AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari 458 Italia will start fifth Saturday at Road America

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport Racing with Ferrari 458 Italia will start fifth at historic Road America in Saturday’s VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 with drivers Kenny Wilden and Jeff Segal.

Round 9 of the 2013 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series, the timed 2-3/4-hour VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250 can be seen live on SPEED tomorrow, Saturday, August 10, at 5 p.m. EDT/2 p.m. PDT.

No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Motorsport Racing, Ferrari 458

Photo by: Jackie Buys

A truncated qualifying session did not allow the No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Ferrari to replicate its third place pace in the morning practice session, but did allow new driver Wilden a chance to run his first laps in the car.

“In practice I didn’t even get a lap in; it went black every time I went out,” Wilden said. “So my first real lap was the first lap of qualifying. I was just getting more comfortable with the car. On the second lap, the session went black, and coming out of Canada Corner we had a very good lap going, but it was just unfortunate not to finish it.”

Wilden teams with Segal in the No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Ferrari this weekend as regular team driver Max Papis is filling in for the injured Tony Stewart at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in Watkins Glen.

“At Indy, I drove a Ferrari and we had a really good run there,” Wilden said. “I think that gave them some confidence when the other driver fell through. So here, I was just sitting in my GS car and Ian (Willis, Chief Technical Officer for AIM Autosport) walks over. I thought he was going to talk about Indy, and he comes over and says, ‘Do you want to drive with us this weekend?’ I said, ‘Absolutely!’ That’s as fast as it happened.”

Segal and the No. 61 R.Ferri/AIM Ferrari are seeking their second win in a row after he and Papis won the last race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Segal and Emil Assentato took the GT class win at Road America in 2012, in the No. 69 AIM Autosport Team FXDD Racing with Ferrari F458 Italia.

Assentato, who drives this year with Anthony Lazzaro in the No. 69 AIM/FXDD Ferrari, will start eighth in the GT class field on Saturday. Assentato turned a best lap of 2:13.630 (109.053 mph) in the qualifying session.

The only scheduled on-track activity for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series on Saturday is the featured and timed 2-3/4-hour VisitFlorida.com Sports Car 250.

AIM Motorsport Racing