Press Release Risi Competizione Race Public Relations RISI COMPETIZIONE FRIDAY AND POST-QUALIFYING NOTES LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX Barbara J. Burns BurnsGroup PR [email protected] Tel: +1 770 329 7134 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM No. 62: Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Toni Vilander (FIN) Ferrari of Houston Donald Pierce [email protected] Long Beach, California (April 15, 2016)…The Risi Competizione Ferrari team used Friday to get as prepared as any team can on the ever-changing streets of 6100 Southwest Freeway Long Beach, California in preparation for tomorrow's 100-minute BUBBA Houston, Texas USA 77057 Tel: +1 713 772 3868 burger Sports Car Grand Prix, Round Three of the IMSA WeatherTech www.risicompetizione.com SportsCar Championship series, from 4:05-5:45 p.m. PDT. Two hours of practice early this morning allowed both drivers to get refreshed with the circuit and the team to tweak the set-up derived from past data. This afternoon was another brief practice for 25 minutes, which went straight into GTLM qualifying for a short 15-minute session Giancarlo Fisichella took on the qualifying driver role of the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE and qualified the car eighth, with a time of 1:18.282 at an average of 90.504 mph. Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer: “We rolled off the truck this morning with what we thought would be a good starting setup based on what we learned last year with the (Ferrari) 458. There are some differences, but they’re not huge. The track rubbered in this morning. We ended up relatively good before people put their third set of tires on. We used two sets. It seemed like we had a decent car and were running fourth and even up to third at one stage. We made very few changes because the track is changing so much it’s very difficult, much like chasing a moving target all the time. The session before qualifying wasn’t bad, but very low grip. We still thought we ended up okay, as far as the time goes. Then, in the qualifying, we really didn’t improve. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Giancarlo thought he didn’t do a perfect lap, he said he had some errors in each lap. He figured maybe a 1:17.9, that’s what the data showed, but still not anywhere where we wanted to be. Obviously, we have quite a few things to change, but this track is so difficult to setup for because you’re always chasing the track. If the drivers are comfortable with the car or not complaining excessively about the handling it makes it difficult to make adjustments or changes because you could just as easily go backwards as you could forwards. It’s always tough here, but hopefully IMSA will adjust a few things after this race for Laguna and we’ll have a more competitive car. It’s always an evolving process, but we’ll see where we end up.” Giancarlo Fisichella, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM: “There is not a lot to say. We are certainly not as quick as we would like to be. I think we need a bit more power. I feel we are losing a lot in the straights. One Press Release Risi Competizione Race Public Relations second here is huge. I think it’s too much. It’s quite frustrating, but we will give it our best tomorrow. The team always has great strategy and pit work and Barbara J. Burns BurnsGroup PR hopefully we can have a good result.” [email protected] Tel: +1 770 329 7134 Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM: Ferrari of Houston "I love racing here, but we are half a second slower than our car was doing Donald Pierce [email protected] here last year. We are down on power compared to our previous race car so I don’t know. Apart from that, this is a demanding track and is really bumpy and 6100 Southwest Freeway the grip level changes. Besides being frustrating, Giancarlo and I would love to Houston, Texas USA 77057 Tel: +1 713 772 3868 be up there (on the timing charts) with the others. I don’t mean that we need www.risicompetizione.com to be P1 and half a second to everyone, but we would like to be up there and battling with those guys as we’ve done the last ten years. But now it’s a little bit too much of a gap to the others.” The Risi Competizione Team has six podium finishes in 10 entries over eight years at the 1.968-mile, 11-turn Long Beach street circuit. Fisichella finished second last year in the Risi Competizione Ferrari 458, alongside teammate Pierre Kaffer. Toni Villander paired with Jaime Melo for a third-place finish in 2011 in the Ferrari 458, driving for Risi Competizone. Tune-In Information: The race will air live at 7:00 p.m. EDT (4:00 p.m. PDT) on FOX Sports 2 with tape-delayed broadcasts on FOX Sports 1 at 11:00 p.m. EDT (8:00 p.m. PDT) on Saturday and 12:30 p.m. EDT (9:30 a.m. PDT) on Sunday, April 17. It will be streamed live in its entirety for international audiences on IMSA.tv and the IMSA Mobile App. IMSA.tv. The IMSA mobile app will provide live in-car camera footage and IMSA Radio commentary throughout the race for all viewers. IMSA Radio will feature the broadcast team from Radio Le Mans. IMSA.tv also will stream audio from all practice and qualifying sessions, in addition to video from qualifying. For more information, please go to www.risicompetizione.com and follow us on Facebook/RisiCompetizione and Twitter @RisiComp. # # # .