Jaime Melo – Risi Competizione #62 Ferrari 430 – 1st GT2
“I am really happy – we couldn’t ask for more than this at the start of the season. The Risi team is very, very good and, with three drivers who are very consistent like me, Gimmi and Pierre were today, it’s the way to win this kind of race. The Michelin tires work well for us and we can always rely on them completely. Having said that, the only problem we had was in my first stint when the tires went off a bit in the second half of the stint – because we’d done a few more laps in qualifying than our competitors. I know the 430 from when we first started developing the car in 2006 and we want to put it in the history books in the best way possible so we want to win this year so bad. By doing that, we can send it off in a good way.”
Gianmaria Bruni – Risi Competizione #62 Ferrari 430 – 1st GT2
“It’s a fantastic feeling to win, after being 2nd last year. It was special because it was kind of a dream race and I enjoyed it a lot. We were fighting at the beginning, then overtook the leader and pulled away. We were only not in the lead twice and both times we overtook the leader which was fun. We showed that the three of us drivers, Risi, and Michelin worked really well together and this really helps with momentum going into the rest of the season. I think it will be a great season!”
Pierre Kaffer – Risi Competizione #62 Ferrari 430 – 1st GT2
“It’s a wonderful feeling to win another endurance race and it’s awesome to drive the for best GT2 team with a Ferrari. From my part I am pleased to have been able to help the team start the season so well and give them a good way forward for Long Beach and the rest of the season. Thanks especially to all the mechanics who did a brilliant job after my little mistake earlier in the week – you really get to enjoy driving this car and to do it here with Jaime and Gimmi was really great.”
Giuseppe Risi – Team Principal Risi Competizione
“This is a very special moment, once again. There are always special moments when you race hard and have success, but even more so to win at Sebring and to do so for the third time in four years with the Ferrari 430. I hope that this goes a long way towards letting every 430 owner in the whole world know what a great car this is.”
Jörg Bergmeister – Flying Lizard #45 Porsche – 4th GT2
“I should have played the lottery today: the chances of having a flying wheel hit me are probably less than winning the jackpot. It was very unfortunate, we were running a solid second, within a few seconds of the Ferrari, when it happened. But we finished the race with both cars in the top 5, and we have good points for the championship. We didn’t have quite the pace of the Ferrari and BMW but made up for it in pit stops – thanks to the crew and entire team.”
Patrick Long – Flying Lizard #45 Porsche – 4th GT2
“We finished fourth here last year and it didn’t end up so bad for us. I would have liked to think we had a car that could have raced to the end for the podium, but there were certainly some guys who had an even rougher day than us. It’s about putting points on the board early in the season and getting into the swing – overall we’re happy with the result.”
Seth Neiman – Team principal and driver of the #44 Porsche – 5th GT2
“As always, Sebring was a grueling race. Thanks to the crew and drivers for putting it all on the line – we have to be satisfied with good points to start the season and we are now turning our attention to Long Beach.”
Tracy W. Krohn – # 61 Risi-Krohn Ferrari 430 – 7th GT2
“Overall it was a fairly good result. The problem was the car was misfiring and at the end we broke something in the right rear suspension. Nic was driving the car. I was going to get in the car for the final stint but with the motor misfiring and a broken rear shock it probably didn’t make sense to feel something you hadn’t gotten used to so we just kept Nic in and kept ahold of seventh place. I think under the circumstances, with the car underpowered and crippled, that was a pretty good finish. Both Nic and Eric did an outstanding job. Otherwise the car was pretty good. Brakes were good, balance was good, tires were good. It’s just one of those things that happens in racing once in awhile.”
Nic Jonsson – # 61 Risi-Krohn Ferrari 430 – 7th GT2
“It’s always fun to drive the Ferrari, of course. It’s kind of an honor to be driving a Ferrari in any type of race series. Unfortunately, today we had some electrical issues that caused the engine to cut out on us and lose power randomly. Then in the last hour and a half we also had a right rear shock go out on me, so it was a pretty rough last stint in the car. We brought it home in seventh place, which was mid-pack. We beat both the GM factory cars, the Corvettes, so we’re pleased with that. Everything worked in the middle of the day for some laps in a row without any interruption and we were able to run basically in the top 3-4 pace, which I’m very happy with. The sister car (No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari) won. They were definitely the class of the field and we couldn’t stay with them by any means. They were about a second quicker than we were. Otherwise I’m very pleased.
“Eric did a fantastic job. Tracy also did a good job staying out of trouble. The car was good, except the interruptions we had electronically, which the team didn’t have anything to do with. The preparation of the car was as good as always. I’m looking forward to going to Laguna for another 6-hour race and getting even more prepared for the big race in Le Mans in June.”
Eric van de Poele – #61-GT2 Ferrari 430 GT – 7th GT2
“I’m always very happy to finish a race at Sebring because it is always so hard. Again, we had a little problem but generally we did very good pit stops; I don’t think any of us made a mistake on the track, so that’s important; and the car was nearly perfect from a chassis point-of-view, except for the misfire from the engine. I had a problem with the brakes but except otherwise everything was fine and consistent. I’m happy always to finish this race. It’s a pleasure to drive for Giuseppe and Tracy. I also want to say congratulations to Jaime, Gimmi and Pierre and the whole Risi team. Everyone did a great job.”
Jan Magnussen – #3 Corvette – 8th GT2
“I can’t tell you all the things that had to line up for that to happen right there, but it was super unfortunate and everyone is feeling bad about it. I feel so sorry for the No. 4 Corvette – we were out of contention because we had a long pit stop, but the No. 4 car was in with a good shot, it was fast. I can guarantee that things will be done so that never happens again.”
Johnny O’Connell – #3 Corvette – 8th GT2
“Racing is hard stuff, and no matter how hard you try and how hard you prepare, sometimes things go wrong. You can either beat yourself up or be encouraged by how well the crew performed to get both cars back in the race. The guys were awesome. We got a lot of positives out of this event: We made good progress on our engine development and we got a gauge to measure where we stand versus the competition. The mark of a champion is overcoming adversity and finding ways to win, and I know this team can do that.”
Emmanuel Collard – #4 Corvette – 9th GT2
“It was a misunderstanding because normally I should pit one lap later, but I had a low fuel alarm on the back straight. I put the reserve on and they asked me come to the pits.”
Oliver Gavin – #4 Corvette – 9th GT2
“I don’t know which of the racing gods I’ve offended, but I’d certainly like to apologize. It’s been an extraordinary day, the most eventful ever for this team. We had a car capable of challenging anyone, but somehow it all went wrong. So now it’s on to Long Beach.”
Doug Fehan – Program manager Corvette Racing
“An incident like this has never happened before at Corvette Racing. A perfect storm of events that certainly we can’t attribute to any one thing caused the two cars to come together in pit lane. We’ll go back and look at what took place, establish procedures to ensure that it never happens again, and come back stronger for the next event. Even when our guys were laps down to the leaders, they ran just as hard after that incident as they did before. That tells you what Corvette Racing is about.”
Cécile Bonardel