Risi Competizione have confirmed their entry to the 88th 24 Hours of Le Mans through a driver announcement. The team had been included on the original entry list, but with the uncertainty of the Coronavirus situation, it was unknown whether they would make it to Le Mans for the race.
The announcement comes a week after the withdrawal of Corvette Racing and Porsche GT Team‘s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars from the championship. Because of this, there were question marks over the Ferrari team’s intent to go racing at Le Mans as they too are an IMSA team, and to get to the race will have to make the trip from the United States.
As this was the reason behind why Corvette and Porsche dropped out, it was unknown whether Risi Competizione would fall into the same fate, leaving just the FIA World Endurance Championship GTE Pro cars on the grid. However, their driver line-up announcement reconfirms their intent to go racing in September.
The driver announcement sees an all French line-up of the American team in an Italian car. Olivier Pla and Sébastien Bourdais will make their debut for the team at Le Mans, with last year’s driver Jules Gounon finishing up the three driver team.
“We were happy to receive the acceptance of our entry for Le Mans once again this year as you can never take this for granted.” Team Principal Giuseppe Risi said in the team’s official statement. “The world got a little crazy in March so we just sat back and waited to see what would happen. Le Mans is a very important race in the world and the biggest in sports car racing. Although some other teams have pulled out this year, we intend to race as planned.
“Our all-French driver line-up might be a little unexpected for my Risi team, but these are all talented drivers who have proven their worth at Le Mans and elsewhere in racing. Olivier Pla and Sébastien Bourdais drove against our team in the past few years and they both have strong history at Le Mans and a great knowledge of the circuit.
“Le Mans is always a very special race for our team and this year is no exception.”
