- Ferrari's new 458 Italia Grand Am will make its racing debut in February at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
- The 458 Italia Grand Am is based on Ferrari's European GT3 racecar.
- The 458 Italia Grand Am was co-developed with Michelotto Automobili.
DAYTONA, Florida — Ferrari's new GT3-based 458 Italia Grand Am will make its racing debut in February at the 24 Hours of Daytona.
Based on Ferrari's European GT3 racecar and co-developed with Michelotto Automobili, the 458 Italia Grand Am made its track debut in July at home on the Fiorano circuit.
The American 458 Italia Grand Am racer differs from the European 458 Italia GT3 in several respects. It has a higher-output V8, rated at 500 horsepower, that is fitted with a 48mm restrictor plate and a rev limiter. A rollover bar is installed, and the brakes have been tuned to compensate for the absence of ABS and traction control. All Grand Am cars in the series will be shod with hard-compound racing rubber from Continental, the sole supplier.
The car will be campaigned in 2012 by Scuderia AF Corse and will be crewed by Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, North American rally champion Travis Pastrana and endurance racing veterans Rui Aguas and Robert Kauffman.
The Daytona race, celebrating its 50th anniversary and now called the Rolex 24 at Daytona, runs January 26-29.
Inside Line says: Daytona has witnessed a string of historic Ferrari wins from some of motorsports' most-storied names — Hill, Rodriguez, Bandini, Amon, Andretti and Ickx, among them.
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deanoflas says:
05:40 AM, 12/07/2011
like a beautiful woman who was self-conscious and had to go get botox...and came out looking worse than before
cardesigner82 says:
07:50 PM, 12/06/2011
Does the 'Corsa Rossa' come standard with the non-matching sticker just infront of the rear axle? I guess it protects against flying rocks from the front tires, but c'mon Ferrari...match the color at least!