Risi Competizione Post-Qualifying Report

Toni Vilander qualified the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE to the fifth position on the GTLM class grid for this weekend's 54th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 30-31, 2016.

His best time of 2:03.386, at an average speed of 103.869, was performed on the fourth and final lap of a rainy afternoon qualifying session. The GTLM pole was set by Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR with a time of 2:01.408 and a speed of 105.561 mph. The 15-minute qualifying window was shortened by a red flag when the No. 72 Ferrari 488 GTE hydroplaned off the circuit.

Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:

"All of our running so far has been in the wet. Toni and Fisichella, the only two guys who have driven the car yet today, say that it was good in the wet for them. We'll wait until tomorrow until we get in the dry. Qualifying was pretty treacherous because it started raining pretty hard once we went out. Then one of our sister cars had an accident, which caused a red flag, so we really only got two timed laps. Then at the end we got slowed by the Ford that spun in the 'busstop' on the lap that would have been Toni's quickest lap. It doesn't really matter in this condition. We're lucky to have a car in one piece. We'll go into night practice and tomorrow's morning practice hoping to get some dry running, do a couple of little tweaks and start the race."

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

 Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:

"First of all we had a good two sessions on wet conditions. The amount of water for qualifying increased quite a bit. At the beginning of the session it was really difficult. I could go up to third and fourth gear on the straight lines and really be on the edge and I didn't know when I was going to lose the car. Then they stopped the qualifying with a red-flag, so I thought there was probably a little less water. (Race Engineer) Rick (Mayer) informed me really well about how much time was left so I could pace myself and on the last lap I could improve the performance. But we would have needed another five to ten minutes to really cover it. The car felt goodon the infield, but high speed still had some aquaplaning issues. We have had similar things in the past so there is some margin for improvement. I'm really happy the car is in one piece and we are going for the race start on Saturday. Tonight and tomorrow we will start rotating all four drivers and get into the real team effort and then start looking forward to the race."

Joining Vilander in the cockpit of the Risi Competizione Ferrari for the inaugural 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be fellow Ferrari factory drivers Giancarlo Fisichella, who also drove briefly on Thursday Davide Rigon and Olivier Beretta.

Practice session on Friday, January 29 runs from 10:25 a.m. EST for one hour. The race starts Saturday, January 24 at 2:40 p.m. EDT. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and the IMSA Smartphone app.

Tune-In Information:

In the U.S., watch the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m EST. on FOX Sports 1 and 4:00-10:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2. Overnight viewing (Jan. 30-31) from 10:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. EST watch on IMSA.tv  (live video streaming and commentary). On Sunday, Jan. 31, 7:00 a.m.-10:30 p.m. EST the broadcast will be on FOX Sports 1, the 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2, with the final two hours from 10:00-3:00 p.m. EST broadcast on FOX Sports 1. The Rolex 24 At Daytona is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app. 

For more information, please contact us or go to www.risicompetizione.com.

Toni Vilander qualified the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE to the fifth position on the GTLM class grid for this weekend's 54th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 30-31, 2016.

His best time of 2:03.386, at an average speed of 103.869, was performed on the fourth and final lap of a rainy afternoon qualifying session. The GTLM pole was set by Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR with a time of 2:01.408 and a speed of 105.561 mph. The 15-minute qualifying window was shortened by a red flag when the No. 72 Ferrari 488 GTE hydroplaned off the circuit.

Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:

"All of our running so far has been in the wet. Toni and Fisichella, the only two guys who have driven the car yet today, say that it was good in the wet for them. We'll wait until tomorrow until we get in the dry. Qualifying was pretty treacherous because it started raining pretty hard once we went out. Then one of our sister cars had an accident, which caused a red flag, so we really only got two timed laps. Then at the end we got slowed by the Ford that spun in the 'busstop' on the lap that would have been Toni's quickest lap. It doesn't really matter in this condition. We're lucky to have a car in one piece. We'll go into night practice and tomorrow's morning practice hoping to get some dry running, do a couple of little tweaks and start the race."

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

 Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:

"First of all we had a good two sessions on wet conditions. The amount of water for qualifying increased quite a bit. At the beginning of the session it was really difficult. I could go up to third and fourth gear on the straight lines and really be on the edge and I didn't know when I was going to lose the car. Then they stopped the qualifying with a red-flag, so I thought there was probably a little less water. (Race Engineer) Rick (Mayer) informed me really well about how much time was left so I could pace myself and on the last lap I could improve the performance. But we would have needed another five to ten minutes to really cover it. The car felt goodon the infield, but high speed still had some aquaplaning issues. We have had similar things in the past so there is some margin for improvement. I'm really happy the car is in one piece and we are going for the race start on Saturday. Tonight and tomorrow we will start rotating all four drivers and get into the real team effort and then start looking forward to the race."

