Houston has a problem

[Alianora La Canta]

...the Le Mans crash, coupled with the bills from two big shunts in the previous two IMSA rounds, mean that Risi cannot afford to do the next three races of IMSA (Watkins Glen, Lime Rock and Mosport). It turns out that the car that was written off at Le Mans was leased, which means that there will have been a damage supplement to pay, and the car in America is not in a raceable state at present either.

This is a disaster for the small Risi team, because it means between the races lost to the crashes and these ones that will be skipped to fix the cars, Risi will have missed half the season. Fisico still has some Blancpain races to do (he's at Paul Ricard this week), but this is horrible news for everyone at Risi.

The situation is really sad.

[Alianora La Canta]

Further information about the Risi withdrawal:

Good news: there is a plan to return before the end of the season. So at the very least Fisico and Toni should get to race in Petit Le Mans.

Bad news: the phrase "reflect on future racing programs" appeared in the quote by Guiseppe Risi. I worry that this means he may choose to leave the IMSA series. He threatened to leave at the end of 2014, after two cars crashed into and wrote off the car Pierre Kaffer (irony!) was in, without getting so much as a reprimand from the stewards. I'm not confident that Guiseppe will give IMSA a third chance in the long run.

Significant but not sure if good or bad news: there is now a GT3 car under the Risi umbrella, owned by a gentleman driver. Perhaps this is the future direction. If so, it's unlikely the gentleman will drive it alone - and both Fisico and Toni now have experience with working with gentlemen drivers in GT3 Ferraris. Two Risis are provisionally entered for a November race in 24 Hours of Circuit of the Americas, so don't be surprised if Risi uses this to try out possible combinations for the future.

[Alianora La Canta]

Risi has announced that the plan is to rejoin IMSA at the very next race, which is at Virginia Raceway on the 25-27th August. Happy news

[Alianora La Canta]

Risi has had the car that was crashed into at Le Mans returned to it, so it can effect repairs.

1) By the sound of it, the car is not written off after all

2) I wonder if this is the real reason for the absence. It's difficult to fix a car while it is in a container bobbing about in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

[Alianora La Canta]

Risi is looking forward to it's return in Virginia