The sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season was the Lone Star Le Mans at the Texas circuit in Austin, contested over a six-hour distance. The number 55 Vista AF Corse car driven by François Heriau, Simon Mann, and Alessio Rovera finished tenth, while the number 54 car driven by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, and Davide Rigon was forced to retire. The race, held on the 5.513 km American track, took place in dry and very hot conditions.
Davide Rigon, Vista AF Corse #54: “Unfortunately, our trip to America was very unlucky. Before the start of the race, we had a problem that forced the mechanics to replace the clutch, which led us to begin our race at COTA several laps behind. At that point, the team decided to bring our 296 LMGT3 onto the track, and we took turns at the wheel, completing 54 laps before retiring the car. It’s a shame because our Ferrari was really fast and a joy to drive here in Austin. Now we look ahead to our next commitment in Japan in two weeks, a track I like a lot, where we will do everything we can to achieve a great result.”
François Heriau, Vista AF Corse #55: “The race started well; I moved up to second place at the start and stayed in a good position for the first hour. It was very hot in the car, so I had to alternate every hour with Simon Mann because it would have been too difficult for me to do a double stint. We managed to stay in contention for the podium until a sensor issue caused the penalty.”
Alessio Rovera, Vista AF Corse #55:“It was a very unlucky race for us after a good weekend during free practice and qualifying where our car showed competitiveness. We keep getting very close to our first podium; there are still two races left in the season, and we will do our utmost to achieve it, starting from Japan in two weeks.”