Risi Ready For Another Epic Battle At Road America

[Rob]

Fresh from its third ALMS victory of the year, in one of the most thrilling and closely-fought GT races of the year so far at the Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, the Pennzoil Ultra-supported Risi Competizione team now heads for Road America in Wisconsin. The Houston-based, privately-owned Ferrari team is in a buoyant mood as it approaches the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series, and the first of a back-to-back sequence of races, with Mosport in Canada swiftly following this weekend.

With a clashing round of the European-based Le Mans Series taking place in Hungary this same weekend, Risi will be without the talents of Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander but are delighted to welcome back Mika Salo and Pierre Kaffer. Neither driver is a stranger to the scenic Wisconsin track, and both are very much looking forward to returning to both the team and the venue.

Road America’s 4.05 mile, European-style layout is popular with almost everyone in the field, and features a series of single corners without tricky or technical combinations, including the notorious “Kink”, with useable curbs which can help to reduce lap time. This is the highest speed (States side) track visited by the teams and speeds of around 160mph (260kph) are reached three times a lap.

With an expected GT lap time of around 2m06s, track time will be at a premium in the practice sessions leading up to the race so the team will be working hard to optimize their set up as quickly as possible. Mika Salo can’t wait to return to Road America and says, “It’s the best track we visit in North America, in my opinion. The Ferrari F430 is obviously very competitive and it should be a tight race in the GT class…just like the last few have been.”

After last year, when the Ferrari struggled with power equalization compared to its main rivals, Jaime Melo is also very positive about the forthcoming race. “It’s quite a difficult track to set up a car for. It’s long and you need to have a good set up for both slow and high speed corners, bumps and kerbs as well. It takes time to set up the car but we have a good base so I think that each time we go out we can just improve the car. We struggled last year as we lacked the power to be equal to our competitors but this year we know the car is good. We need another good result like at Mid Ohio to make our position in the championship more firm.”

[Rob]

ANOTHER THRILLER OF A GT2 RACE

Car count will not play as big a role here with the longer 4.05 mile circuit; the cars will have some room to spread out and there's room to get by the slower cars, especially the Challenge Class cars. This will be another fierce GT2 battle with the Porsches, BMWs and Corvettes all having good top speed which is key here with the numerous fast sections. We'll have much closer top speed parity this year compared to last year's race. Again, as at Mid-Ohio, there are seven serious cars, with pro driver pairings that can win GT2. The size of the circuit doesn't translate into many laps in practice so it's always a challenge to get the car setup properly for the race/circuit with the time limited time available.

The track: Road America is a long circuit with a more traditional, European-style layout. The track is mostly smooth, with some small bumps through the centers of some of the corners; this can change depending on the severity of the previous winter. This circuit is primarily a series of single corners without tricky or technical combinations, with useable but aggressive curbs which are key in reducing lap time. This is the highest speed State side track we'll go to; we'll see 160mph (260kph) three times in a little over a 2-minute lap.

Setup: Long straits mean relatively low downforce to maximize top speed; you don't want to lose position on the straits. This track is typically an under-steer track, especially the long 'Carousel'. We'll adjust the spring and aero balance to help this. The track prefers a stiffer platform but the curbing requires a softer car so we'll need to find the balance. Dampers will come into play - you need to get through the mid corner bumps without compromising the platform, and remove enough high speed damping to suit running the curbing.

This track isn't hard on brakes, but the long straits cool the front tires so you have to be careful of brake lock-ups and flat-spotting tires in the braking zones. With lap times being long here (typically around 2:06), you don't get many laps in a one hour practice session; you need to hone in on the setup quickly. Keeping the drivers focused on setup and not lap time will be the challenge. Our drivers never want to be second, even to their co-driver or teammates!

The race: There usually aren't many yellows here and the track isn't hard on tires so expect some green flag pit stops to play into the outcome of this race. Not taking tires could save valuable time so strategy will be key. The Ferrari should be quick here but the competition is very tough. This will be another thriller of a GT2 race for the fans; let's just hope our two Ferraris can finish up front and continue the momentum from Mid-Ohio.

[Rob]

here's some pictures from last years race. This is 1 of my favourite tracks.

[Rob]

couple more...

[Rob]

2nd and 4th row grid positions for Risi at Road America
Today’s GT qualifying session for the seventh round of the American Le Mans Series at the scenic and popular Road America track in Wisconsin was something of a lottery for the Risi Competizione Ferraris with traffic and an ill-timed red flag playing a crucial part in the outcome.

Pierre Kaffer took the #61 Ferrari F430 GTC to third place in the highly competitive GT class, having completed just two flying laps and his fastest time of 2:06.997 was just four tenths of a second behind the pole-winning Corvettes of Oliver Gavin.

