in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Series This October
Risi Competizione Team Principal Giuseppe Risi announced today that his Risi Competizione Ferrari team will return to competition in the International Motor Sport Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series at this year's Motul Petit Le Mans race, October 11-13.
"We will return to race in the Petit Le Mans IMSA final event of the season with our No. 62 Risi Competizione 488 GTLM Ferrari," said Giuseppe Risi. "We have run a limited racing schedule this year as other business and personal factors have taken a greater priority, but we're pleased to get back to Road Atlanta with our Ferrari race team. We've experienced a great deal of success as a team at the Petit Le Mans race and we look forward to adding more provenance to our race car and team history."
Risi Competizione Team Principal Giuseppe Risi
The drivers for the 2018 Motul Petit Le Mans have not yet been named but look for the familiar red 488 GTLM Prancing Horse to seek further history for the popular Risi Competizione team.
The Risi Competizione team competed earlier this year at the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring, and in partnership with Keating Motorsports for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.
For the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Risi Competizione entered two cars, the No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE entry with driver Toni Vilander, James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon, who finished fifth in GTLM class. The second car was a GTD class entry of the Ferrari 488 GT3 for Miguel Molina, Matt Griffin, Martin Fuentes, Santiago Creel and Ricardo Perez de Lara, who finished 17th.
At the 12 Hours of Sebring the Risi Competizione Ferrari GTE also finished fifth in the GTLM class with Vilander, Calado and Pier Guidi.
For Le Mans, Risi Competizione and Keating Motorsports partnered for the GTE-Am class entry with Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Luca Stolz, who captured a third-place podium finish in the GTE-Am class in a Ferrari 488 GTE at the 86th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in Le Mans, France.
Last year drivers Vilander, Pier Guidi and Giancarlo Fisichella took home third-place honors in the 20th annual Petit Le Mans race. In 2016 Risi Competizione captured the team's fourth victory at the historic 10-hour race at Road Atlanta with drivers Vilander, Fisichella and Calado.
A Risi Ferrari was the inaugural winner of the 1998 Petit Le Mans in the legendary Ferrari 333 SP with Wayne Taylor, Eric van der Poele and Emmanuel Collard. Risi Competizione returned to the top step in 2008 and 2009 with drivers Jamie Melo and Mika Salo, and joined by Pierre Kaffer in 2009, in the formidable Ferrari 430 GT2. The team had another five additional podium finishes at Road Atlanta for the classic Petit Le Mans race.
