IMSA: Risi anticipating December delivery for new Ferrari 488

Risi Competizione is preparing for the arrival of a new Ferrari 488 next month, and based on its potential delivery date, the twin-turbo coupe could be a Christmas present for the Houston-based team. Once the Michelotto-built car arrives from Italy, Risi will turn it around and head for the three-day Roar Before the 24 IMSA test at Daytona International Speedway

"We put the entry in for next year, so that's good," said team manager Dave Sims. "Drivers, we don't know; it's all TBA at this moment. Delivery of a car is...don't know. December, possibly later in the month, but it's nothing new in motor racing, honestly.

"It's going to be a bit tight, but we're doing all our travel stuff right now to book everything for the Roar test (on Jan. 8-10). We'll do whatever we need to do to be there with the car. The car has been testing a lot in Europe, so that eases the burden on us."

Sims dispatched crew members to a recent test of the GT Le Mans version of the 488 in Italy, and says the feedback he received was positive.

"It was good; it ran faultlessly, had no mechanical issues," he continued. "They did three days; two days with Giancarlo Fisichella, then with Gimmi Bruni. We'll still have work to do in testing here, but progress has been good in Europe so we aren't worried. It was well worth sending our guys over to learn a lot ahead of us getting a car."

Once Risi Competizione receives a build window for its car, Sims will send more crew over to assist in the 488's completion.

"We'll send our data guy over to Michelotto and get the No. 1 mechanic over to get all the electronics done and help with the build," he said. "And we missed the Daytona test last week, but we sent our engineer and data engineer to the Daytona test, so we saw the other GT Le Mans cars that were there and what they did. It would have been nice to be there with a car to run, but we managed to learn a lot on our own without one."