Cheever Returns to Spirit of Race for Petit Le Mans

Two Spirit Of Race Ferrari 458 Italias with high potential squads will compete in the Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 4.

Eddie Cheever III will join Piergiuseppe Perazzini and Marco Cioci in the No. 49 “Rossa” Ferrari in the 10-hour race, while Pasin Lathouras, Michele Rugolo and Matt Griffin will share the No. 51 Ferrari 458 in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season finale.

Cheever is coming off a in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series last weekend at Magione, Italy, winning at the Autodromo dell’Umbria. Cheever went from third to first in the first turn on the first lap and led the remainder of the race for his second victory of the season. He won at the famed British Brands Hatch circuit in June.“I’m really happy to run in my second race in the TUDOR Championship with Spirit of Race,” said Cheever, the son of Eddie Cheever Jr., a former Formula One driver with 143 career Grand Prix starts and 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner. “This will be my first race at Road Atlanta, and also the longest race of my career so far. The track looks really nice, and I can’t wait to get back in the car.”Cheever, a 21-year-old native of Rome, made his TUDOR Championship debut at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, finishing 19th for Spirit of Race. He swept both races at Monza, Italy in the EURO V8 Series in April, and also won the 2012 Italian European F3 championship. He is currently fifth in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series championship but is still within striking distance of the leader.Perazzini is a veteran of GT racing at the highest level, finishing second in his class in the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans for AF Corse Ferrari. He finished 16th for Spirit of Race at the 2014 Rolex 24 At Daytona.Both Spirit Of Race Ferraris will be technically managed by AF Corse at Petit Le Mans.The start of the Petit Le Mans is scheduled at 11.15 am  ET Saturday, Oct. 4 at Road Atlanta.