24h Le Mans
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The French team, now in it's third year, has ex- Risi Competizione engineer Mark Schomann on board this season.
In the No.59 Pro car former Ferrari factory driver Jaime Melo is joined Dominik Farnbacher and very quick Frederic Makowiecki (who set the fastest GTE time at the test day with 3:58.869). Melo and Makowiecki gained have two pole positions to their credit this season and finished 3rd in class at Spa.
In the No.58 Am car the Americans Gunnar Jeannette (an ex-factory Panoz driver) and newcomer Frankie Montecalvo are joined by the German Pierre Ehret. They finished 5th in class at Spa.
Jaime Melo, a former GT2 class winner at Le Mans, said “I think the team is really strong and has improved a lot from last year and also the Ferrari has gained some speed on the straights which we were missing last year. We know the car is really stable in the corners and on the braking points.
"At Sebring we were doing well but had an accident and Spa we could have been better than third but the strategy wasn’t the one we were expecting; an LMP2 car touched me on the rear and we had to stop to change the mirror which delayed us.
"Le Mans is something special and we are really well prepared. Fred did a great job last week at the test and he’s happy and comfortable in the car. This is the main focus for the year and we are going to put everything onto it to make sure we’re going to finish in the top 3. The weather is going to be something that can change your race so we need to be comfortable in both situations – wet and dry.”
CIRCUIT DES 24 HEURES (LE MANS, SARTHE), SCRUTINEERING, 11TH JUNE 2012. The No.58 Luxury Racing Ferrari 458 Italia about to start its technical checks.
