It was clear to see that every team and manufacturer had pulled out all the stops to try and win the Golden Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona…

Almost a week after the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, I think its safe to say that my own physical recovery from the race is complete, but the emotional battering I took from the ups and downs of the race weekend will take longer to heal. We entered the weekend brimming with confidence, and hopeful that we could steer our Ferrari 458 Italia GT Grand-Am to the podium, if not a win.

Practice and qualifying only served to reassure us that our confidence was well founded, as we secured a front-row qualifying spot in one of the most competitive GT fields anywhere in the world. Sadly, the race result would be a letdown for our AIM Autosport Team FXDD organization, as our consistent front running pace and polished pit work would not be enough to overcome a variety of small issues we encountered as the race unfolded.

Looking back on our weekend, though, it wasn’t all doom and gloom, as our car’s eighth-place finish was in fact quite respectable given the fierce level of competition from the other 45 entries in the GT class. The outright pace of this year’s race was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, and despite the sprint-race mentality employed by most of the drivers, the rate of attrition was surprisingly low.

It was clear to see that every team and manufacturer had pulled out all the stops to try and win the Golden Anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and the quality of the competition in the GT class certainly reflected this effort. Ferrari also pushed hard to make an impression in their comeback to GRAND-AM racing, and while I feel that we showed tremendous promise for the future of this model in the GT class, ultimately I think we still have some work to do before we can beat the established Rolex Series GT manufacturers at their own game.

Our weekend in Daytona started very well in fact, with the car showing a very strong pace from the start of the first practice session. I shared driving duties for the first morning with my long-time co-driver Emil Assentato, as we worked to tune the car for the track conditions and prepare for qualifying. We were fortunate that all of the changes made by the team since the Roar Before the 24 had pushed the car in the right direction and towards the top of the charts, and we focused on minor changes to the suspension and aerodynamics before qualifying to perfect the package.

Overall we agreed that the car was fairly easy to drive, consistent in terms of tire wear, and our main concern was to try and coerce some more top-speed from the car to compete with the lightning-fast Porsches on the long straights of Daytona International Speedway.

I had been nominated to qualify our car for the race, and heading into qualifying I’ll admit that I was feeling a bit nervous. I felt good about the performance of the car that AIM Autosport Team FXDD had worked hard to prepare, and I felt good about my ability to get the most out of our car in these conditions. However, I’ve probably never competed in a field stacked with as much driving talent as there was in this year’s GT class, and the practice times had showed that a time difference of one tenth of a second could mean five or more positions in the results. I knew it was going to be critical to maximize everything in order to qualify at the front in this crowd, so the pressure was really on me to deliver.

With the experience of qualifying at Daytona several times in the past few years, I headed out on to the track aware that my best chance for success was to find a good drafting partner. Drafting in qualifying is always a tricky art though, as there is a very fine line between benefiting from a strong tow down the straight, or instead getting blocked in the next braking zone by the leading car if you are too close. I was well positioned to catch the tail end of the draft from both Turner Motorsport BMW M3s as qualifying began, but on each of the first three laps it seemed like they would make a large mistake on one part of the track or another, forcing me to abort my laps to avoid making contact with their cars.

With time quickly running out in the 15-minute qualifying session, I decided to pass the M3s and try to get the critical tow I was seeking from a Dodge Viper I could see running just up the road. The first part of the lap was excellent, and I felt like I really nailed the infield portion of the track perfectly. Exiting turn six and coming onto the banking, I was ideally positioned behind the Viper, whose size relative to our Ferrari 458 made it the perfect drafting partner to punch a big hole in the air in front of me.

I drafted right up behind the Viper, looking to use the speed boost to pass him before the bus-stop chicane, which would have left me on target for a very fast lap. However, the high-powered Viper showed remarkable top speed, and despite the huge effect of the draft that I had received, it wasn’t enough for me to clear him before the braking zone. We entered the bus-stop side-by-side, sideways and into the dirty part of the track, ruining both of our laps and leaving me with just one more lap to produce a lap time before qualifying ended.

Determined to secure a good qualifying position but without a drafting partner in front of me, I began my last lap of qualifying prepared to take maximum risk to produce a quick time and a grid spot towards the front of the field. Supremely late braking in turn one produced an alarming twitch of the 458’s rear-end, which was caused by a momentary lock of the rear brakes. Its an uneasy sensation fighting to keep the car pointed in the right direction as you decelerate from nearly 180mph into turn one, but the precious few tenths of a second gained are worth it in qualifying. I was careful not to overdrive the painfully slow turn three, then used all the road to stay flat-out through the kink, and maximized the power-down out of turn five and six to carry good speed onto the back straight.

