As real IMSA racing continues to be on hold this spring, many competitors are anxious to get back on track via virtual racing for this week’s Round 4 of the IMSA iRacing Pro Invitations Series.
Risi Competizione has two virtual Ferrari 488 GTEs entries in the WeatherTech Presents IMSA iRacing at Road America event this Thursday, May 14 at 6 p.m. ET. The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari is entered with AF Corse Ferrari GT driver Matt Griffin, of Cork, Ireland. The No. 82 Risi Competizione/Michelin Ferrari has been entered with American driver Joel Miller, of Hesperia, California.
Griffin, who will be making his IMSA iRacing debut, previously competed with Risi Competizione in the 2018 running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. When racing returns in 2020, he is expected to compete in a Ferrari 488 GTE in both the European Le Mans Series and Intercontinental GT Open series, as well as making his 10th consecutive appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“I am really looking forward to the race this week with Risi Competizione and the Ferrari 488 GTE on iRacing,” said Griffin. “While this race will take place in the virtual world instead of the real race track, representing Risi is always an honour wherever or however we race. The competition is very strong, especially from BMW and Ford. However together with Rick Mayer, Don, Miles, and all the engineering staff at Risi, we have been preparing and trying to maximise the Ferrari around Road America. While I definitely prefer real racing, using the sim keeps you sharp and the same goes for the engineers and strategy guys. We will be going maximum attack and hopefully we can have a good result on Thursday.
“While I have never driven Road America in real life, I am really enjoying the track. I generally love the North American circuits. They are old school, big commitment and each is very individual. Road America is no different. I think throwing the Risi Ferrari into T1 or balancing the throttle at the apex of the carousel in the real world would be mega! I really hope I get the chance to race there in real life.”
Miller, a former Mazda Dpi factory driver, has worked with the Risi Competizione team through coaching a Ferrari Challenge customer and is also a Ferrari Corso Pilota instructor. He’s a former race winner at Road America, in 2013 in the Visit Florida/Speedsource Mazda6 GX.
“This will be my first entry in the 2020 IMSA iRacing series and also my first official iRacing race,” said Miller. “Road America is one of my favorite tracks and I’ve been getting some help from my friends at CXC Simulators in Los Angeles, as I am using one of their sims for the race. Also, we have been testing for about a week with Rick, Matt and myself. I’ve really enjoyed getting back in the mindset of testing and doing so like a real racing approach of going through what we can do to make the car go faster, giving feedback and exchange. That’s been really good. I want to thank Giuseppe and the team for bringing me on as a driver in the IMSA iRacing competition for them. I have been a big fan of the team for a long time so it’s great to get to represent Risi in this way.”
The virtual race will take place this Thursday, May 14 at 6:00 p.m. ET and will be streamed live for 90 minutes on the iRacing YouTube, Facebook, and Twitch channels. The voice of John Hindhaugh will lead the commentary team. The Torque Show with Tommy Kendall and Justin Bell will stream a pre-race show at 5 p.m. ET on its Facebook page. All times are Eastern.