NBC’s Today Show to feature Risi’s Tess Gape

NBC’s Today Show will be on site for the Tequila Patrón American Le Mans at Long Beach race this weekend, producing a series on women working in traditional male jobs.

Tess Gape, mechanic for the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT, is one of its feature stories. Weekend anchor Jenna Wolfe will come to Long Beach as the correspondent.

Gape, from Toronto, left high school and applied for the Fire Service. She was on a wait list, so she decided to go racing instead and trained at Mosport International Raceway’s race school as a mechanic. For four years, she worked in the Toyota Atlantic and Indy Lights series before moving to Champ Car for another four seasons. Gape also did a year with the Winston West Series.

In 2007, Gape joined Houston-based Risi Competizione after the Series’ race at St. Petersburg. She is now that team’s Number Two mechanic and also serves as fireman on pit stops.

NBC’s Today Show expects to air the feature in May.

The Tequila Patrón American Le Mans Series at Long Beach is the second round of the 2010 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón. The race, set at the historic Long Beach street circuit, is scheduled for 4:40 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 17 with coverage on SPEED set for 8 to 10 p.m. ET. Live radio coverage will be available on American Le Mans Radio presented by Porsche – a production of Radio Show Limited – as well as Sirius Channel and XM. Visit the Series’ schedule page for ticket and accommodation information. Live Timing and Scoring, track schedule, entry list and much, much more will be available on Racehub at americanlemans.com.

All photos are courtesy of Risi Competizione

Courtesy ALMS © RIF