Risi Competizione Ferrari Team Relishes Challenge of Long Beach

Risi Competizione Ferrari Team Relishes Challenge of Long Beach

Team Looks to Capture Third Podium in a Row During Ferrari's 70th Anniversary Year

The first street race of the season, the BUBBA burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach, April 7-8, 2017, is a challenge the Risi Competizione team relishes. Having been on the podium there the numerous times, including the past two seasons, been a victor on the streets of Long Beach years ago and having two of the top GT drivers in the world with Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander, give the privateer Ferrari team from Houston, Texas the confidence they need to accept the challenge with a fire in their belly.

The history of the Risi Competizione team at Long Beach includes one victory (2007) in the Ferrari 430 GT and six additional podium finishes in nine attempts, with two of those years being a two-car team entry.

The 100-minute race around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit is Round 3 of the 2017 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, where the Risi team has collected third place finishes at both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring for the first two rounds during the year of the 70th year anniversary of Ferrari.

 

2016 Grand Prix of Long Beach Podium

Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
Braking and power on the straights seem to be key at Long Beach. How tough will it be to get that combination just right in the car setup?
"The one long straight at Long Beach is certainly important. You need really good low speed front grip and good power down off the hairpin leading on the straight to get a good run down the straight. Turn 1, end of the straight, is one of the few passing zones at Long Beach. I think everyone learned from last year's race; I know we did. The BoP (Balance of Performance) has evolved and improved for us and we've learned more about the car and the specific tire we'll run at Long Beach. I think we have the best chance we've had in a very long time to have a good result at Long Beach."

Toni and Giancarlo are both good street circuit race drivers. How important is it to have drivers who excel on a street circuit at a challenging track like Long Beach?
"Critical...there is very little track time and in the first session we're cleaning the track, its cold and the track is low grip. The track will evolve significantly in this session and keep changing up to the race on Saturday. The drivers need to adapt. Both Toni and Giancarlo have done multiple races here and know what's needed to produce a good result."

Risi won at Long Beach 11 years ago and has had five additional podiums, including that past two years. With the current manufacturer battle going on in GTLM is a victory or podium a possibility this year?
"Yes...I would not say we have the 'best' BoP in GTLM, but we have the best that we have had thus far with the F488 GTLM. We know the car better and have many years of experience with this race. We prefer the current Michelin tire over the tire we ran last year. There are many pluses...we just have to put it all together, stay out of trouble, and have a good clean race and one great pit stop."

Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:
You have said that the Long Beach street circuit gives drivers a big challenge to elevate the risk level to find that last bit of time. How do you know when to push the risk and when to back off?
"It depends what stage of the weekend you are in. Race and qualifying are the biggest challenge."

Risi won at Long Beach 11 years ago and Ferrari had their last victory there 10 years ago. With 2017 being the 70th anniversary of Ferrari, how special would it be to bring a victory to both your team and Ferrari at Long Beach this weekend?
"It is really special; we want to win and we need to win for Risi and for Ferrari."

You and Giancarlo are coming off podiums at two of the most difficult races in the world at Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours. Does that put more pressure on you for Long Beach?
"There's no extra pressure. It's just confirmation that first at Petit, third at Daytona and third Sebring doesn't come by pure luck. We have the crew and the speed to do well."

Southern California is a great place to visit. What is your favorite thing to do in the Long Beach besides racing?
"Unfortunately, I normally don't have much extra time but I love the people, food and the atmosphere."

 

Giancarlo Fisichella, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:
You and Toni are coming off podiums at two of the most difficult races in the world at Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours. Does that put more pressure on you for Long Beach?
"I think we are quite happy about the start of the season with scoring two podiums. We were quite competitive. We're looking forward to this weekend because in the past, even the last two years, we've scored podiums in Long Beach. The circuit could be good for our car. We need to score points again. It would be nice to get on podium three times in a row. We would like to win the race, which is not easy, but we have good potential. I'm looking forward to it and let's see what happens."

You have been on the podium your past two races at Long Beach as well in four previous attempt and have said you like street races. Is this the year for victory there?
"Long Beach is a street circuit, a very challenging circuit. It's quite twisty with slow speed corners and a hairpin before the start/finish line. You need a good traction for this circuit. I like the circuit, I like the atmosphere there. I'm very happy to go there again. There is also an Indycar race and will be lots of people there. We want to score a good result."

Risi won at Long Beach 11 years ago and Ferrari had their last victory there 10 years ago. With 2017 being the 70th anniversary of Ferrari, how special would it be to bring a victory to both your team and Ferrari at Long Beach this weekend?
"Unfortunately, last time was too many years ago. It would be nice to win again in Long Beach, especially because it's the anniversary of Ferrari. It's going to be difficult but we'll try our best."

Southern California is a great place to visit. What is your favorite thing to do in the Long Beach besides racing?
"The weather is nice there and the race is fantastic; we're next to the sea and 40 mins from LA so it's a great place. Just jet lag will be tough, as it's about nine hours from European time zone. It's an unbelievable nice place."

The first practice session begins Friday morning, April 7 at 7:40 a.m. PDT with GTLM class qualifying at 5:40-5:55 p.m. The race runs on Saturday, April 8 from 1:05-2:45 p.m. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and the IMSA Smartphone app.

Tune-In Information:
In the U.S., watch the Grand Prix at Long Beach live on Saturday, April 8 from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2 with a replay on FOX Sports at 8:00 p.m and a second replay at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday on FOX Sports. All times are Eastern. The Grand Prix at Long Beach is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app and IMSA.TV.


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