Another close-call as the car twitched in protest on entry to the bus-stop, and I could see by the car’s lap timer that this would be a very good lap as I drove towards NASCAR turn three and four. My fingers were crossed all the way to the finish line, and I immediately heard the team erupt with excitement on the radio as they informed me that we had secured P2 in the closing moments of qualifying.

It was not the pole position I was looking for, but it was a very strong performance and certainly something I was proud of under the circumstances. We would start the race as the fastest of the five Ferrari entries, which was no small feat considering the experience of the drivers and teams we had beat just within the Ferrari group. It was also gratifying to be a part of what seemed to be like a very popular storyline with two of sports car racing’s most iconic brands—Porsche and Ferrari—sharing the front row for the 50th Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The excitement from qualifying propelled the team through the pre-race preparations in good spirits, and we were all optimistic that we would be able to carry our momentum into the race. Sadly, that momentum was short-lived as we immediately began to struggle with a very tricky brake issue from the drop of the green flag all the way to the finish of the race.

The brake issue made late braking a very difficult task for all of the drivers, as the likelihood of locking front tires and losing control of the car loomed in every corner, particularly in heavy traffic where we might need to check-up unexpectedly to avoid contact. While the Porsche excels in straight-line performance, the Ferrari derives much of its performance from incredible brakes, and with our issue it was very difficult to exploit the strength of our car, which made for a long race against a field of rapid Porsches!

Despite our persistent braking difficulties, we showed very encouraging pace throughout the race, and it was only through a series of small on-track altercations and strategic errors that we finally lost touch with the lead-pack late in the night portion of the race. Despite falling out of contention for the win, we soldiered on at full speed and looked to maximize our points haul for the championship fight ahead, which I feel we did as well as possible.

At the finish I think we were all disappointed with our eighth place, but ultimately we were all encouraged with the overall pace, reliability, and durability that the Ferrari showed throughout the race, especially given that this was the car’s first race event. Given how quickly our program came together in the off-season, our result is all the more remarkable, and a real testament to the hard work of AIM Autosport, Michelotto, and Ferrari.

When you consider that the top three finishing cars arguably drove the elusive ‘perfect’ race for 24 hours, it gives some perspective to the difficulty of even placing a car into the top 10 at the checkered flag of this race. Our car, drivers, and team performed very well, but in the end a series of small glitches and minor errors was enough to cost us the chance at a win.

Despite the issues we faced, we learned an incredible amount about our new Ferrari throughout the race, and I’m confident that this data will help us further refine the car as we enter the upcoming sprint races that comprise the regular race season. Rest assured, we’ll be looking for redemption in the coming races.

We finally have a bit of a break in the schedule before Rolex Series action resumes in March, but nobody in our organization will be sitting still for too long.

The team has very ambitious development plans for our Ferrari 458, and we will be looking to apply the lessons learned in order to be more competitive at the next race at Barber Motorsports Park on March 30 – 31.

~Jeff

Follow Jeff Segal at www.jeffreysegal.com and the Jeff Segal Fan Page on Facebook.

Daytona, Fla. (January 30, 2012) – AIM Autosport Team FXDD took eighth place yesterday in the GT class of the Fiftieth Anniversary Rolex 24 at Daytona as its FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia GT Grand-Am performed flawlessly for 24 consecutive hours at Daytona International Speedway. The team faced stiff competition in its debut race with its new Ferrari, battling 47 other cars in the GT class with top drivers representing GT championships around the world.
The twice-around-the-clock race began on Saturday at 3:30pm with Jeff Segal at the wheel of the AIM Autosport Team FXDD entry. On Thursday afternoon, Segal qualified second, putting the car on the front row for the start of its first race. After briefly surging into the lead, Segal settled into race pace for the long drive ahead.
Although the FXDD Ferrari 458 ran flawlessly for Segal and his co-drivers, Emil Assentato, Anthony Lazzaro and Nick Longhi, the gruelling 24-hour contest was not without anxious moments.

A couple of contact incidents within the first six hours of the race, including one that knocked the car into a spin, gave the team cause for concern, but AIM Autosport had put significant effort into protecting key components of the car in the event of light contact and the Ferrari emerged unscathed from both incidents.
Another moment of drama arose when Longhi ran out of fuel as he neared the end of a driving stint in hour nine. The car coasted into the pits where it was refuelled and Longhi handed off to Segal. The motor stumbled after the stop, but the quick-thinking Segal was able to reset the computer and rejoin the fray.

