Risi Competizione Michelin GT Challenge : A Race Engineers' Perspective

Risi Competizione Michelin GT Challenge : A Race Engineers' Perspective

Rick Mayer, race engineer of the Risi Competizione No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM team, gives us a preview of this year's Michelin GT Challenge at VIRginia International Raceway, August 25-27, 2017.

Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) and Toni Vilander (Finland) will pilot the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM in Round 9 of the 2017 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series for the GTLM class. They finished third in both the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January 2017 and the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, followed by a DNF in Long Beach, COTA and the 24 Hours of Le Mans and took a hiatus for the past four IMSA races.

General: The race at Virginia International Raceway is for GTLM and GTD only as the feature, no Prototypes. The smaller total field and a focus on GTLM should make this race one of the best this year. There is only a small speed difference between the two classes, making passing a bit tricky. Racing prowess (and luck) in traffic will definitely play a role in the race outcome, as will green flag pit stops.

The Track: The 17-turn, 3.27-mile track was widened and repaved last year. 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. This section is long and will be problematic if hindered by GTD traffic. 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 decent 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.

Competition: We have not participated in the last four IMSA races; the BoP (Balance of Performance) has progressed without any GTLM Ferrari presence. The BoP changes within GTLM are good and bad relative to the Ferrari. It's hard to see a significant BoP advantage within GTLM. Michelin tire selection might come into play here as the track is dark and if its sunny will get very hot, maybe favoring one tire compound over another. All GTLMs have Michelin options that span the temperature window. Predicting weather and the best tire compound could be important if the track temperature is variable.

Setup: The track has one long 'straight' but we will be at the top of 6th gear three times per lap. This track has a high percentage of full throttle per lap. Change of direction will be important, but so is low speed traction; a bit of a compromise as usual. There are not may long corners so tire degradation should 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.

The Race: Historically the GT only races have been relatively free of full course yellows (safety car). Rain could certainly change this. We need to get good tire life as a single lap has 17 corners. The forecast has a small chance of rain and temperatures around 80 Fahrenheit. If we get long dry runs, tire fall off could come into play, regarding strategy. The relatively new track surface is a year old now and an unknown on tire performance. We expect some green flag pit stops, these are always significant with such a tight field; a full fuel stop is controlled by fuel fill time. We have had good race cars the last four years and won this race two of the last four, but the competition is fierce. This should be a thriller of a GT race for the fans, likely the best sprint race this year...anywhere. We are coming off a string of unfortunate races. We would like to put a check in the win column for VIR and move forward. Let's hope this is our race!


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