The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, with their primary drivers Brazilian Daniel Serra and Italian Davide Rigon, did not have the result they had hoped today at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. After nearly five hours and 25 minutes of racing time at the Watkins Glen International road course, the No. 62 Ferrari was sent to the garage with a damaged tow link.
The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 started from the pole position in the GTD Pro class after Serra put down a record-setting lap on Saturday. He held the class lead until Lap 20 during Round Three of five of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) Championship in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship series in upstate New York.
Weather played a big part in the gripping six-hour timed race, which had seven cautions (for two hours and 23 minutes), and a nearly 40 minutes of red flag stoppage. When rain came pouring down and nearly all cars were still on slick tires or trying to get to the pits to change to rain tires, many cars slid off-track as carnage was at nearly every turn as the track became undriveable. IMSA made the decision for the red flag due to safety concerns. Once the skies brightened, the race went back to green flag conditions with many competitors worse for the wear.
At approximately 4:36 p.m., about ten minutes after the restart, the fan-favorite American Ferrari team pitted with a damaged tow link received when Rigon went off track at Turn 1 in the heavy rain while on slicks like many of the others. The team assessed and then retired the red Ferrari 296 GT3 20 minutes later.
The Risi Competizione team had hoped to better its back-to-back podiums (both second places finishes) from 2022 and 2023 at this year’s edition but Mother Nature seemed to have other ideas.
Quotes:
Anna Lenzi, Risi Comeptizione Team Manager:
“During the heavy rain when nearly all cars were racing on slicks and everyone was going off-track, Rigon went off track in Turn 1 going very slowly, maybe just 50 or 60 kilometers per hour, and he hit the wall. It ended up being a hard hit that bent the left rear tow link. He brought the No. 62 to the garage with the plan for the team to change it but by the time it was assessed we had lost too many laps. The team decided not to risk continuing with a bent tow link and risk more damage to us or others, so we made the decision to garage it.”
Daniel Serra, starting driver, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3:
“We had a good and strong start. With a big and strong field, I was glad to start from pole and hold it for a while. It was an interesting race with the changing weather and hard to predict. In the end the race didn’t go our way. We were hoping for another podium but sometimes these things happen. Hopefully we can make up points for the IMEC championship at the next two races.”
Davide Rigon, driver, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3:
“It was impossible to see when the rain got so bad and could not control the car with all the rain on track. I’m a bit surprised IMSA didn’t bring out the red flag earlier. It is disappointing but we will come back stronger next race.
“Honestly, it was a difficult race. It was good to start from the pole position; we were quick. I think we had things right on the set up from the practice for the race. Daniel did an amazing job and gave a super lap for qualifying.
“Today we started well, then lost some 4-5 positions on the first pit stop. On the second pit stop I jumped in, and we lost another five positions, so we need to understand why we lost time. Then it was going quite okay with the race. There was traffic but we were waiting until the end to give the maximum. But then a big, big rain came, and the radio was not working properly. I stayed out but huge rain, like a river, was coming down and everyone was crashing. I lost the car a little and touched the wall and it bent the rear tow of the car. In the end after the flag there was about 20 minutes left and we needed too much time to repair and refuel so we decided to retire the car. It was a tough decision, but it was like this because there was too much damage to the rear left of the car.
“Now we are looking towards the next race, and we’ll forget this one. We’ll just say the car was very good and the balance was nice, and we’ll work more on our pit stops and come back to the next race.”
Sponsors for this race for Risi Competizione included Pennzoil, Ferrari of Houston, OMP Racing and DEA.
The next race for the Texas-based Risi team is Round Four of the 2024 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) Championship to be held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 20-22. The final IMEC race will be held at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for Petit Le Mans, October 9-12, also the finale race of the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship.