Risi Competizione 24h Le Mans pre-race preview 14.09.2020: Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE-Pro No. 82: Sebastien Bourdais (FRA) Olivier Pla (FRA) Jules Gounon (FRA) American race team, Risi Competizio

Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE-Pro No. 82:   Sebastien Bourdais (FRA)
                                                 Olivier Pla (FRA)
                                                 Jules Gounon (FRA)



American race team, Risi Competizione, is one of the few U.S.-based teams competing at this week's rescheduled 88th annual 24 Hours of Le Mans race, September 17-20. The Ferrari team may be American but it will be piloted this year by a full French driver line up.
 


The No. 82 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 LM GTE-Pro entry will be comprised of Le Mans' hometown hero and former Le Mans class winner, Sébastien Bourdais; 12-time Le Mans competitor from Toulouse, Olivier Pla; and Aubenas, France native and Bentley factory driver, Jules Gounon, who made his Le Mans debut last year with the Risi squad. The No. 82 red Ferrari 488 GTE previously only competed at this year's running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January.



Pla, a 38-year-old from Toulouse, France is competing in IMSA with Mazda Motorsports. He was this year's pole winner and finished second at the 24 Hours of Daytona and seventh at the recent 6-hour race at Road Atlanta. Pla has raced consistently in both IMSA and FIA WEC since 2012 and raced every year at Le Mans since 2008 (12 times) with a highest finish of second in the LMP2 class with Oak Racing. He drove the past four years at Le Mans in GTE-Pro with the Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT with a highest finish of fourth in 2016.


 
Bourdais, 41, is a four-time open wheel (CART) champion and 2016 GTE-Pro class Le Mans winner and driving for the Risi Ferrari team for the first time. The native of Le Mans is a 13-time competitor at the annual twice-around-the-clock endurance race at the Circuit de la Sarthe where he's had an additional four podium finishes.



He's also won the 24 Hours of Daytona race twice, had two second-place finishes and third place earlier this year after competing a total of 11 times. Additionally, he's collected victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring and Petit Le Mans, both in 2015. He's currently racing in IMSA in the JDC-Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi.



Gounon, a 25-year-old millennial from Aubenas, France and son of former Le Mans driver Jean-Marc Gounon, already has quite an endurance record to his name. The current Bentley M-Sport driver won the Bathurst 12 Hour race earlier this year and also has a victory at the 24 Hours of Spa in 2017.



Starting in karting in 2010 at age 15, the young Gounon, moved into single-seaters and Porsche Carrera Cup before advancing to ADAC GT Masters and the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. He made his Le Mans debut with Risi last year where the team finished 11th in GTE-Pro class. He currently lives in Barcelona, Spain and has raced in IMSA, GT World Challenge Europe and VLN in 2020.
 
 


                                     
The livery for this year's Risi Competizione Le Mans car is the result of an internal competition among art students at the prestigious ens aama Paris (École nationale supérieure des arts appliqués et des métiers d'art). The winners of the 2020 livery design are Augustin de Montardy and Aristide Renault, whose design was translated to the Ferrari 488 shape to create the 2020 livery.
 


The Houston, Texas-based Risi Competizione team, known for their stellar crew, will compete this year at Le Mans for the 16th time since 1998 this year. The legendary team's record in the famous race includes three victories, in 1998 with the Ferrari 333 SP, and 2008 and 2009 in the Ferrari 430 GT, and an additional five podiums.



The respected over 50-year-old Ferrari Owner's Club of France, Club Ferrari France, has collaborated with Giuseppe Risi once again for this year's Le Mans race and is proud of this year's all-star French driver line-up.
 




Rick Mayer, Risi Competizione Race Engineer:



It's a very different year at Le Mans with an abbreviated schedule and no test day. Share your thoughts on how you have gone about preparing for this year's race.


"Preparation is only marginally different. The test time is so condensed. We'll need to make pretty efficient use of the track time. We need to make a seat for the drivers, at the track, which is not ideal."
 




What are your top priorities for the numerous practice sessions and time on track on Thursday and Friday?

"We need to make sure the seat and inserts work for all three drivers; it's a long race to not be comfortable. We need to find a setup that all three can drive fast and that's never an easy thing. As always, we need a good balanced setup that all the drivers are happy with."
 



You have three drivers who have never raced together and only one has competed in a Ferrari 488. How do you go about getting the drivers prepped for a huge race like Le Mans?

"We sent them a driver's handbook which has some detail on all the controls, settings and adjustment. It's a lot to learn in a short time. We'll go over and over that starting when they all arrive. All three are skilled endurance drivers so I think we'll get there by Saturday."
 



What's it going to take to win in the GTE-Pro class this year?

"The car needs to be competitive. The drivers need to be fast and clean. We can't spend any extra time in the pits and the drivers can't make any mistakes on track or get involved in another cars mistake. There's a lot of luck required to win Le Mans."




For race information, please visit lemans.org.
 



Barbara J. Burns - photos Risi Competizione