Jaime Melo qualified his #62 Ferrari in an uncharacteristic seventh place after coming across traffic on his first flying lap and then suffering with the red flag stoppage just as his tires were coming up to their optimum temperature ready for another attack. With just one second separating the top seven cars in class, it demonstrates just how tightly fought each place on the grid is. Risi Competizione and Ferrari are currently tied in first place with BMW Rahal Letterman Racing and BMW at the top of the Manufacturer and Team championship tables.

The practice sessions, and qualifying, have been heavily interrupted by red flags, meaning that track time has been at a premium for all the runners. Since practice sessions started at the 4.05 mile track on Friday, the Risi team has worked through a raft of changes to try and find a stable and fast platform for Sunday’s 2 hour 45 minute race. The four drivers, who are all hugely experienced with the Ferrari 430 and at Road America, have spent long hours with their engineers discussing the various options available.

Pierre Kaffer: “I’m happy for the team that we could put a Ferrari on the second row of the grid. After the practice I was thinking that we could achieve a better lap time but unfortunately qualifying was so short because of the red flag in the middle. For me I only did two proper lap times and under these circumstances I’m happy. Of course, Michelin prepared tires that were just right, but we still have to make a few changes to the car again before tomorrow.

“I think we have improved our car every session, which you can see from our lap times, and Mika is also very comfortable in the car so I am confident for tomorrow’s race. We just have to beat the Corvettes I guess! It won’t be easy but for Ferrari I think it’s a great opportunity to show everyone how competitive we are as a team.”

Jaime Melo: “I missed maybe two or three tenths of a second on my quickest lap because of traffic, but I’m happy with the car. We improved it from this morning, and we got a better balance so I’ve got more confidence in the car. I’m just missing something around the track; I don’t really know why I can’t do the lap time but at least the car is better. I think we’ve improved the rear stability which for me is the main thing as it suits the way I drive, so it feels a very good race car. We will see, may be in the race we can get a better pace and try and gain some positions.”

[Rob]

Grip Issues Mar Risi's Run At Road America
‘Grip’ and ‘tires’ were the key words for Risi Competizione after today’s seventh round of the American Le Mans Series at Road America. The team’s two red Ferrari F430 GTC cars finished in 6th and 7th places in the GT class, but the final result does not truly reflect the performance of either cars or drivers during what turned out to be another thrillingly close GT race.

Four full course caution periods played a part in the outcome of the 2 hour 45 minute event; strategy and the decision to take or not take new tires at each stop turned out to be critical in terms of track position.

Pierre Kaffer and Jaime Melo were the starting drivers in the No. 61 and 62 respectively and, while the German kept his car in contention through the early stages of the race, it was the decision to make an early stop for fuel and new Michelin rubber which allowed the Brazilian to carve his way through the field to lead the class by the end of the first hour. Melo set an amazing pace and in just 13 laps pulled out a 23 second gap over his competitors before a third caution period at an hour and 12 minutes closed the field up again.

Making the second of three stops [for each car], Melo handed over to Bruni who continued to run with the leaders and was making his way back to the front of the pack when – 12 laps before the end – he experienced a sudden loss of rear grip which meant he was unable to hold the pace through to the checkered flag. Without the traction available to push through left hand corners, the Italian experienced a loss of confidence in the rear of the car and was unable to go to throttle without spinning the tires. Rather than forcing the car into situations which could potentially prevent it from finishing the race at all, Bruni was forced to drop back to his final finishing place of sixth. Until the team has had an opportunity to fully examine the Ferrari, it is unable to explain this change in handling.

Gianmaria Bruni said afterwards: “We went from being one of the quickest cars to nowhere. From one lap to the next it just changed. I passed Jan Magnussen for third place and tried several times to get past the No. 45 for another place but just couldn’t get it. We were having a great fight though. The end result is disappointing but we’ve got Mosport now and the car is always good there so I’m looking forward to that instead of thinking more about today.”

Lack of traction was also the complaint from the No. 61 car, with both Kaffer and Mika Salo suffering from the same mysterious lack of grip. A pit stop an hour and 10 minutes into the race for fuel and tires was unfortunately timed as flags for the third of the four caution periods came out just one lap later and the No. 61 went a lap down until gaining it back on the wave by. Salo struggled through to the checkered flag to finish in seventh place but the fact that nine GT cars were all on the same lap, separated by just 35 seconds shows clearly how competitive and closely fought the class battles are in the American Le Mans Series.

Team Manager Dave Sims said of the race: “It wasn’t a great one for us, but it was all down to grip...or lack of it. We’ll have to investigate why the cars behaved as they did, but we know it wasn’t down to the Michelin tires. There was still wear left at the end. We’re now heading off to Mosport and a test day on Wednesday so it will give us a bit of time to investigate.”

Today’s results mean that Risi Competizione is now in third place in the Teams and Manufacturers championship, and that Melo and Bruni are now tied in second place with Muller and Hand in the Drivers’ title chase. However, with 50 points available over the next two races, and next weekend’s round at the traditionally happy hunting ground for Risi of Mosport in Canada, there is still all to play for.