with a second place at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac.
At that point, Serra, Rigon and Calado held a 98-point lead in the GTD PRO standings over the Paul Miller Racing trio of Madison Snow, Bryan Sellers and Neil Verhagen (No.1 BMW M4 GT3), though they trailed PMR in the separate Michelin Endurance Cup rankings, which uses a different point scoring formula.
Since then, the No. 77 AO Racing ‘Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3 R and drivers Sebastian Priaulx and Laurin Heinrich used consecutive sprint race victories at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Detroit Street Circuit to take over the regular season class points lead. Now the Michelin Endurance Cup contenders return to the fray at Watkins Glen Int’l, bringing the full field to a robust 56 cars, including 11 in GTD PRO.
Rigon and Serra were also in action last week at Le Mans, and they can’t wait to resume their pursuit of the Michelin Endurance Cup crown.
“Of course, I can’t wait to come back to the U.S. with Risi and get back to leading the (IMEC) championship,” exclaimed Rigon. “Since Sebring, I’ve been waiting so much to come back. I only learned the Watkins Glen track two years ago, but I really love this track. I’m absolutely ready for this race.”
The Risi entry placed fifth in the GTD PRO class in the opening practice session, with Serra setting a lap time of 1:46.417 around the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course.
“Last year we finished in second place and we fought for a victory here,” Serra remarked. “I hope we can have the same performance this weekend.”