After just two hours of practice, during which Risi’s drivers had to familiarize themselves with the narrow confines of the Baltimore street track and find a satisfactory set up, it was time for qualifying in preparation for the 2-hour race tomorrow, the 7th round of the American Le Mans Series.
The No.62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia was qualified by Olivier Beretta and, in a typically close GT session just 1.3 seconds separated the top 8 cars. The Monegasque driver’s best lap time of 1:30.900 places him in 8th position on the GT grid which was somewhat disappointing for the Houston-based team who had anticipated a better result.
The practice sessions had – as often is the case with street races – been severely disrupted by red flag stoppages which limited the track time available to the team even further. The team struggled with a rear end handling issue during practice which wasn’t completely resolved during qualifying.
Beretta said afterwards: “The traffic was not an issue. We are very limited with practice time in Baltimore and it is lot different to what we have at other tracks because there are a lot of bumps.
“We are in a learning year with this car. The team and the drivers are all working together and trying their best. The result is not there yet but the results will come. We are facing some really good teams with up to three years of experience at this track and we have just one year. Like I said, we are a new group just starting here.”
