Molina Set for SprintX With R. Ferri

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Miguel Molina will join Toni Vilander at the wheel of R. Ferri Motorsport’s Ferrari 488 GT3 for the Pirelli World Challenge SprintX rounds, beginning with this weekend’s season-opener at Circuit of The Americas.

The 29-year-old former Audi DTM driver is set for his PWC debut alongside fellow Ferrari factory ace Vilander, who kicked off the team’s Sprint season campaign earlier this month at St. Pete.

Confirmation of his placement with the Toronto-based team came with the release of the entry list for this weekend’s race on Monday.

Molina, who spearheaded Risi Competizione’s GT Daytona class lineup in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, is understood to have replaced Alessandro Pier Guidi, who was originally earmarked for the SprintX races but will instead focus on pre-season testing with AF Corse’s FIA World Endurance Championship program.

Vilander and Molina will combine to create the only all-factory driver lineup in the GT Pro-Pro class.

Car Rebuilt Following Vilander’s Crash

The team’s Ferrari has been rebuilt and is currently en route to Texas, following Vilander’s Race 2-ending crash in St. Pete.

“I talked to the team [last week] and was surprised to hear the guys are highly motivated,” Vilander told Sportscar365. “It went back to [Canada] because they were more confident in taking the car back, they were in their own environment.

 “There was initially a lot of damage but when they took things apart, the damage was less than expected. They had a lot of parts already in Toronto and some of it was shipped from Europe.”

Vilander indicated they plan to utilize Ferrari’s 2018-spec Evo kit this weekend, after starting the season in 2017 specification.

It comes amid TR3 Racing’s withdrawal from the St. Pete weekend, due to an alleged performance disadvantage for the Evo kit, which was forced to run 20 kg of additional weight for the SRO Category D-type track.

The No. 31 Ferrari, however, will return to action this weekend with an all-new lineup featuring Jeff Segal.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John