The Final ALMS Race

The Risi Competizione team used Thursday’s rain soaked practice day wisely – working on a wet weather set-up in case of a rainy race day on Saturday, October 19th for the Petit Le Mans 1,000 mile or ten-hour race, the final round of the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) which is taking place at Road Atlanta.

Risi Competizione Race Engineer Rick Mayer cycled all three drivers, Olivier Beretta, Matteo Malucelli and Robin Liddell, through the No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia during the two daytime practice sessions on Thursday. All three drivers must drive a minimum of three laps in the night session to qualify for the race and that task was also accomplished. The team participated in the Monday promoter’s track day and were satisfied with the data acquired for a possible dry weather set-up for the race from that testing session, but are now also prepared for any weather variables.

Olivier Beretta: “The main target was to stay out of trouble and I think we have done this. We have qualified all three drivers in the night as everyone has run and are okay. Everyone is pretty happy and we had a very good test in the dry. We should be good for the race.”

Matteo Malucelli: “We had a good session. We did a lot of work with the tires and the rain set-up. It is better for us if the race is dry but I think we are in a good position for Friday for the expected sun.”

Robin Liddell: “It was a bit of a rush to get here for the Monday test, with not much notice, but I was very fortunate and felt very welcomed by the team straight away. With the team having won the last race, it was nice to come in on the back of that and everything's on an up; I have a good feeling with the team.

Obviously it's a long time since I've really driven anything vaguely like this (car), having been in the Camaro for six years in the Grand Am series, and have driven nothing else. It's a bit of an eye opener as to how much grip these cars really get. It was a bit of a learning curve on Monday, but I was quite happy with my performance at the end of the day.

I haven't been in the series in so long am trying to figure out who's in what car, plus the classes as there was no GTC when I was here before. Saturday is where my full performance is going to be judged so everything up until that point is just a learning curve, and the team has been really good to getting me where I need to be and allowing me to be part of the process.”

Rick Mayer: “It rained the whole day so we worked on the things we could do on race set-up that would give us something for the wet without changing too much because obviously you have to primarily work on the dry set-up. We wanted to make sure all the drivers were comfortable in the wet and everyone seems to be pretty happy. We got a handle on our different tire pressures we want for the different conditions and we seem to be pretty happy there. We will work on a little bit of dry work in the morning and get Matteo ready for qualifying.

“There are a lot of unknowns because we didn’t get a lot of running and the track is going to change now that it’s green, so I think we’ll potentially be chasing the track a little bit.”

The final round of the ALMS will be Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, Georgia on Saturday, October 19, 2013. The 1,000 mile or ten hour race starts at 11:30 am ET and will be broadcast on Fox Sports (see ALMS.com for full details) and via live streaming on ALMS.com for international users. Fox Sports 1 will televise Petit Le Mans from 4-7 pm ET on Sunday, October 20.
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The #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari team continued its hot streak as Matteo Malucelli charged to the pole in the GT class for Saturday’s American Le Mans Series Petit Le Mans race, October 20.

Coming off its first victory of the 2013 ALMS season at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) two weekends ago, Italian Matteo Malucelli handily put the Ferrari 458 Italia on the GT class pole at the 2.54-mile Road Atlanta circuit with a time of 1.18.86. It was Malucelli’s second pole this season, the first having been at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May.

The Risi team felt it was primed with a good car for one of the team’s favourite tracks on the ALMS calendar and, after using diligence in preparing a set-up, it was confident it could play well in both qualifying and the race. By Friday morning the confidence level was high, as long as everything went as planned. Proper planning and preparation was therefore key when Malucelli clinched the pole on the second of his three flying laps in the 15-minute qualifying session, beating the two SRT Vipers.

Risi Competizione’s history at Petit Le Mans dates back to the inaugural race in 1998. Drivers Eric van de Poele, Wayne Taylor and Emmanuel Collard completed the 1,000 mile race in 8 hours 46.24 minutes. North America’s most successful Ferrari GT team also collected victories in 2008 and 2009 in Ferrari 430 GT entries.

Matteo Malucelli: “We did our best and stopped before the finish of the session because I had done the maximum, hoping it would be enough. I did four laps and then we waited for the other drivers to make their best and hoped my laps were enough. At the end we are on pole so it’s a good place to start the race. The race will be nine hours but we start from the front so it will be good.

“We are hoping for dry conditions because our car is very good in the dry. We have a little bit of a problem in the rain but the forecast seems good so we are confident for the race.”

Giuseppe Risi: “I'm very happy to see us on the pole again with Matteo. We've been on pace all weekend and we're very happy about the weather today. We have a good car and we'd like to try and follow up from our last performance at VIR, but most of all because this race has a special significance in that it is the last ALMS one as we know it. It's special to be on the pole and obviously it would be even more special for us to do well.

