The popular Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM team, based in Houston, Texas, will start from the front row in the GTLM class in Saturday's IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series race, the Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown at Circuit of the Americas (COTA).
Former Formula One ace Giancarlo Fisichella qualified the No. 62 Prancing Horse Ferrari in the second GTLM position with a time of 2:02.865, just behind the No. 24 BMW M6 GTLM's time of 2:02.833. Fisichella's fastest lap occurred on his fourth of six laps during the 15-minute qualifying session.
For this year's 70th anniversary of Ferrari, Risi Competizione hopes to put on an outstanding race in front of a multitude of Risi and Ferrari of Houston and Ferrari of Austin guests during the two hour and 40-minute WeatherTech series race on the 3.40-mile, 20-turn Austin road course for Round 4 of the 2017 IMSA calendar.
Fellow Ferrari factory driver Toni Vilander will be joining Fisichella in the cockpit as they long for a victory this season. The Risi Competizione team has scored impressive podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Daytona and 12 Hours of Sebring (third place at both) but the top step has eluded them so far.
Giancarlo Fisichella, qualifying driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"It was a good qualifying session. Second by three hundredths of a second from the polesitter. It would have been good and nice to be on pole, but it was so close. It's important to have a good race tomorrow and score a lot of points. Last year we were leading the race then we had an issue, but could have won that race. Tomorrow, I think we can do another great race again. I feel very comfortable with the car. We found a good set up this morning. We need to find a good strategy to find the best choice for the tires and then we'll see."
Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"It was definitely a positive day. We had a good practice session prior to qualifying. We made a few changes overnight coming into today and it worked out really well. Giancarlo did a good job in qualifying and got really close to the pole position. The pole would have been nice, but it isn't that big of a deal for tomorrow. The good thing is we are on a good pace. The car seems to be consistent. We are pretty confident for the long run and the race pace. The opening stint tomorrow will tell us a lot more; the way the track is and everything will fall into place. I'm looking forward to the start of the race and all the information we can gather there and then see the final last half of the race and how it plays out. We are aiming for the win tomorrow and I think we have all the tools to do it. We just need to have a clean race."
Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
"I think we have a good car for the race. In qualifying we were almost there; it was really close as our class always is. Giancarlo did a really great job. It sure would have been nice to have the pole for the home race, but we'd like to have a pole for every race. However, we'll start from the front row and that's great. I'm looking forward to the race and so are the drivers so hopefully we'll have a good race and fighting for a podium at the end.
The Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown race runs on Saturday, May 6 from 1:35-4:15 p.m. local time. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and the IMSA Smartphone app.
Tune-In Information:
Saturday's Advance Auto Parts Sportscar Showdown race will be televised on FS1 (FOX SPORTS 1) in the U.S. on a same-day delay beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Live IMSA Radio commentary and in-car cameras will be available on IMSA.com at 2:25 p.m. ET or via www.radiolemans.com. Coverage is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app.
