Risi Competizione moves this week onto the fast and unforgiving Mosport International Raceway in Ontario, Canada for the penultimate round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series.
With the disappointment of the Road America result firmly behind them, Gianmaria Bruni and Jaime Melo are looking for nothing less than a victory to add to the three 2010 GT wins so far in order to boost their championship chances. The Italian-Brazilian duo, who pilot the No. 62 Pennzoil Ultra Ferrari F430 GTC, are currently tied second in the drivers’ title chase eighteen points behind the Flying Lizard Porsche pairing of Bergmeister and Long. Melo has won here twice (2007/8) while Bruni finished second with Eric Hélary in 2007.
Joining the Risi team this weekend in the No.61 Ferrari will be Germany’s Pierre Kaffer, who has travelled with the team from Road America, and Finnish driver Toni Vilander who has come directly from last weekend’s Le Mans Series race in Hungary. The pair have not driven together before, but both bring with them Mosport experience and good results from the past. Vilander finished second in his debut at the track in 2006, and Kaffer’s exciting battle with Magnussen’s Corvette in the closing stages of last year’s race was one of the highlights of the day.
Mosport has in the past proven to be a happy hunting ground for Risi, and the team is testing today (Wednesday) in preparation for this weekend’s 2 hour 45 minute race. While good weather is currently predicted for race, a close eye will be kept on the radar as rain is often a feature in this part of Ontario and the track can be treacherous in the wet.
Risi’s Technical Director, Rick Mayer, explains further. “The track surface is bumpy in an undulating way, but not harsh and abrupt like a street circuit. The apex patches will change the grip throughout the corner. The ideal line will depend on where the grip is, and how bad last winter was; rain will further complicate the ideal grip line. It’s a very fast track and unforgiving if you make mistakes as there’s very little run off relative to the speed of the corners. History shows that if you go off, there’s usually substantial damage – as we found in practice last year.”
Mayer adds that set up is critical. “You would like to run low down force but you lose so much on the other sections it ends up being a quicker lap with a moderately high down force setup. Saying that, you still need to be conscious of strait line speed; the competition is so fierce in the GT class now that you can’t afford to give anything away and have to seek to gain whatever advantage you can.”
About Risi Competizione
Risi Competizione is a Houston-based Ferrari racing team lead by Managing Director Giuseppe Risi. Official team sponsors include Krohn Racing, Ferrari of Houston, Boardwalk Auto Group, Pennzoil Ultra, Motorola, AdShip and Ferrari of Ontario.
About Pennzoil and Risi Competizione
In March of 2010, Ferrari named the new Pennzoil UltraTM motor oil with Hyper Cleansing TechnologyTM as the only motor oil approved and recommended for use in all Ferrari engines in the United States. As a next step in their long-standing relationship with Ferrari, Shell Oil Company announced Pennzoil UltraTM will be the brand sponsor for the Risi Competizione American Le Mans Series team for the 2010 season. Through the sponsorship agreement, Pennzoil UltraTM, Shell’s most advanced motor oil in North America, has been named the official lubricant of the team and Pennzoil UltraTM 5W-40 will be the exclusive motor oil used in the team’s two Ferrari 430GT racecars.
The next round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón will be the Mobil 1 Presents the Grand Prix of Mosport at Mosport, Ontario, Canada on Sunday, August 29. The race will start at 3:05 p.m. EST and will be shown live on SPEED, starting at 4:00 pm EST and internationally on MotorsTv. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche – a production of Radio Show Limited – as well as Sirius Channel 127 and XM Channel 242.