“I've always felt, and said, that the pinnacle of representative GT racing in the world is here in the ALMS. You can see that from the works teams that are here, and the fact that Porsche is going to have a full works team in North America next year and there is also talk of a couple of other manufacturers. Other than the 24 Hours of Le Mans, I think this is probably the best represented GT race or series in the world and one of the championship’s flagships in the United States along with Sebring. And next year we will also have the Daytona 24 Hours – making it even better.”

Rick Mayer: “We did a little practice qualifying this morning and we had a couple changes for qualifying this afternoon. We normally try to get it done early and save our tires for the race. Matteo did a good job; he did two quick laps and both of those would have been pole. He's pretty happy with the car and we'll see how we do in the race and hopefully we'll have a good warm up.”

 

Great result for Rebellion and ALMS.

Noticing the final results and as usual, only a handful of DNF's which unfortunately
included the Muscle Milk team which diminished the race for overall victory.

It was interesting to note at Sebring this year, the Rebellion cars were constantly sliding
in the turns to the point where the sound of their sliding tires announced their arrival
into the turns two seconds before the engine note.

BHW

 

Risi Competizione’s return to Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta also included a return to the podium as the team squeezed into third place in the GT class, finishing 10th overall. Just eight laps from the checkered flag, Matteo Malucelli overtook Maxime Martin’s BMW, on Lap 367, rewarding the team’s persistence and hard work in challenging conditions.

The race, which ran to the 1,000 mile distance (9 hours 37 minutes) featured all the excitement expected from the world-famous sports car race which is well-known for its close action. The final American Le Mans Series race before the series merges with Grand Am and becomes the Tudor United Sportscar Championship, and 16th annual Petit Le Mans, did not disappoint as highlights included variable weather, numerous lead changes and nine cautions with a constant variation of leaders throughout.

The Risi Competizione team showed why its name is in the history books on so many occasions as it once again proved itself to be as good as the factory GT efforts in one of the best sportscar series in the world, the American Le Mans Series.

Malucelli started from the GT class pole and drove the first stint. Early contact with one of the Corvettes forced a pit stop to remove damaged right rear bodywork. Numerous stops for different tire variations during changing weather conditions accounted for many of the pit stops, along with fuel and the scheduled driver rotations.

The only other incident of note was when Beretta went off while leading at nearly eight hours. In addition to the time lost off-track, the team also had to pit for a replacement wing mirror. Although the time lost relegated the Risi Ferrari to fourth place, Matteo’s late race speed brought the team to the podium in the last laps, its seventh Petit Le Mans podium in ten Petit Le Mans entries since 1999.

Giuseppe Risi: “I’m elated about being back on the podium at Petit, particularly when it didn’t look like it was going to happen at one time. First and foremost I really have to thank the team and the drivers; they did a stupendous job. This team is one of the very best crew of mechanics and technicians around - the car didn’t miss a beat. The drivers said the car was amazing so they were extremely happy and we never put a wheel wrong with our pit stops or anything else.

“That was one quick car today. It’s a shame to see Petit Le Mans end as we know it, but I’m sure there’s something else that will replace it in the same theme of competition. Hopefully, if everything lines up, I’ll be back next year.”

Dave Sims: “Obviously the weather at the start was wet, dry, wet, dry. The strategy was good by Rick [Mayer] and Don [Shaver] and kept us right in there, plus the crew who did a fabulous job. Halfway through we were right in with a chance. Three-quarters through the race though Olivier had that off and took the mirror off, and it took a little time for him to get off the grass and back on the track. We had to come in, as the rules say, to replace the mirror, so we did a full service and changed the drivers at the same time. We put Matteo in for the rest of the race, back in fifth after that stop, and got up to third. If he had another few laps, it might have been different.

Matteo Malucelli: “We did a good job. We lost one lap with the safety car and we were fighting for the victory. I tried to do my best. We were able to do a podium but not a victory today. The team had good pits stops and ran a good race but not enough for a victory.”

Olivier Beretta: “I’m happy for the whole team, for the crew, for Giuseppe and for Ferrari. I think it is always nice to finish the season on the podium. We won the last race before we came here so that’s nice. Today was very hard. The first stint was just trying to survive because I was on slicks on the wet. I tried to stretch as much so I don’t lose time on the pit stop. Then afterwards I push very hard. The pit stops were fantastic. I tried to do my best. I had an issue overtaking a GTC. I went too wide because I was scared he was going to touch me on the side because I didn’t know where he was. Unfortunately I went on the wet grass with the rear left tires and I lost the car.”

Robin Liddell: “I'm pretty happy to get on the podium obviously. We had a strong race and a race that didn't go perfectly. We had a few little problems and I think we were lucky to get back on the podium in the end. We needed that late race caution and Matteo had the pace to fight with the guys up front. He drove a great stint at the end and fought his way up and get into the third spot. It was a great race, everyone performed really well and I'm really happy to be on the podium.”