The most significant setback came 11h 15m into the race when Lazzaro received a 1m 50s penalty for passing the pace car under yellow. Lazzaro was, in fact, entitled by the rule book to pass the pace car, but as Race Control had yet to issue permission at the time of the pass, the penalty was levied upon AIM Autosport Team FXDD and a few other teams who had interpreted the new 2012 yellow-flag rules in similar fashion.
From that point on, the race went quite smoothy for AIM Autosport Team FXDD. At around the 12-hour mark—near 3:30am—the team made a scheduled replacement of front brake rotors and pads. Then, while running eighth with just 45 minutes remaining in the race and a sizeable gap to the next car, the team elected to replace the front-left brake pads as a precautionary measure. The service was completed without losing a position and the car went on to cross the finish line eighth in the GT class.

“I am a little disappointed that we were not fighting for the win. On the other hand, today we proved that the Ferrari 458 Italia GT Grand-Am has great potential and is reliable over 24 hours,” said Segal, who logged over ten hours in the car during the 24-hour run.

“First of all, I am very pleased to have finished the race. With a new car, there is always the question of reliability and for the car to finish a 24-hour race on its debut is a testament to both Ferrari and the standard of preparation by AIM Autosport Team FXDD,” stated Assentato.

“Ferrari proved today that it is a force to be reckoned with in Grand-Am endurance racing,” said Lazzaro. “For me, it was satisfying and encouraging to see the pace and reliability that the new car had.”

“This first race has certainly justified Ferrari’s decision to create the 458 Italia GT Grand-Am; our car was both fast and perfectly reliable,” remarked Nick Longhi. “The highlight for me though was qualifying, Jeff putting the car on the front row in the most competitive GT field in 50 years of Daytona racing history. It was very satisfying for our team to give Ferrari that result to thank them for their great support in such an important event.”
“Given our strong qualifying performance, it is easy to focus on just the race win and overlook what a tremendous achievement it is for a new car to finish a 24-hour race as gruelling as Daytona,” said Race Engineer, Ian Willis. “I’m reasonably content with the result, but am much more excited by the speed and reliability it showed out of the box.”

AIM Autosport now has two months before round two of the 2012 Rolex Sports Car Series, the Porsche 250, scheduled for March 30–31 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala. The team will not be taking any time off during this long break in the schedule; as soon as the car arrives back at the team’s headquarters in Woodbridge, Ont., the crew will start the process of stripping, examining and rebuilding the car.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 26, 2012) – Jeff Segal and AIM Autosport Team FXDD welcomed Ferrari back to the Rolex 24 At Daytona in style Thursday as the former GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT Champion qualified the team’s new Ferrari 458 Italia GT Grand Am second in the GT class for this weekend’s 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Segal lapped the 3.56-mile, 12-turn road course at 1:49.357 (117.197 mph) on eighth and final flying lap of the quick 15-minute session. The 50th Anniversary Rolex 24 At Daytona begins this Saturday, January 28, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage on SPEED starts Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT.
I’ve been on the pole for the Rolex 24 in 2010 and that was a great achievement,” Segal said. “But for some reason, being on the front row in a Ferrari seems like an even bigger achievement. We’ve started with a brand new car with a lot of support from Ferrari, and a lot of support from Michelotto, and a lot of hard work from AIM Autosport FXDD, and it paid off. It’s not surprising, everybody has worked really diligently towards this, but it is very rewarding. Qualifying is a small part of this weekend but it’s a nice feather in the cap and hopefully this race will be just as good.”

Segal and the team are cautiously optimistic heading into Friday’s final practice sessions and will run through a full checklist of items in preparations for this weekend’s day-long race.

“My job up to this point is pretty much done,” Segal said. “We did a lot of car development this morning and just had to qualifying it and bring it back in one piece. From this point on, we’ll do a little driver change practice and rest up. That’s really all you can do. We’ve got a good car and I know the guys have some last minute things they’ve got to do to it, but I think the whole team now gets to sort of wax the car they helped prepare and come back for the race.”

For the 2012 season, Segal is piloting the new Ferrari with teammate and 2010 GRAND-AM Rolex Series GT co-champion Emil Assentato. During the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the team has enlisted to two additional drivers in familiar teammates Nick Longhi and Anthony Lazzaro who have joined Segal and Assentato in the last two runnings of the Rolex 24.

To follow the Rolex 24 at Daytona, visit www.grand-am.com and click on LIVE TIMING AND SCORING.