RISI FRONT ROW START IN UTAH
UTAH GRAND PRIX, TOOELE (SALT
LAKE CITY), UTAH, (May 17, 2008) -- It could not have been
any closer, or any more exciting, for everyone watching and listening
to today’s qualifying session for Sunday’s two hour, 45-minute
long Utah Grand Prix.
The time of 1:47.135 set by Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo was
identical - to a thousandth of a second - to that set by Flying Lizard
Motorsport’s Wolf Henzler. The German Porsche driver was, however,
awarded pole position as he posted the time earliest in the session.
Austrian Patrick Friesacher recorded his best time of the weekend so
far, 1:48.330, to place his Ferrari 430 GT in 6th place on the GT2
grid.
The Brazilian driver, now a resident of Houston, TX, was, in the words
of Dave Sims, Risi Competizione’s Team Manager, “Unbelievable.
To bring a lap like that out of the bag was a really amazing bit of
driving – he’s quite something.”
2006 race winner, Melo, had placed his Rosso red Risi Ferrari in fourth
position earlier in the 20-minute qualifying session, but he was not
yet satisfied with what he had achieved. After coming into the pits
for a small adjustment to the car, Melo went out on track again with
three minutes left to run on the clock. On Michelin tires that had
already completed eight laps, he drove the lap of his life and – had
it not been for a big power slide coming out of The Attitudes area
of the track – he would have claimed pole position; the sector
times show that Melo was the fastest car from Turn 7 to the start/finish
line. As it was, he will be starting on the front row of the GT2 grid
with an excellent chance for race success.
Jaime Melo said afterwards, “I didn’t have anything else
to put in; I gave it everything and took as many risks as I could without
damaging the car. I didn’t expect to be that fast, to be honest;
the Porsche is very strong on a straight line. We made a few changes
to the car before the last practice session and that definitely helped
me. Looking at where we started the weekend, this result is okay and
I am more confident about the car for the race than I was for qualifying.”
Former F1 pilot, Patrick Freisacher, was also able to make the best
of his tires late in the session and has profited from the prior Miller
Motorsports Park experience that his team mate, Harrison Brix, had
brought to the pairing. “It wasn’t so bad for my first
time here. In the beginning we struggled to bring the tires up to temperature;
normally your quickest time is set on either the 4th or 5th lap but
here each lap was getting better and better. My ninth lap was my quickest
but I ran out of fuel so didn’t get to finish the lap… I
think we are going to be strong tomorrow so I am quite happy.”
The Official Sponsors of Risi Competizione, 2006 and
2007 ALMS GT2 Team Champions, are Boost/Motorola, Michelin,
Freescale, Ferrari of Silicon Valley, Ferrari Financial Services, Boardwalk
Autogroup, Delphi and Ferrari
of Houston.
The Larry H Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix is scheduled for 1:05
pm MT on Sunday, May 18 from Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.
The race will be broadcast on SPEED live on May 18 beginning at 3:00
pm EST (Eastern Standard Time). International TV coverage is on Motors
TV - live on May 18 beginning at 8:00 pm (UK), 9:00 pm CET (Central European
Time). Live American Le Mans Radio coverage will be available at americanlemans.com,
which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.
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 media information contact Fiona Miller
by email to fmiller@risicompetizione.com or call +44 7770 371332.
|
