A RACE ENGINEER'S PERSPECTIVERick Mayer, race engineer of the Risi Competizione No. 62 Ferrari 458 Italia team, gives his run down and preview of the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Series, Oak Tree Grand Prix, August 21 -23, 2015 in Danville, Virginia.Piloting the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 458 Italia in the GTLM class are drivers, Pierre Kaffer (Germany) and Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy).
This will be a different race event than we have seen this year. The race will consist of GTLM and GTD only, no Prototypes. The smaller 19-car total field should make the GTLM race one of the best this year. A smaller field of GTDs will reduce the traffic issues for all GTLMs and nearly make it an 8 car GTLM only race, from our perspective. There is a clear speed difference between the two classes making passing easier and reducing accident risk.
The Track: The 17-turn 3.27-mile track was widened and repaved before last year's race. We would expect the surface to still be smooth; the four seasons in this part of Virginia will eventually degrade the surface in time. The runoff areas are still not ideal with a lot of them being grass, but it is difficult to do major damage when going off track. The fast esses are predominately a single line sector for GT, as they need the entire track, but it's mostly full throttle for all the GTLM cars. The curbs in the corners leading to the esses are usable and aid in reducing lap time. You need a good launch off 'Oak Tree' to get a good run down the long back straight and good traction for the many slow corner exits. The asphalt is very dark and the track temperature (and grip) changes a lot depending on cloud cover.
Setup: The track has one long straight but we will be at the top of sixth gear three times per lap. Change of direction will be important, but so is low speed traction; a bit of a compromise as usual. There are not many long corners so tire degradation will be moderate; a really hot track could change this. We will work with the dampers to get good transition support, good curbing and good braking, as the braking zones are important and require platform support. Michelin has not decided what tires we'll have for this event. The new single stint tire, introduced at Road America, agreed with our Ferrari. The jury's still out on whether it will work at VIR. The weather (hot or mild, sun or clouds) will play a major part in the tire choice.
The Race: Historically there have been three full course cautions in each of the last two VIR events. But with only GTLM and GTDs, and a small car count of 19 cars, it may be surprisingly caution free. Rain could change this, of course. We need to get good tire life, as a single lap has 17 corners. The forecast has a chance of rain and temperatures in the lower 90s Fahrenheit. If we get long, dry runs, tire fall-off could come into play. We expect some green flag pit stops to take part in the outcome of this race; that's to Risi's advantage as pit stops by this crew have been top of the class this season. The Ferrari should be quick here (if it is dry). We have had good cars the last two years and won both the previous races. But the competition is fierce and the current BoP (balance of performance) has the GTLM Ferrari in a less favourable condition to last year, compared to our GTLM competitors. This will be another thriller of a GT race for the fans. We are coming off a hard fought podium at Road America. We have won the last two races here and hope we can make this race another check in the win column for VIR.
Tune-In Information:Live coverage of the Oak Tree Grand Prix race airs live on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, August 23 from, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. EDT. Live timing and scoring is available for all on-track sessions at IMSA.com and on the IMSA Smartphone app.
