Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM No. 62:
Davide Rigon (ITA)
James Calado (GBR)
Alessandro Pier Guidi (ITA)
Miguel Molina (ESP)
The Risi Competizione Ferrari Team continued with their planned strategy for the Rolex 24 At Daytona race, as they cycled through their Ferrari factory GT drivers through the night hours and into daylight.
Just after the race completed the twelfth hour, the team pitted for a scheduled stop with fuel, tires, brake change and driver change from Miguel Molina to Davide Rigon. There was a slight delay with a sticky brake pad that deferred the usual speedy Risi Competizione crew’s pit stop, but with the track still under caution, Rigon was able to stay on the lead lap.
Rigon drove for the next two hours and maintained the fifth position and gave the car to James Calado at 4:15 a.m. Just over 40 minutes later the skies opened up and Calado was called to the pits for rain tires. The Brit mastered an outstanding drive in the rain and climbed the leader board to the top in the GTLM class as other competitors fell by the wayside with accident damage or car issues.
Driver change from Calado to Alessandro Pier Guidi transpired under caution on Lap 504 and Pier Guidi was soon back on top as most cars pitted. The caution was thrown at 6:04 a.m. and at 7:21 the red flag was waved when an on track incident occurred just as the field was about to go green. All competitors parked their cars on pit road and were allowed to disembark and wait at the pit while the rain continued to be too heavy for safe race conditions. All times are Eastern.
QUOTES:
Davide Rigon, starting driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
“Again, it was a nice stint, but not easy. And again, there was a lot of traffic. The car is still doing well. We put on new brakes, so it was not easy to warm it up in the night, but I think with the strategy from the guys to put them on now and prepare properly ahead of the upcoming rain, it was a perfect decision. I started to warm it up a bit and in the end I’m happy. We are not losing anything. We are there in the queue, but we are about six seconds behind the leader. So, that’s a good position. Everything is going well. There is some vibration in the car, but we’ll see if there is a problem or if it’s just a tire issue. I’m confident, but now let’s see what’s going on with the rain. It will be tough for everybody.”
Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:
“It’s been a crazy race. A lot of the main players have fallen out with either car issues or accident damage, so it’s been quite a unique Daytona. Rain certainly is an equalizer and it helps our situation being down on power and we hope it restarts and we get a good chance to win it in the rain because I don’t see the rain stopping.”
Alessandro Pier Guidi, driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
“To be fair it was the right decision [to red flag the race]. When I was driving, I heard on my radio we were going to start. I was thinking it’s very difficult and it’s going to be crazy because there is standing water in the bus stop and the amount of water was too much. When the safety car sped up, I was already nearly at the limit, but I was already thinking I wasn’t really driving because the water was a lot. So, when the red flag was the call it was a good decision for sure. It would have been worse for the car if the rain doesn’t stop. But, so far, everything is running smooth. The car is doing a very good job and I think together with the team in terms of set up because the car was really competitive, even more than everyone expected, and let’s see.”
Miguel Molina, driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM:
“If or when we go green the key is to be focused; it’s the most important thing right now because it’s so easy to lose everything you did for the past few hours. So, for sure in our case in the 62 Ferrari, Pier Guidi will do the restart in the case we are going green. He has experience. He already won one time here in the Rolex 24 so actually he knows how to do it and I’m confident he will make it.”
