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RISI COMPETIZIONE FERRARI F430 GT - 2010 LE MANS 24 HOURS

There has been a knock for the Risi Competizione crew as they prepare for the start of the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours this afternoon: having dominated qualifying the #82 car has been moved to the back of the grid for an infringement.

There was a hard knock for the Risi Competizione crew at the end of the night qualifying for the 78th Le Mans 24 Hours: having dominated the long qualifying session to decide the grid for this historic race which starts this afternoon at 15:00 pm, the LMGT2 pole winning F430 GT, crewed by Jaime Melo, Gimmi Bruni and Pierre Kaffer, was moved back from first to last place on the grid because the stewards deemed the rear wing did not conform to the regulations: it failed a height test by 2 mm.

Therefore the best placed Ferrari F430 GT in the new grid order in the LMGT2 class when the cars line up today to take the green flag will be the AF Corse example with its all-star crew of Scuderia Ferrari official test and reserve driver Giancarlo Fisichella, former Ferrari F1 legend Jean Alesi and highly successful sports car driver Toni Vilander. The will start the famous 24 hour race, the most prestigious encounter on the annual endurance racing calendar, behind the two factory Corvettes with the crew made up of Oliver Gavin, Olivier Beretta and Emmanuel Collard having got the nod over their team mates Johnny Connell, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, in the qualifying sessions.

Rounding off the list of red cars in the race comes, in eighth place, the #89 Hankook Farnbacher F430 GT driven by Allan Simonsen, Dominik Farnbacher and Leh Keen, and finally, in eleventh place on the grid comes car number 83, the second Risi Competizione entry, which is being crewed by Tracy Krohn, Nic Jonsson and Eric van de Poele. For momentum Risi Competizione can point to the 2007 and 2009 editions of the prestigious 12 Hours of Sebring: in both races the Houston, Texas-based team's leading car was moved to the back of the grid after the qualifying sessions, and in both races the red car fought its way through the field to take class victory in America's biggest sports car race. The long-time Ferrari-running team will have double the time 24 hours - at Le Mans today and tomorrow to replay this scenario.