The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari Ferrari 458 Italia will start from the third position on the GTLM class grid for the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta.
Petit Le Mans is the final round in the 2015 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. The Risi Competizione Ferrari is one of eight GTLM class competitors to race alongside a total of 37 cars in four classes of competition for Saturday's grueling 10-hour race, which begins at 11:10 a.m. EDT.
Risi qualifying driver, Giancarlo Fisichella, whose best time in the 15-minute qualifying session, which was shortened to 11 minutes after a red flag accident, was a time of 1:32.989, at an average of 98.334 mph. This was the fifth-fastest time but in post-qualifying inspection, the pole winning car was disqualified for a ride height infraction. The car that qualified second on the grid had a crash, which brought an end to the session. They will make a chassis change and also start from the rear of the field.
Fisichella, who will start 23rd overall, is joined by teammates Pierre Kaffer (Germany) and Toni Vilander (Finland) in the last outing of the popular Ferrari 458 Italia race car in IMSA competition.
RICK MAYER, No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
"We are comfortable where we qualified the 458. For the amount of risk we were willing to take in those conditions, fifth is the best we could have hoped for. The car isn't particularly good in the wet and the rules have us at a downforce deficit, which decreases are competitiveness, particularly in wet conditions. A couple of cars crashed pretty hard in qualifying and we didn't want to risk that much. Post-qualifying we learned that the two Porsches will start at the back because of a post-qualifying inspection infraction and chassis change due to an accident. That will elevate us to starting third on the grid.
"We are hoping we will have a good clean race with no incidents. I think the race will come to us a bit because we have three really good drivers and not every team can say that. None of our drivers are 'third drivers'. They are all top notch drivers. We have had good pit work and strategy all year so we are hoping for a good result."
GIANCARLO FISICHELLA, No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia, Risi Competizione Qualifying Driver:
"The main problem for us is the hydroplaning. As soon is there is standing water anywhere we lose the control of the car. It would be really nice tomorrow to have dry conditions obviously. If it is wet I would like to see no standing water, which would be good for us. It is going to be a tough and long race and we will do our best and we have a really good driver line up and very good crew. So we are looking forward to doing our best and we will see."
Toni Vilander, No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia, Risi Competizione Driver: "First of all, it was a really good job from Giancarlo in the qualifying. We know this is the worst possible scenario for us when there is a lot of standing water out on the race track. We have not had much time running, but at the end of the day we need to use our experience and need to be there at the end. I know the weather forecast for the race looks really crazy with expected amounts of five inches of rain and so we will see how it goes. We really hope to get to do the race and get a clear run. Everybody must be safe. Safety is the first thing when we have that much water. It is one issue for GT cars but when we have trouble the DPs and Prototypes surely will have problems. It will be interesting tomorrow."
PIERRE KAFFER, No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia, Risi Competizione Driver:
"It looks like the weather tomorrow is going to be wet so we did everything to find a good wet setup and it will be a tough, long and difficult race and we need to survive."
Tune-In Information:
Live TV coverage of Petit Le Mans will start on October 3 from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. EDT on FOX Sports 2, then broadcast via the internet on IMSA.com from 12:00-2:30 p.m. From 2:30-7:00 p.m. FOX Sports 2 will again broadcast the race. IMSA.com will show the 7:00-8:30 p.m. broadcast and FOX Sports 2 will carry the last hour live through the podium ceremonies from 8:30-9:30 p.m. On Sunday October 4, FOX Sports 1 will broadcast a three-hour highlight of the Petit Le Mans race from 1:30-4:30 p.m EDT.
