Russia’s most successful sports car team will be coming to the Rolex 24 At Daytona in 2016, racing cars in two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes.
Moscow-based SMP Racing will take its 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning drivers to Daytona, partnering with AF Corse to field a new Ferrari F488 GTE in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. The team will also field a BM01 in the Prototype (P) category, making the American debut of the LMP2 car that first raced in 2015.
Andrea Bertolini and Victor Shaytar – LM GTE Am class winners in June’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ferrari F458 Italia GTC – will co-drive the new Ferrari at Daytona, joined by a pair of yet to be announced veteran drivers. The pair combined with SMP Motorsports to win the ELMS GTE title in 2014 and recently locked up the 2015 FIA WEC GTE Am championship in the Six Hours of Bahrain.
“It will be tough,” Bertolini said of the Rolex 24. “This year, the level of competition in GTLM is really strong. Everyone will be there with news cars – like Ferrari and Ford. It is the most important race – along with Le Mans – of the season. Of course, everything will be new. We are really happy with the new car, but for everyone will be starting from zero and we have to check where we will be with the performance.”
Bertolini, a 41-year-old Italian, was the 2010 FIA GT1 World Champion. In 2012, he opened his 2012 FIA WEC championship season with an LM GTE Pro victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. He was a three-time competitor in the Rolex 24, joining Risi Competizione in finishing fifth in the GT class in 2012, and placed seventh in GTLM in a Krohn Racing Ferrari in 2014. In January, he placed 14th for Scuderia Corsa in a Ferrari.
“Having raced Daytona three times is a big help, learning how the race develops and about the traffic and strategy,” Bertolini said. “We were really strong this past year, and I had the feeling we had a strong chance to win the class before we had problems. You have to be really focused coming to Daytona, because it’s a very tricky race. You have to keep the car in one piece for the first 22 hours, and then be ready for the strong fighting in the last two hours.”
Shaytar, a 32-year-old Moscow resident, has five career championships – including the 2013 ELMS GTC title – in addition to 37 career victories and 76 podiums.
SMP Racing will also have a separate crew fielding the No. 27 BR01 for a lineup including Nicolas Minassian and Maurizio Mediani, along with additional drivers to be announced. The pair captured the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship P2 title in an ORECA 03R. The new BR01 P2 Prototype competed at Le Mans this year with a two-car entry, finishing sixth and 13th in class in only the second race for the Paolo Catone-designed car.
Mediani drove with SMP Racing in its lone Rolex 24 appearance in 2014, finishing fourth in GTD co-driving a Ferrari 458 Italia with Boris Rotenberg, Sergey Zlobin, Mika Salo and Mikhail Aleshin.
AF Corse has also partnered with Spirit of Race in a third entry for the Rolex 24. The Italian team will have the No. 51 Ferrari 458 GT3 for Peter Mann, Raffaele Giammaria and drivers to be determined in the GT Daytona (GTD) class. AF Corse finished the 2015 WEC championship with a podium finish in the GTE Pro class in the Six Hours of Bahrain.