Risi Competizione driver Toni Vilander qualified the No. 62 Risi Ferrari 488 GTLM in the Top 5 in today's qualifying for the Northeast Grand Prix race at Lime Rock Park road course in Lakeville, Conn.The Finnish driver posted a time of 50.902 around the short 1.474-mile, seven turn circuit in the Berkshire Mountains of northeastern Connecticut. He completed 11 laps with the fastest on Lap 5.The event is a two hour and 40-minute race that starts at 3:05 p.m. EDT after a 20-minute warm-up in the morning with weather expected to be 90 degrees F again.
Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:"Honestly qualifying went a bit better than I thought. I think the track and the car will be good for the race. We tried a handful of things in the practice sessions and found a good compromise for the race. Giancarlo needed some time getting used to the track and with the red flags and traffic we still managed to get him up to speed. During that time we didn't do any chassis tuning. That's just the way it is when you have a driver that's new to the track. I think we have a good race car for tomorrow and we'll see what the heat does for everybody else and how we do in the pits. It's really, really hot. I think every team will struggle with tire degradation because of the heat. If we get some cloud cover it might be a bit better, but with the short lap it's going to be a 70+ lap stint. It's going to be a monster stint. Historically the first stints here seem to go green [green flag racing], so we'll see what people do as far as tire strategy because if you pit under green you go down a lap. We'll find out tomorrow."
Toni Vilander, qualifying driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:"I think this marks my eleventh year with Ferrari. I started in 2006 right here at Lime Rock. I was sent for the first time to race here in the U.S. with Risi and Remo Feri to operate a car [Ferrari], so it's cool to be back. It is a bit of a full circle to come back here. We seem to be a bit more competitive here. This is a less engine track. We are quite good on the first part of the track -- turns one, two, three and four. In qualifying I was really on it. I was on it a couple of times and unfortunately lost something on the chicanes in the last two turns so there's a margin of improvement. At least we are a step closer. The fact is, it's a short track, it's not a real engine track. It's good to give motivation to the whole team. Now we will concentrate to have a good race, but it will be a really, really tough one. Even one full stint is so many laps - between 70 and 80 laps. Today the track temperature was close to 100 (F) and during practice 140 (F) or something like that, so quite an extreme situation. A short track gives you no time to back off or recover. You need to be on it all the time. I'm assuming the GT pack will be quite close together so it will be a tough race. So it's been a positive day."
Giancarlo Fisichella, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:"I haven't done many laps, but I have to say I feel confident with the circuit. There's a few nice places like the last couple of corners. The track is a bit short, but it's nice to drive here and the car balance looks right. We are close to the leaders and Toni did a good qualifying session; we are fourth. I'm looking forward to the race to get on the podium."
