Bravissimi!!! ![Clap](images/smilies/clapclap.gif)
Risi Competizione won in GT2, the team’s sixth straight victory in a major endurance race. Jaime Melo, Gimmi Bruni and Pierre Kaffer took a one-lap victory in their Ferrari F430 GT over BMW Rahal Letterman Racing’s two BMW M3s, which swapped positions on the last turn of the last lap.
Risi now has won consecutively at Sebring, Le Mans and Petit Le Mans, etching even more history in the F430 GT.
“I think it’s everything together,” said Melo, who won for the third time at the 12 Hours. “The team is a very, very good team. With three drivers who are very consistent like Gimmi and Pierre… that’s the way to win this kind of race. The Michelin tires are very consistent and work well for us. The preparation of the car is the key to this race. I know the F430 from when we started developing the car. We want to put it in the history books, so we want to win this year so bad. We can send it off in a good way.”
The fight in GT2 was a fantastic scrap before attrition started to take its toll. Team Falken Tire led early on in its Porsche and had two wheels come off on consecutive laps. The second hit the then-second-place Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche, which lost three laps in the pits. Corvette Racing’s two Corvettes collided in pit lane when one Corvette C6.R tried to leave its pit box and another came in simultaneously.
That left the Risi Ferrari and two BMWs to duke it out. All totaled, the winning Risi Ferrari led for approximately 10 hours. It led from nearly the 90-minute mark until a caution period just past the halfway point when the Lizard Porsche beat the Ferrari out of the pits. It took Bruni all of a half lap to retake the lead.
“We showed the three of us, Risi, and Michelin worked really well together,” said Bruni, who won for the first time in the Series. “This really helps. (with momentum). We've known each other a while. Jaime has been with this car for a good long time.”
"...as always for the Scuderia, the good of the team comes first."
"We are Ferrari and we will never give up until the moment when the maths says it's over."
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