Risi Competizione has two-time winners Fisichella, Vilander in Return to Le Mans
Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander finished on the Le Mans podium four times.
Eric Gilbert
Risi Competizione has entered a winning lineup in the quest for its fourth Le Mans class victory in seven attempts.
Giancarlo Fisichella and Toni Vilander – regular co-drivers for the team in WeatherTech Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) competition – both won the GTE Pro class at Le Mans in 2012 and 2014, co-driving a Ferrari 458 Italia GT2 for AF Corse. They will be joined this weekend by Matteo Malucelli in the No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
“The Ferraris have been well-suited in the past for Le Mans,” said Risi Competizione race engineer Rick Mayer. “The GT car gets designed and built with a large emphasis on Le Mans. Ferrari has a very long history of racing at Le Mans and understands what it takes to build a car that can endure and win. It's certainly a competitive GTE grid, the most competitive ever. We are definitely at the top end with a very competitive car, drivers and crew.”
Fisichella co-drove with Vilander in five of his six races at Le Mans since 2010, with the pair finishing on the podium four times. Vilander raced in the event seven times, placing in the top five six consecutive times after failing to finish in his debut in 2008. Malucelli has a pair of podium finishes at Le Mans, both in Ferraris.
"It's good for Risi, and good for us to have this success in our history,” said Fisichella, who was leading last year’s event until a gearbox issue with 90 minutes remaining ended his team’s chances of victory. “It is important to know we have a team behind us that has a lot of experience and knows what to do at Le Mans. It is great with the Risi team. The mechanics and crew are all fantastic. We have a good chance to do well and be on podium – but the goal is to win."
Fisichella and Vilander are currently fourth in the GTLM standings, finishing third at Long Beach in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE.
Risi Competizione was formed in partnership with Doyle Racing in 1999 as the competition arm of Giuseppe Risi’s Ferrari of Houston. The team won at Le Mans during its inaugural season as Wayne Taylor, Eric van de Poele and Fermin Velez placed eighth overall and captured the LM P1 class in a Ferrari 333SP. The team also won in the GT2 class in 2008 and 2009 with Mika Salo, Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni with a Ferrari 430 GT.
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