Pierre Kaffer in his Risi Competizione No.62 Ferrari 458 Italia, this weekend claimed his first pole position in the TUDOR United Sportscar Championship, just one day after turning his very first laps of the 3.27 mile Virginia International Raceway (VIR) track. The German set a best time of 1:43.797 on his seventh flying lap in the 15 minute qualifying session to not only claim overall pole position for tomorrow’s GTLM/GTD only Oak Tree Grand Prix, but also set a new qualifying lap record. He starts ahead of the No.55 BMW.
The qualifying result was a great reward for the hard work put in by the Houston-based Risi Competizione crew after an unfortunate accident in practice while Giancarlo Fisichella was at the wheel. The Italian Ferrari Corse Clienti driver was running laps for the first time on some new, hard compound Michelin tires and misjudged the braking point on rubber that wasn’t quite up to optimum operating temperature.
A delighted Risi Competizione Team Principal, Giuseppe Risi, said after qualifying: “Pierre did a very good job indeed. He was relaxed and very positive going into qualifying, and said that the car was great. The crew certainly did an excellent job this afternoon to get the F458 Italia back together after the incident in Practice 3, and this was a good reward for everyone involved.”
The Oak Tree Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway, VA will run on Sunday, August 24 beginning at 4:05 pm ET. The 2h45 minute race will be for GTLM and GTD cars only.
