Risi Competizione Ferrari was unable to better fifth place in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, having lost pace when the sun set during the race and the track cooled.

James Calado qualified the team’s No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE in second place. Calado and co-drivers Toni Vilander and Alessandro Pier Guidi, combined to lead 78 laps.

What looked a sure top-two or three result for most of the race came undone when the sun went down. The two Porsche 911 RSRs came to life late and contended with the BMW M8 GTE for the win. Meanwhile the No. 67 Ford GT was able to get ahead on pit strategy for fourth.

The Risi Ferrari ended fifth for the second straight race. The team also soldiered home in fifth at the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

“It’s just not what we hoped for. We obviously lead some of the race, especially through halfway,” Calado said. “I thought maybe the win was out of reach, but then I thought quite possibly we could have gotten a podium, but it just wasn’t to be. We knew we’d struggle in some of the adverse conditions, but to be honest we need more BoP (Balance of Performance) engine performance so that we can stand a chance.

“I don’t think I’ve ever pushed so hard in all my life trying to keep up with the BMW, which seems like it’s got 100 horsepower more than us. We need to rectify that for the next one.”

“It was a rough day. It was looking promising a bit earlier,” added Risi’s race engineer, Rick Mayer. “And then we seemed to struggle a little bit with grip at the end and the others seemed to find speed so it’s unfortunate. We don’t have the same straight-line speed as the others and it seems they can go at will and then we’re behind.”

Risi is unsure of its next IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start. It may return for late-season IMSA races.

Its next confirmed outing will be in partnership with Keating Motorsports at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. Jeroen Bleekemolen, Ben Keating and Luca Stolz will share the GTE-Am class No. 85 Ferrari 488 GTE there.