Risi Competizione 12 Hours of Sebring Preview - 2017
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RISI COMPETIZIONE 12 HOURS OF SEBRING PREVIEW - 2017 A Race Engineers' Perspective Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM No. 62: Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA), Toni Vilander (FIN), James Calado (GBR) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Houston, Texas, March 10 2017)...Rick Mayer, race engineer of the Risi Competizione No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM team, gives us a preview of this year's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida race, March 16-18, 2017. The trio of Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy), Toni Vilander (Finland), and James Calado (Great Britain) will again drive the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM in Round 2 of the 2017 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, in the GTLM class. They finished third in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January 2017 and won the GTLM finale, Petit Le Mans, at Road Atlanta in their last race of the 2016 WeatherTech race season. General: The field of 46 cars for this year's 12 Hours of Sebring is down slightly from the 2016 car count of 49, with fewer PC's. It's a large number of cars for the bumpy 3.74 mile, 17 turn track. Pit boxes will be small and traffic nearly constant. The high amateur content, and car count in the GTD's, and PC's fields, will again make patience pay in the race. The GTD cars will be very fast on the straights and very difficult to pass cleanly, a big concern but not a new one. GTLM Competition: Just as Daytona there are no weak manufacturers, cars or teams in this class. Any of the 10 entries from the five manufacturers can win this race. All the manufacturers had cars at the mandatory IMSA GTLM February Sebring test. All the makes showed they have the pace, at least in short runs. But with the BoP (Balance of Performance) always looming, you never know what the true competitive pace will be. The differences between driver performance, proper setup work and an inherent performance advantage (BoP) are difficult to separate, particularly at Sebring. Unfortunately for a BoP evaluation IMSA's first three race tracks are anomalies; Daytona, Sebring, and Long Beach. Risi Competizione at the 2015 Twelve Hours of Sebring race event At Daytona the race came down to the last 30 minutes with Ford, Porsche, Ferrari and Corvette all in contention. The BMWs had issues that kept them off the lead lap. The sector timing from the Sebring test showed a good distribution of makes in the top of all the sector times. Ford with three cars would be the mathematical favorites for the race. The Fords were quick every session at the test and near the top in all the metrics. The new Porsche, with its mid-engine, is a large step forward and they had pace at Daytona and the Sebring test. The Porsche dominated Sebring Turn 1 sector times all event. Corvettes were quick at the test and are historically good at Sebring; they're quick and race well here. The BMWs have top speed covered and were up at the top of the time sheets in the combined test lap times. Our solo GTLM Ferrari showed well and was competitive in every session and sector. This is shaping up to be the most competitive Sebring GT race in history. The track: Sebring is a historic track hosting the longest running endurance race in North America; it's also one of the toughest tracks to get the setup right. You're always chasing the setup as the track changes throughout the week and tire degradation is significant. The Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series race tire rubber doesn't mix well with the Michelin rubber and always causes issues for the GTLMs when sessions follow their races. The track is super bumpy in sections, which means you want to go in a softer setup direction. There are numerous near-threshold braking zones that require good platform support and two sections where change of direction is important, which doesn't suit a soft setup. So it's a conundrum. You need very good braking here and that's a main area for gains, and the brakes need to be consistent and last 12 hours. The drivers need confidence in Turn 1 and 17 on the bumps to commit to the throttle early at the exits and a good platform in Turns 3-4 and Turns 15-16 for the change of direction. Good power down out of Turns 5, 7, 10, 13 and 16 aids in a quick lap, as they all lead on to relatively long straights. You reach over 140 Mph five times a lap here so power is very important in lap time. The setup: Tires are an added variable; every GTLM car is on a different specification of Michelin tire then raced here last year, but