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The Risi
Competizione Ferrari F430 GT of Jaime Melo and Mika Salo
staged one of the most remarkable fight backs in
American Le Mans history to win Saturday's Petit Le
Mans. In an excellent result for Ferrari, Nic Jönsson,
Tracy Krohn and Eric van de Poele brought their #61
Krohn Racing Risi Ferrari home in 4th place. Four of the
top five places in GT2 were filled by Ferraris.
Risi’s Brilliant Brazilian was undoubtedly the star of
this particular show. Melo led the first hour of the
race after starting from pole position, but an early
mechanical problem necessitated two additional pit stops
and caused the car to drop back to 12th in the placings.
Despite losing two laps to the leaders, Melo set about
carving his way through the field and back into
contention. After four and a half hours, the #62 was in
2nd place and chasing the #45 Flying Lizard Porsche for
the lead.
He was of course backed up superbly by his team mate,
Mika Salo, who not only maintained the position but also
kept the opposition at bay despite being under intense
pressure throughout. The Flying Finn’s reputation as the
best closer in the business was fully justified today as
he battled through accidents, darkness and the heat of
competition to take the checkered flag.
Car #61 had a great run through to 4th place, despite
being forced to change a punctured tire in the pits
while they were closed during the long 10th Full Course
Caution period. A time/stop/go penalty was incurred but
the Krohn Racing drivers’ pace and performance ensured
that they were still ahead of the 5th placed Ferrari of
JMB Racing.
Giuseppe Risi, Team Principal: “This is a very
special moment for me here at Petit Le Mans. We won the
first Petit outright in a Ferrari 333 and ten years
after we now win it again after having also captured the
24 Hours of Le Mans. What also makes it special is that
our other car is right up there in 4th place and that
there are four Ferraris in the top five. It’s a very
special day for Ferrari and I want to thank everybody
involved for making this possible.”
Jaime Melo, Driver, No. 62 Risi Ferrari 430 GT:
“I’m really happy to win this race especially. When Mika
got the problem we were right back and I thought that
the only thing I could do was to push the maximum and
don’t make any mistakes and that’s what I did. The team,
as always, did a really great job and the Michelin tires
were very consistent so we had a car that was easy to
drive, comfortable and always on the pace. It’s been a
tough year; we won Le Mans and now Petit Le Mans so
that’s good for the team and for us all. It gives us
more confidence for the future.”
Mika Salo, Driver, No. 62 Risi Ferrari 430 GT: “I
don’t know why all the problems seem to happen to me! I
had two problems which, at the time, we didn’t know were
connected. The drinks bottle wasn’t working and then the
throttle stuck open. We eventually found out that a
really small piece from the drinks tube had broken off
and got stuck between the floor and the throttle – it’s
about the size of a finger nail. You can’t believe the
chances of something like that happening. Anyway, it’s
nice to win but, for me, I’m really jealous of those
guys [Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister] for winning the
Championship!!”
Nic Jönsson, Driver, No. 61 Risi-Krohn Ferrari 430
GT: “I’m very pleased about the 4th place finish
here. We qualified quite well with sixth. For us to have
a good finish here we had to stay out of trouble. Both
Eric and Tracy did an awesome job today, keeping it on
the track, plugging away and letting everybody else make
mistakes. I have to say thanks, of course, to Tracy
again, to Risi Competizione and Krohn Racing for putting
together a very good program. Hopefully we can do this
again next year. We’ve had a lot of success in this car
and hopefully we can continue on.”
Tracy Krohn, driver/Krohn Racing team owner, No. 61
Risi-Krohn Ferrari 430 GT: “The cool part about it
is that when you come to a race like this it’s all about
staying out of trouble and being very consistent. But
it’s also about having really quality team mates and
that’s a big part of it. My hat’s off to the Risi guys.
The preparation on the car is always superb; the car is
always very drivable. (Race Engineer) Mark Schomann just
did a great job. It was a great team effort. Eric did an
awesome job in a very tight situation with an
instantaneous reaction that probably saved our skins for
the race because of the wreck that happened in front of
him between one of the GT Porsches and one of the P1
cars. If Eric had not make the right decision the game
would have been over for us tonight. But he did and
that’s just experience. There’s no way you can coach or
teach that, you just have to know how to do it and how
to react. Nic also did an awesome job driving today.
Both those guys were great. I’ve said it a thousand
times. This business is just like any other business.
When you surround yourself with talented people who work
hard, you get good results. Same thing continues to
happen.”
Eric van de Poele, driver, No. 61 Risi-Krohn Ferrari
430 GT: “It was pretty good until the end. We had
absolutely no problem at the beginning of the race. I
think Nic had a very good pace. We were in a very good
position. Unfortunately we lost a lap by no chance with
the pace car but it happens. Then Tracy went in the car.
We made a couple of extra pit stops over the next few
laps with the cautions. Then when I got back in I think
we were in 7th and I was a little demotivated but we
came back and got better and better in our position. Of
course we hoped to be on the podium but I think fourth
place is fantastic for the team. We’ve had a good result
two times this year with this car. Once more Giuseppe
Risi won this race and I’m very happy for him. Ten years
ago he won and this year he deserved it. Of course it
could have been better to be on the podium with them but
I’m very happy for him and for us.”
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