Brix, Jourdain and Servia Finish Eighth
In Rolex Series Season Finale At Miller Motorsports Park Saturday In
Feeds the Need/Doran Racing DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77
Long Beach, California, (April
20, 2008) -- In Long Beach today Risi Competizione looked to
be racing to a certain podium finish for the #62 car, and a fourth
place for #61, but Lady Luck once again declined to shine down upon
the team.
A starter motor problem at Melo
and Salo’s only pit stop caused
a delay which saw the GT2 Champions relegated towards the back of the
field, finishing 9th in class. Brix and Friesacher, who were starting
only their second American Le Mans Series race, caught an unlucky break
in the timing of their pit stop in relation to the middle caution period
and lost a lap to the leading GT2 pack. The fact that they both drove
at a consistent and competitive pace throughout the race allowed them
to claim 5th place and further valuable points for Risi in the Teams’ Championship.
Jaime Melo took the start in his Rosso Red Ferrari 430 GT and battled
nose-to-tail with the two Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsches for the first
45 of the 68 lap race. The Brazilian had been running almost identical
lap times with his closest competitors, sometimes down to a hundredth
of a second, and there was all to play for as he came into the pits for
his only stop. However, when Mika Salo went to start the car, the starter
motor failed to function and the minutes agonizingly ticked by while
the problem was resolved. A communications misunderstanding saw Salo
having the rear deck lid of his car fitted just outside his pit box which
resulted in a stop-go penalty.
Californian Harrison Brix was philosophical about
the outcome of the race, especially as regards the loss of track position. “It’s
unfortunate, but that’s sort of how it works with street tracks;
it’s kind of luck of the draw. If you are in the right place at
the right time, you sometimes find yourself a lap ahead, like happened
here last year. It just wasn’t our turn this time. I’m happy
that two races in a row both cars finished and we’ve picked up
some points again. At the same time, if we look at our potential, we
should have been in fourth place now for two races in a row. We’ll
figure it out and be better next time.”
Patrick Friesacher added, “Our lap times
were really good but we went a lap down by just one car which was very
unlucky and that changed the look of our race.”
Jaime Melo was in a reflective mood once the
initial feelings of disappointment had faded slightly. “If you consider that last year we won eight
races and this year we can’t yet finish in the top five, it’s
hard to not feel disappointed. It wasn’t easy to keep the pace
during my stint as we had big understeer and then oversteer so it was
difficult to manage the situation. I thought that our championship could
start here but in the end it will have to wait until the next round.
But a race finishes at the last lap and a championship finishes at the
last race so it is not over yet; we have to keep positive and keep fighting.
Mika Salo conceded that events had very much
gone against plan. “Obviously
we had a bad pit stop because the car didn’t start and when I got
out the handling felt really strange – even in the pit lane. I
thought we had a wheel loose or something but it turns out that, while
Jaime had been overtaking a slower GT2 car earlier in the race, there
had been some contact and the left rear toe link was bent. It was difficult
to drive but the race had gone from us already and we were two laps down.
The GT2 class was won by Tafel Racing Ferrari 430GT of Dominik Farnbacher
and Dirk Mueller, with Flying Lizard Motorsports taking second and third
and the Corsa Motorsports Ferrari 430 in fourth place.
For Risi Competizione images, copyright free for editorial use, please
go to our website, www.risicompetizione.com. On the home page click any
link for 'media login' and enter the password: risi2008 (lowercase, no
spaces). For high resolution photos please contact fmiller@risicompetizione.com
or dpierce@ferrariofhouston.com
For further information contact Fiona Miller on 863 202 6942 or email
to fmiller@risicompetizione.com
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