March, 2006, Sebring…. Without much pre-race fanfare and zero pre-race American testing, the new Ferrari 430GT is rolled out from the second story of the Rosso Corso Risi Competizione transporter and onto the liftgate for its descent into the brutal endurance racing forum that is the 12 Hours of Sebring.The new 430 had not been raced in competition in the U.S. before; it was entered by Houston-based Ferrari racing experts Risi Competizione, a very private outfit with an intensely private managing director, Giuseppe Risi.
It was a new day for Risi Comp, who would put two of their long time drivers in the new 430GT (Ralph Kelleners and Anthony Lazzaro) along with the new kid in town, Brazilian sports car ace and Ferrari factory driver Jaime Melo. This entry from the Texas team was ripe with variables. The 430GT was a new model, an unknown quantity in international racing circles; Melo was well known only to a handful of racing professionals inside the gates of Ferrari’s Maranello compound. He had been the development driver for the street version of the 430 (which was offered in both Spyder and Berlinetta configurations) as well as the Ferrari Challenge version of the 430 and the new 430GT designed specifically for international sports car racing. Safe to say that Melo had the most seat time in the 430 of any driver in the world, but he had no rep or street cred at Sebring, nor did the the 430GT. The fact that Melo was driving for Risi Competizione was evidence enough that he were to be taken very seriously.
Connected in unknown ways to the Ferrari factory, Risi Comp had campaigned the under-powered Ferrari 360GT for a few years, breaking Porsche’s stranglehold on the GT2 category in the process. Before that he had been successful with the Ferrari 333SP, the last purpose-built Ferrari sports prototype race car, winning the first Petit Le Mans as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans with that model. In 2005, Risi Comp’s entry of the Maserati MC12 had rattled the ALMS and Sebring establishment to the point that the car was literally “legislated” out of competition.
The 2006 Sebring 12 Hour race was one of the best in the storied track’s history; in the GT2 category, the Risi Comp 430GT finished third in its’ international endurance racing debut, after a twelve hour battle that featured 27 lead changes. All three of the GT2 podium cars finished on the same lap—a telling indication of the competitiveness of the race. The winning car was a Panoz(Maxwell/Brabham/Bourdais), followed by a Porsche (van Overbeek/Fogarty/Lieb). The fastest lap for the GT2 category was laid down by the Risi Comp 430GT, a 2:04.002 produced by that new kid, Melo.
The Risi Comp 430GT went on to win the ALMS GT2 championship in it’s first year of competition and Jaime Melo finished the season packing international track cred without equal in sports cars. A new era was born and that basic combination, Risi Comp, Melo, and the 430GT were constants on the podium, in the winner’s circle, in championships won and championships contended for, for the next five years.
Now, jump ahead, into a cold and blustery December Friday, 2010, at Fiorano, Ferrari’s private test track in Maranello. A red 458GT is circling the track, Jaime Melo at the wheel, while a group of Ferrari engineers and racing directors follow the progress on the multiple screens inside the small white garage that serves as the launch point for test sessions at Fiorano. The black ribbon of track provides a stark contrast to the snow covered infield as the scream of the latest Ferrari racing engine rises and falls, from corner to corner, from lap to lap. Photos are taken (after all, this is history at Ferrari) and cell phones are dialed as on-site personnel report back to those not on- site. Following the progress via telephone is the now legendary Managing Director for Risi Competizione, Giuseppe Risi, who has yet to make public his racing plans for 2011.
Risi has been with Ferrari for decades now, been a Ferrari dealer for over thirty years, knew Enzo Ferrari personally, has consistently campaigned Ferrari sports cars even when the odds were enormously stacked against him, as in the 360GT period. He has always made the supreme effort to represent the tradition and professionalism of Ferrari racing. In five years racing the 430GT, Risi’s team captured 7 majors in Endurance Racing. One team racing against him with another pair of 430GTs spent tens of millions of dollars and only made the podium one time, when Risi’s car ran out of gas on the last lap at Petit. He has turned down offers to race other marques and models and has always been the go-to guy for Ferrari sports car racing in America.
The pilgrims will come, their orders and deposits will be collected, and their cars will be shipped to racing operations headquarters, but only a fool would bet against Risi having the best 458 operation of all in North American in 2011…….if he races.
If he races. That qualifying statement can serve as the key to the 2011 North American ALMS season. After the 2010 season, in which the team came so close to winning it all after a season of very difficult events, there was low talk in the pits that Risi had had enough, that the last race loss—and the way the race was lost—had shredded his drive and finally convinced him that further racing activities were not in his future. It was time to scale back and let others chase the numbers his team had put up. He could leave the scene as the most successful Ferrari team owner since Luigi Chinetti’s operation in the late 50’s and early 60’s.
Those who know Risi well—and there are few who do—will tell you in private that Risi Competizione will not leave the scene in such a fashion. The team did not get to the top of the heap in GT racing by backing away from tough challenges; it will not go out on an off note, it will leave on high one.
When/if Risi Competizione receives it’s new 458GT, this is what the team will be looking at in terms of specs:
Name: Ferrari 458GT
Engine 90 Degree DOHC V8 w/4 valves per cylinder
Location Mid engine, longitudinally mounted
Construction Aluminum Alloy block and heads
Displacement 4.499 Liter/274.5 Cubic Inches
Valve Train 4 valves/Cylinder, DOHC
Fuel Feed Direct Fuel Injection
Aspiration Naturally Aspirated
Gearbox Hewland 6 speed sequential
Drive Rear Wheel Drive
Weight 1245 Kilos/2744 lbs
Power 470 BHP/351 KW
BHP/Liter 104 bhp/Liter
Power to Weight 0.38bhp/kg
risicompetizioneWill the 458GT be as fast out of the box as the car it replaces, the now-legendary Ferrari 430GT? That answer will not be long in coming, as the 458GT is due to show at the fabled Sebring winter tests, held on February 9th&10th. Do not be too surprised if you see a pair of Risi Competizione transporters in the paddock, unloading a 458GT, with a single driver there for the test. And certainly, do not be surprised if you don’t.
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