Joining Vilander in the cockpit of the Risi Competizione Ferrari for the inaugural 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be fellow Ferrari factory drivers Giancarlo Fisichella, who also drove briefly on Thursday Davide Rigon and Olivier Beretta.

Practice session on Friday, January 29 runs from 10:25 a.m. EST for one hour. The race starts Saturday, January 24 at 2:40 p.m. EDT. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and the IMSA Smartphone app.

Tune-In Information:

In the U.S., watch the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m EST. on FOX Sports 1 and 4:00-10:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2. Overnight viewing (Jan. 30-31) from 10:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. EST watch on IMSA.tv  (live video streaming and commentary). On Sunday, Jan. 31, 7:00 a.m.-10:30 p.m. EST the broadcast will be on FOX Sports 1, the 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2, with the final two hours from 10:00-3:00 p.m. EST broadcast on FOX Sports 1. The Rolex 24 At Daytona is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app. 

For more information, please contact us or go to www.risicompetizione.com.

Toni Vilander qualified the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE to the fifth position on the GTLM class grid for this weekend's 54th annual Rolex 24 At Daytona, January 30-31, 2016.

His best time of 2:03.386, at an average speed of 103.869, was performed on the fourth and final lap of a rainy afternoon qualifying session. The GTLM pole was set by Nick Tandy in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR with a time of 2:01.408 and a speed of 105.561 mph. The 15-minute qualifying window was shortened by a red flag when the No. 72 Ferrari 488 GTE hydroplaned off the circuit.

Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:

"All of our running so far has been in the wet. Toni and Fisichella, the only two guys who have driven the car yet today, say that it was good in the wet for them. We'll wait until tomorrow until we get in the dry. Qualifying was pretty treacherous because it started raining pretty hard once we went out. Then one of our sister cars had an accident, which caused a red flag, so we really only got two timed laps. Then at the end we got slowed by the Ford that spun in the 'busstop' on the lap that would have been Toni's quickest lap. It doesn't really matter in this condition. We're lucky to have a car in one piece. We'll go into night practice and tomorrow's morning practice hoping to get some dry running, do a couple of little tweaks and start the race."

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

Risi Competizione qualifying driver Toni Vilander debriefs with teammates

 Toni Vilander, driver, No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM:

"First of all we had a good two sessions on wet conditions. The amount of water for qualifying increased quite a bit. At the beginning of the session it was really difficult. I could go up to third and fourth gear on the straight lines and really be on the edge and I didn't know when I was going to lose the car. Then they stopped the qualifying with a red-flag, so I thought there was probably a little less water. (Race Engineer) Rick (Mayer) informed me really well about how much time was left so I could pace myself and on the last lap I could improve the performance. But we would have needed another five to ten minutes to really cover it. The car felt goodon the infield, but high speed still had some aquaplaning issues. We have had similar things in the past so there is some margin for improvement. I'm really happy the car is in one piece and we are going for the race start on Saturday. Tonight and tomorrow we will start rotating all four drivers and get into the real team effort and then start looking forward to the race."

Joining Vilander in the cockpit of the Risi Competizione Ferrari for the inaugural 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will be fellow Ferrari factory drivers Giancarlo Fisichella, who also drove briefly on Thursday Davide Rigon and Olivier Beretta.

Practice session on Friday, January 29 runs from 10:25 a.m. EST for one hour. The race starts Saturday, January 24 at 2:40 p.m. EDT. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and the IMSA Smartphone app.

Tune-In Information:

In the U.S., watch the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m EST. on FOX Sports 1 and 4:00-10:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2. Overnight viewing (Jan. 30-31) from 10:00 p.m.-7:00 a.m. EST watch on IMSA.tv  (live video streaming and commentary). On Sunday, Jan. 31, 7:00 a.m.-10:30 p.m. EST the broadcast will be on FOX Sports 1, the 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. on FOX Sports 2, with the final two hours from 10:00-3:00 p.m. EST broadcast on FOX Sports 1. The Rolex 24 At Daytona is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app. 

For more information, please contact us or go to www.risicompetizione.com.