the same as Daytona and the recent test. Sebring is a compromise. You need dampers that support the car but are compliant, with enough high-speed damping to settle and control the car through the bumps. Too much damping upsets the car on the bumps but not enough and you lose platform support/control. Ride heights are always higher than the legal minimum to keep the car from bottoming mainly in Turn 17 (left side) and the exit of Turn 1 (right side). The typical GTLM Ferrari setup direction is moderate springs with anti-roll bars on the soft side. GT cars, in general, struggle with rear stability under braking at turn-in, and this is historically the worst track for this tendency. A soft setup tends to aggravate this tendency. The Ferrari 488 is no exception. Good power down is important with the many long straights; most are not actually 'straight' but are long full throttle sections. If you get the rear stable, the tendency for off-brake mid-corner understeer becomes the next problem, which delays the ability to go to power. The race: The last decade has seen the end to the classic endurance race strategy where you'd save the car to make it to the end. The cars are all so reliable now that long races are just long full-on sprint races. The safety car wave-by rules are unchanged, which should again keep the class fights competitive to the end, as this race will likely be caution filled. You have to make it to the finish and be up front to be in contention for a win. You have to race careful and clean as penalties for avoidable contact are steep; you'll go down a lap easy in the penalty box. The current GTDs (GT3 based cars) have ABS (allowed by the rules) and have so much power they will be very difficult to pass here. The GTLM drivers will have to take some risk to get by a lot of the GTDs. Personally, this is my favorite track and it's been a good track for Risi Competizione with numerous podiums and three GT class wins. Let's just hope our luck in the recent long races continues and we're there at the end to fight for a win! Tune-In Information: Watch the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Saturday, March 18, 10:00 a.m.-10:40 p.m. EDT on IMSA.TV and on FOX Sports 1 from 12:30 p.m. -11:00 p.m. The Twelve Hours of Sebring is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app. For more information, please go to www.risicompetizione.com [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrS0s4BS4tC1nCl1mkgAORFkmHalnOUwCUbMYGbK8VeYbbfUqNbsgmIgqGRqwKJIImTVNXSMD01yKr7uvKf5xfmQsBa-NNnGSH21CiZEVX_FQ0fS2geKI_KEWFuoEfEN_KA==&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] and follow us on Facebook/RisiCompetizione [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrS0s4BS4tC1n9UI7PlOVQGutPfGqi9dIGEJHn46rkzMopiUOJ0Unobw9v3lhArrjfX6lTPqXyYpXd7DquswzeBjwZFyCVuxnQxX4mTTLerekF2VadYjFRqD6ersxXS8tpZSOn4R-ep23&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] and Twitter @RisiComp [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrS0s4BS4tC1nVULTWjmLDrZAFijFuNUR6O1ELp3O4I2rkxFHNLOMyx_z1VBZ-Q-RWiYA08qj5_wkyXXuvYGMxAXC4KOUs39EsA4IgECo2zcS1eW65eLNOEuSY_9LA9XQ8A==&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] and Instagram/RisiComp. # # # ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOR PDF CLICK HERE [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrZEAK9KdbDvp9ZoBROyTEiHixYEY-imhKzL9MnFxmQWb0T94xt3H5f7yXCt1H3D2slkT89zV45UlDkhN90MR7IQax9LYGQ1yLiQ9ciWtSyVfXSWeBNUjlczwTmN_BQpyCQRhdEzv0nlhTAkU071tgxVtzXM-l3XduWK_w3sUYzvfXbBfo5WoR-DOaJypygYK_SpcXz7C8KT4&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FOLLOW THE TEAM ON SOCIAL MEDIA! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Like us on Facebook [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrX6bNEXoUnHf8BGtYWVGmFq8GrqZWw_2nkCPhqarLoeshyovzpoN6Tme9X0IzXDqTO0SiWSVKIuI-XaOkElEXuuGTsnHpnWZJxfVsgZddEt41g_2Pq95bojcZpr-FIrhM2lsy9bKvgwHDvifLzbGYW8=&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] Follow us on Twitter [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrS0s4BS4tC1nVULTWjmLDrZAFijFuNUR6O1ELp3O4I2rkxFHNLOMyx_z1VBZ-Q-RWiYA08qj5_wkyXXuvYGMxAXC4KOUs39EsA4IgECo2zcS1eW65eLNOEuSY_9LA9XQ8A==&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] View on Instagram [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001uBWWBTj0XVJCujygfnF2GR4GzzmtbZLPwmZ3wYxBc5elGjOpTtFwrX6bNEXoUnHfM25VGwd-zSF_SLWqFzJldGLtQMCoIFTHPQP3UFiqN8yAN4mMLtowyDNdtsScYQmzr_n6FFiBxCJeQ3PlSzv3vHx0-rSbTlQC24ATJfp8kcC-VQg3HqPg2qSnojVoqAvD&c=VKgCu12aSUMoySLkyuUItwikascum1VYx_Jokuvo8D7uROz8MOJHiQ==&ch=bTTr2xtEL03ga9oku-4tLDpBbpkFCDFZQl_dN_J73LkEspfTvP0vEg==] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Race Public Relations: Barbara J. 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