Risi Competizione returns to ALMS

The Risi Competizione will make its return to the ALMS by entering this year a Ferrari 458 Italia in the GT category after a year of absence from the discipline. After competing in the 24 Hours of Daytona with American Canadian Racing, the Houston-based team, victorious three times at Le Mans in its category, is embarking on a two-year program preparing for the merger of the Grand- Am with the ALMS. “We will only compete in the ALMS this year, a discipline where we have celebrated fantastic success”, comments the director of the eponymous team. “We will be racing in a new discipline in 2014 which will offer a new structure with the categories. We are excited with the prospects and the program that will keep the team going in 2013.”

The team representing Ferrari will retain racing engineer Rick Mayer, who is currently working in Italy alongside Michelotto Automobili, Maranello's official GT partner, to design the new F458. The latter will be supported by Mark Sims, who will occupy the position of chief mechanic after having worked in GP2, GP3 and the World Series by Renault. “As I have said in the past, having a partner as legendary as Ferrari requires total commitment”, comments Team Principal Giuseppe Risi. « La même chose s’applique avec la catégorie GT de l’ALMS que je considère toujours comme la meilleure compétition GT au monde. Nous sommes impatients de nous battre de nouveau avec nos vieux amis de BMW, Corvette, Extreme Speed Ferrari et Porsche, ainsi qu’avec les nouvelles voitures engagées. Je pense que c’est le bon moment pour revenir à la compétition au vu des développements pour l’avenir des courses d’endurance américaines. Nous savons à quoi nous attendre en 2013 et 2014. Nous avons fait nos recherches sur la piste et en dehors. J’ai toutes les raisons de penser que nous serons très compétitifs. »