Bad Luck Strikes Again for Risi Competizione

The No. 062 Ferrari 458 Italia of Houston-based Risi Competizione team, GT winners of Petit Le Mans in 2008 and 2009, was officially withdrawn at 11:10 am this morning, 20 minutes before the start of the 1,000 mile/ten hour race.

Jaime Melo left the pits for a reconnaissance lap on his way to the grid prior to the start but, on cold tires, lost control of the car and made contact with the barriers at Turn 9 – just after the long back straight. The car was returned to the pits but, after initial assessment by the team, the damage sustained was considered too severe to repair in the time available.

Team Principal Giuseppe Risi said, “What can one say? We’ve worked so hard to be here, have had a very good week in practice and knew we potentially had a really great race car.

“It’s a very sad way to finish our first season of racing with the F458, but the most important thing is that no one was hurt. The damage caused by the impact was considerable and, while our team of mechanics were perfectly capable of replacing broken mechanical parts, we were not prepared to take the chance of sending out a less than perfect car in this particular race."

There continue to be five other Ferrari 458 Italias racing in the GTE-Pro class and three F430s in the GTE-Am category.