The Porsche factory has a quiver of about a dozen professionals which it “loans” to privateer teams that are serious about winning. The German marque’s winning efforts at Le Mans have usually had at least two of these pros, super-talented racers who can be counted on to lap at record speeds, regardlessof the conditions.
This year, like last, Raymond Narac’s IMSA team had two such stars: Long and Austrian Richard Lietz. Flying Lizard Motorsports had factory pro Jorg Bergmeister, while Felbermayr-Proton had Wolf Henzler. While these four men proved that their teams had equally fast cars, in a race like Le Mans, which now has to be considered a 24-hour sprint, there can be no soft spot in the driver lineup. Even a variation of a couple seconds over a one-hour stint can easily lose 30 seconds, and if that one driver runs one-third of the race, that half-minute deficit soon adds up to four minutes—a complete lap of the Sarthe circuit.
In contrast, Ferrari doesn’t have a squadron of factory aces. Every F430 driver is individually contracted to his team, and consequently, the Ferrari effort is made up mostly of the sport’s top “gentlemen” drivers, men who do something besides race for a living.
That said, if anyone had the perfect lineup to win this year, it was Risi Competizione. Since Risi himself is not a driver, like many of the other team principals, he had the luxury of picking the three fastest professional drivers he could find. And when ex-Formula 1 racer Mika Salo and ex-Ferrari F430 development drivers Jaime Melo and Gianmaria Bruni are matched with Risi’s veteran strategists and crew and perfectly prepared car, it’s difficult to bet against them.

The start of the race had an unexpected moment of confusion, when Long’s #76 IMSA Porsche was unceremoniously directed from the GT2 pole to the back of the field. It turned out his crew had not read the ACO’s small print on refueling, and had topped off his tank on the grid instead of in the pits. The #77 Felbermayr Porsche, with Henzler at the helm, quickly filled in, taking point ahead of Bergmeister in the #80 Flying Lizard 911 and the eager #96 Virgo Ferrari.But it only took Long aboutten laps to retake the class lead.
By the second hour, Risi’s #82 Ferrari had cruised into the lead, having taken over from a hard-charging Bergmeister when the Lizards pitted. All was not perfect in the Risi pit, however, as the team’s second entry, the green #83 Ferrari driven by owner Tracey Krohn, went off the road and retired from the race. Last year, Krohn’s F430 took second place after Risi’s main car was eliminated, so its early demise was considered a serious loss.