Risi Competizione overcame several technical challenges during its home race at Circuit of The Americas to finish fourth in the manufacturer-led GTLM category at the Lone Star Le Mans TUDOR race.
After a difficult qualifying session yesterday which placed the No.62 Ferrari 458 Italia in 10th place on the starting grid, to finish four seconds off the class podium should be considered a very good result. The placing gives the team and its drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Pierre Kaffer valuable points towards its final championship position, supplementing those gained for two victories from the last two rounds and second place at Indianapolis at the end of July.
Risi Competizione overcame a number of issues during today’s 2h45 minute race, which started in cloudy conditions and under temperatures of 80oF ambient/91oF track. A light sprinkle of rain kept everyone on their toes but not enough to require an additional trip to the pits for new Michelin tires, and temperatures rose considerably towards the end of the race as the sun came out.
Brake problems have dogged Risi’s Ferrari all weekend and, despite changing master cylinders, discs and callipers, the drivers still experienced ‘spongy’ brakes during the race. A big vibration also made life difficult for the drivers, seemingly from one of the rear tires, but the decision was taken to solider on and not to stop to preserve 4th place in the final classification.
Giancarlo Fisichella: “I think it’s a very good result considering qualifying yesterday. We had no pace, and the car today was much better, more consistent and driveable, after the changes made overnight. In my first stint, which was aggressive and on the pace, I was catching everyone but as soon as I left the pits after my stop I had a vibration and big understeer. Then we had a gearbox issue, losing hydraulic pressure, so I had to do a few laps in manual mode which wasn’t easy and we lost a place to the Porsche then. I tried different things and it got back to normal. Towards the end we were catching up to Pat Long in the third-placed Porsche but in the end I had a big lock up and a big, big vibration as a result. Considering all the problems, we had a very good result and I’m looking forward to Petit Le Mans which is a big race.”
Pierre Kaffer: “The start was a big mess as the LMPs in front of me went off too soon and I was worried I’d get hit as the yellow flags came out so quickly. It was a bit scary! After the second start everything was back to normal – we improved the car a lot since yesterday and a big thank you to the engineers and mechanics who worked hard on that overnight. Unfortunately we had some trouble with the brakes and I couldn’t stop the car as I wanted, but I think my stint was pretty good considering. The boys, as usual, did a fantastic job in the pits and it’s a shame we missed the podium by only 3 seconds or something like that. Coming from the back, I think we can be quite satisfied with our 4th place. It’s not so bad!”