In a wild 100-minute race that featured numerous caution periods and incidents, a Ferrari emerged to finish on the podium in Saturday afternoon’s IMSA Sports Car Championship at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The no. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 drove from its starting position of 11th to finish in third position in the GT-Daytona class. Christina Nielsen started the race and advanced several positions before fast pit work by the Scuderia Corsa team allowed her teammate Alessandro Balzan to take the car over in fifth position.
Locked into a multi-car battle for position throughout the second half of the race, Balzan ensured a podium finish for the Ferrari with a late-race pass into turn nine. The third-place finish was the second straight podium for the Ferrari after Scuderia Corsa finished second at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
In the GT-LeMans class it would be a short race for the no. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Starting in third position, Toni Vilander jumped to the lead in the first corner but would be involved in an incident with a Prototype class car in the fifth corner. The resulting damage forced Vilander to retire the Ferrari.
Before Long Beach, Risi Competizione had finished in third position at both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.
The next round of the IMSA Sports Car Championship will be May 4-6 at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas.
