Scuderia Corsa raised eyebrows in the pit lane this morning when the newly graduated GTLM team topped the timesheets in the first session at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The GTLM class is a battle ground between Porsche, Corvette, BMW, Ferrari and Ford. Teams such as Porsche North America, Corvette Racing, BMW Team RLL and Risi Competizione have all won in recent years.

With the improving pace of the new Ford GT – it is not expected to be a long wait until their new machine enters victory lane as well.

This category is regarded as the hot bed of global GT competition – this is as tough as it gets. But now these “new guys” have dominated the the timing screens today – not just once, but twice.

Established in 2011 to support the racing needs of Ferrari clients, the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari won the 2013 Rolex Series GT Team, Driver and Manufacturer Championships.

Last year they ran a three-car World Challenge squad and finished third in GTE-AM at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This year they are entering new Ferrari 488 GT3 in the GTD class and the Ferrari 488 GTE in the GTLM division.

The Californian squad has already won in GTD, taking victory at Sebring. After today’s stunning pace by Italian Alessandro Pier Guidi and Brazilian Daniel Serra, a victory in the GTLM class could be next.

“The day was very good in both practice sessions. We were working to choose the right tire compound for the race. Tomorrow we’ll have one final chance to make that decision after the third practice,” Pier Guidi said.

“Overall we are pretty good. We have fixed a couple of things but we can still improve. We are certainly the other teams will improve tomorrow but we are in good shape.”

Pier Guidi is a former alumni of the now defunct Superleague Formula championship (pictured right) which began in 2008 which had V12-powered open wheel cars racing with the colors of major international soccer clubs. The series actually featured other IMSA regulars including Visit Daytona Racing’s Ryan Dalziel and Risi Competizione endurance driver, Davide Rigon.

Serra is the son of legendary three-time Brazilian Stock Car champion and ex-Formula 1 driver, Chico Serra. He currently leads the Brazilian Stock Car Championship after the opening two rounds.

The highly competitive championship features a number of ex-Formula 1 stars including Rubens Barrichello, Ricardo Zonta and Luciano Burti.

In this afternoon’s second practice session, the mid-engine machines of Ferrari and Ford were the ones to catch. The No.67 and No.66 Fords were second and third fastest with the Risi Ferrari fourth in class.

//www.imsatiming.com/Results/2016/WeatherTech%20Championship/04-MRLS/WeatherTech%20Championship%20(P_GTLM)%20MRLS%20Practice%202.pdf