Risi Competizione to start Daytona 24 from the second row

Risi Competizione to start Daytona 24 from the second row

The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM qualified their Prancing Horse on the second row in the fourth spot for the 57th running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The team spent Thursday running the drivers through two practice sessions and the 15-minute qualifying for the first round of the International Motor Sport Association (IMSA) 2019 race season.
 
This morning's first practice session was held in the rain. Driver James Calado took first turn in the Ferrari 488 before giving up the cockpit to Alessandro Per Guidi in the final laps. Neither driver was at Daytona for the Roar Before the 24 test days, so were given the priority drive in the first session. The second practice allowed both Pier Guidi and Davide Rigon to handle driving duties and complete the planned set up of the car. Risi's fourth driver, Miguel Molina, sat out today's driving duties since he had the most testing time earlier this month.
 
Rigon was elected as qualifying driver and was first out in the 15-minute GTLM only class session. He took the Rosso Red Ferrari to fourth place with a time of 1:42.712 with an average speed of 124.770 mph. The pole sitter was the No. 911 Porsche with a time of 1:42.257 at 124.927 mph.
 
QUOTES:
Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
"First practice was wet for the most part so that was a bit of an acclimation session for James and Alessandro. Then we had a dry second session and we did some small adjustments to the car and got ready for qualifying. We qualified fourth and gave that everything we had but we just didn't have enough for the pole. I think we have an excellent race car and excellent driver line-up and we'll see how we shake out come Sunday."

 
Qualifying Driver for Risi Competizione, Davide Rigon
 
Davide Rigon, qualifying driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"Regarding qualifying I have to say the car is good overall. I'm happy with the balance. We improved the lap time so I'm happy. I don't think we've ever been so fast on this track with another Ferrari, but it's not enough. Each qualifying lap I bettered my time. But it wasn't enough. But actually we did a very good lap. I was happy overall. We were on the limit. We have good balance of the car, it looks like we missed some speed compared to the others. I'm happy to be here and happy with P4. It is a race that will be decided the last three to four hours so now we just need to find a comfortable and fast car for the last three to four hours. I have a very good feeling with the car and with the guys and we'll see. Just need to keep the concentration until the end."

Alessandro Pier Guidi, driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"So far it's going good. We are following our program and I think everything is going smooth. We are pretty happy about the car; the team is doing a very good job and the preparation is perfect. We are just following the plan. We know with this BoP (Balance of Performance) we cannot do anything, but we will try our best and squeeze everything out of the car. The team always does a good job so I'm confident we can do well in terms of our ability and consistency because we know we cannot do anything in terms of speed."

 

James Calado, driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
"I drove this morning in the rain so that was good to do a few laps and get used to the track again. Obviously, I haven't been in the dry yet, so my plan is to do a few laps in the night session just to get good grips in the dry condition.
 
"Davide did a good job in qualifying, qualifying fourth and that was the maximum of our car. He was happy with the balance and the setup. Like I said before, the BoP is slightly unbalanced, the Porsche and Corvette have got quite a lot in hand. I'm surprised the No. 3 car didn't finish his last lap and take pole. They must have had an issue; it was theirs for the taking. I think it's going to be a difficult race. I think the approach is to have a mindset to finish and keep the car clean and hope we can get a podium. On pace alone, we just don't have the power. We'll keep a positive attitude obviously and see what we can do."
 


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