Risi Competizione has reported a successful shakedown of its new Ferrari 488 GTLM at the Fiorano Circuit in Italy this week (January 18, 2016).
“The new Ferrari 488 GTLM is a stunning and beautiful car,” said Giuseppe Risi, team principal, Risi Competizione. “The shakedown went well and as planned, no surprises. The car is now in transit to Miami, where a representative will pick it up and take it to Daytona. Our guys will then work to get it prepped for the Rolex 24 race. All four of our drivers have driven the 488 so the car will not be new to them. However, we will have some work to do to get the required components set for Daytona and 24-hour race mode. It will be a busy week next week since we only have limited track time before the race start.”
This will be the fourth time that Risi Competizione has debuted a new Ferrari competition car in North America. In 2002 Risi Competizione debuted the Ferrari 360 GT, which was followed by the team’s debuted of the hugely successful Ferrari 430 GT in 2006. In 2011, Risi Competizione debuted the Ferrari 458 GT2, again at Sebring.
“We worked together with Michelotto, to get this car built to the specs needed for IMSA competition,” said Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione race engineer. “Two of our crew were onsite for several weeks working with them and then our data engineer joined them after the Roar Test, in expectation that the car will be as race ready for Daytona as possible once it arrives. Of course there is plenty of work to do since we were not able to use the Roar Test to our benefit, but we’ll make it work as we always do. This is a spectacular car and we hope for some great things this season.”
