8 August 2008 |  Qualifying  | Road America
on the road again

“ …..I can't wait to get on the road again.
On the road again -
Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway
We're the best of friends.
Insisting that the world keep turning our way�

--On The Road Again, from soundtrack for Honeysuckle Rose, Willie Nelson

Risi Competizione came to Road America in 2007 with a bit of a “chip on our shoulder� as I wrote in last year’s blog entry for this race. The reason: two less-than-enjoyable races at Lime Rock and Mid-Oh. In both races, the Risi Comp No. 62 Ferrari 430GT was bumper-car’d by an opposing entry and that did not sit well with the team, the drivers, or the crew. Read: "Get back to where you once belonged" from 2007 >

There was something to prove at Road America (“The Road�) and four hours seemed like the right amount of time required to set the record straight. We like long races. Four hours is a good start, but we like them 10, 12, or 24 hours just as well. Endurance racing is about high speeds over long periods of time and we love endurance racing.

This year it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. The team did capture the biggest sports car race in the world, leading a Ferrari parade at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with an impressive win, finishing off 2007’s “unfinished business� Read: A proud finish and unfinished business >But we have not yet displayed in full the form that enabled Risi Competizione to dominate the ALMS GT2 category last year.

Perhaps we pointed too much to Le Mans—the way we left the race, with a substantial lead in 2007 was tough to take—and perhaps this emphasis on the “majors� was working to the team’s detriment in the early going in the ALMS series. But it’s a tough on American soil this year. We have been in contention, we have been fast, we have been in the lead but we have not finished the deal yet.

The Road offers us a chance to re-align the stars a bit.

Last year, Risi Competizione brought in a pair of Ferrari 430GTs with Salo/Melo doing the on-couse work in the No. 62 and “Gimmi� Bruni and Eric Helary handling the driving for No. 61. Serious as a nuclear weapon, Melo put the No. 62 Ferrari on the Pole (his sixth in two years at the time) and Gimmi put No. 61 into third position. A very good start and no one along pit row was asking any questions about the team’s intent or speed for the race. It was as clear as a new class record could be.

Race day brought out the best in all the competitors and the anticipated battle between Porsche and Ferrari, a long-simmering feud that’s only been going on for about fifty years now, kicked in immediately as Van Overbeek in a Porsche nicked Salo in the No. 62 Ferrari. For this transgression—intentional or not—van Overbeek is sent to the sidelines in the pits for a “Stop and Go�. Both of the Risi Ferraris pit about an hour and five minutes into the race and then, when Tom Milner in the No. 18 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, who was leading the race, goes into the pits for tires, fuel, and a driver change, Melo assumes the lead and heads for the horizon.

And then—the rain shows up, late to the party but in time for some fun nevertheless. A mad scramble sees everyone coming in for rain tires and our favorites drop down to second place in the running order at 1 hour and 45 minutes into the race.

Places are shuffled again, when Melo passes Ralf Kelleners, a former Risi Competizione driver who is now a shoe for Rahal/Letterman for first, but Kelleners gets it back when Melo takes his next stop.

Road America (Official Title: The Generac 500 at Road America) is a four hour race and, as before, we like that distance. Both Melo and Kelleners hit the pits at approximately 7:00PM, with one hour left. They both remain in their cars while the duo-service (tires and fuel) is done and then out to battle for the last hour they go, but Melo gets out first due to superior pit work on the part of the Risi Competizione team.

And that’s how they finished: Risi Competizione Ferrari 1st, Rahal Letterman Porsche 2nd, and the Petersen/White Lightening Ferrari third.

All in all, a great way to wipe the stain of Mid-Oh and Lime Rock permanently off the fabric of racing history.

This year, there are different driving forces at work.

Salo/Melo are ready to win an ALMS race as is the team and the crew.

The No. 61 car is now piloted by Harrison Brix and, joining the team for Road America, Robert “Rob� Bell. Patrick Friesacher, who had been teamed with Brix in the No. 61 car, suffered a rather daunting shunt testing an A1GP car, crushed a few vertebrae and has been instructed by several people with the initials “M� and “D� behind their names to stay out of race cars and to rest until fully, completely, absolutely healed.

Bell will be new to Road America and new to Risi Competizione, but he is no new kid on the block. He drove a Ferrari 430GT at Sebring and has extensive experience in GT2 racing in Europe in the 430GT, where he was GT2 Champion in 2007 with Virgo Motorsports. He and Brix will be a formidable team.

In testing this morning, Melo lead the class and there is more speed to come.
Qualifying at The Road is a mere 20 minutes session, so the team will have to take maximum advantage of the testing session (yesterday) and the two practice sessions to get ready for the grid position run. Brix and Bell will have a bit of acclimation time to do on the track but early results are proving them quick.

In terms of the competition in GT2 category at The Road this year, it is the usual suspects. Porsche is pushing, pushing, pushing for a good showing and they are continuing their season long quest of car and driver improvement programs for all the Porsche teams. This weekend, new Porsche team VICI racing has received a factory driving emissary in the form of Marc Basseng and Flying Lizard will be out in full force with van Overbeek, Henzler, Neiman, Bergmeister, Law and Pilet taking turns in the now-three-car Flying Lizard Porsche 911 GT3 RSR team. Over at Tafel, Dirk Mueller and Dominic Farnbacher will be in the No. 71 Ferrari 430GT with Jim Tafel, Alex Figge, and Pierre Ehret in Tafel’s No. 73 430GT. Both of these teams are on form this year.

A battle royal should ensue and at the end of the race tomorrow evening at 8:00PM it is hoped that Risi Competizione will not only be on the podium but at the top of it.


Everyone in this league is quick and fast and professional and so domination by one manufacturer or team is tough to come by. But it’s our turn.

Risi Competizione started racing the Ferrari 360GT when no one else would take the car to the ALMS tracks in North America and the grid was stacked with Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. It was Risi Competizione that broke Porsche’s win streak at Lime Rock in 2004. It was Risi Competizione that brought the 430GT to ALMS race tracks and to the top of the podium in ALMS racing and at Sebring and at Le Mans. Everybody at this level is good.


This weekend, our hope is to be just a little bit better and re-align the stars (again).