Risi Competizione Grand Prix at Long Beach Preview - 2017
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RISI COMPETIZIONE LONG BEACH GRAND PRIX PREVIEW - 2017 A Race Engineers' Perspective Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM No. 62: Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA) Toni Vilander (FIN) (Houston, Texas, April 3 2017)...Rick Mayer, race engineer of the Risi Competizione No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTLM team, gives us a preview of this year's Bubba Burger Sports Car Grand Prix at Long Beach race, April 7 - 8, 2017. Teammates Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) and Toni Vilander (Finland) will again drive the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM in Round 3 of the 2017 International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, in the GTLM class. They finished third in the recent Twelve Hours of Sebring, 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 Long Beach race will have 35 cars, including nine very competitive GTLM entries from five manufacturers. This is a three-class race: GTLM, GTD and DPi. This will be the largest field we've had here since the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) with the addition of the GTDs this year. The additional Pro-Am GTD class will make this short 100-minute race much more difficult for all the GTLM cars than in past years when it was just Prototype and GTLMs classes. Pit boxes will be small and no GTLM or GTD cars have both a clear IN and clear OUT with the split pit opening under the safety car. When pits open for 'GT' you'll have 25 GT cars all coming into the pits at the same time. The last pit stop for all GT's will be pivotal and somewhat of a wild card as you can't control where cars that may hinder your pit stop are in the queue coming into the pits. The track: The entire Long Beach 1.97-mile, 11-turn, street circuit is passenger car filled most of the year. Cars, trucks and busses idle at the traffic lights and occasionally drop fluid (oil, fuel, and engine coolant) creating a low grip surface. The crowning of the road leads to some off-camber corners upsetting the balance, typically mid corner out. The track is bumpy, in a washboard fashion, quite different than Sebring. The track will be really dirty, and cold, for our 'track cleaning' 7:40 a.m. two hour first session. Like most temporary street circuits, grip changes with each session and you really only start seeing a partial picture of what the car is doing at the end of the two-hour session, after the track has cleaned up and some rubbers has gone down on the surface. This track's tendency is to move toward understeer for the race. How much is the question? The front straight is slightly curved but is full throttle with a very high top speed. A good exit off the 40 mph hairpin is essential for overtaking into Turn 1. There are very few passing opportunities here. Qualifying position is super important as is great pit work. (L-R) Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella on the podium at 2016 Grand Prix at Long Beach race GTLM Competition: The entire GTLM field is on different Michelin tires then the 2016 race. We've all run these tire options starting at Daytona so they are not 'new' tires, just new to Long Beach. All the GTLMs were new (2016 spec) last year and this will be everyone's second trip to Long Beach (except Porsche), so we'd expect all the setups to improve. The BoP (Balance of Performance) keeps evolving, trying to sort out what's an unfair BoP advantage, what's a good setup and who is not showing true pace (sandbagging) is not an easy puzzle for IMSA to unscramble. The first three tracks of the season are all anomalies and difficult to adjust BoP from. Daytona is all about banking speed, Sebring is super bumpy and hard to have a good setup for all the conditions and Long Beach is a true street track with unique setup requirements that relate to no other tracks. The recent BoP change, prior to this race, gives BMW and Ferrari a bit more power and takes some power from Porsche. Porsche also got a small minimum weight increase. Performance wise, Ford and Corvette are unchanged from Sebring. Sebring was a difficult race to gauge BoP as the conditions were ever changing. For sure the F488 GTLM did not have straight line performance parity with the others, but the recent BoP helped addressed that. The Ferrari, with closer power parity, should be competitive this year at Long Beach. Compared to last year the Ferrari is up on power and heavier. The BMWs received a power increase (more boost) for this event. BMW has historically been good at Long Beach and this year should be no exception. They are lighter and have more power than last year. The Corvettes were competitive last year (Long Beach) and this year are up on power and down on weight (same BoP as 2017 Sebring) compared to the 2016 race. Ford dominated the timing sector data last year but had reliability issues in the race. Ford is heavier and has less power (boost) than last year's Long Beach race. Porsche has an all new mid-engine car; they are heavier and have the same power as last year. Setup: All the GTLM competitors have been here before, all except Porsche, with their current model of car. Setups will evolve from the knowledge gained last year. The car needs good power down, particularly off the hairpin to either pass in braking into Turn 1 or to keep from getting passed. All the corners are slow (mainly 1st or 2nd gear) so it's brake, turn-in and back to full throttle quickly. While some apex curbs are usable, some you have to stay off of, as they are large (huge) bolted down temporary curbs. The car needs some change of direction stability in the last section leading up to the hairpin, and around the fountain, so you can't run too soft of a setup. You need good brakes but you don't trail brake into the corners here as much as other race tracks so rear stability under braking is not 'as big' a concern. Braking zones are bumpy (washboard) further complicating the setup. Reducing the low speed under-steer coming off the brake to the apex and having good traction and corner exit (without a lot of understeer) are keys to quick laps as all the corners are all essentially short duration. You always run maximum downforce here even though it's tempting to try and achieve a higher front straight top speed by trimming aero. The race: Is only 100 minutes. There is no minimum driver time in the Pro classes; if there's any caution periods, that open the pits, everyone will likely change drivers. One driver could essentially do the entire race. The fuel will be tight as the fuel tanks are small and we cannot run much more than half a race on a full tank of VP E20 fuel. The first stint will be shorter due to fuel used for the reconnaissance lap and the two pace laps. A timed fuel fill and a driver's change will be done on the one and only stop. That's if it's green all the way, and if that's the strategy you choose. The biggest change from recent Long Beach races is the addition of the Pro-Am content GTD's. This will make the early stages of the race extremely difficult. All the Am GTD drivers will likely qualify and start the race, as you want your Pro's in at the end. Once the GTLMs get up to the back end of the GTDs potential problems will start. It will be very difficult for GTLMs to pass here as this circuit is tight and the GTDs have comparable straight line speed. If managed correctly, the two car GTLM teams could have an advantage by being able to split their strategies, in yellow situations or even under a full green flag race. They can hedge their bets, when the strategy call isn't obvious. The Ferrari should be quick here; Risi Competizione has won this race in class in years past and fared well last year, finishing third. We need a good, solid and clean run, and a little luck, to hopefully continue our podium streak this year. Tune-In Information: In the U.S., watch the Grand Prix at Long Beach, Saturday, April 8 from 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. EDT on FOX Network. The Grand Prix at Long Beach is also available on the FOX Sports GO mobile app and IMSA.TV. 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Burns BurnsGroup PR for Risi Competizione barbara@burnsgrouppr.com [mailto:barbara@burnsgrouppr.com] + 1 770.329.7134 Ferrari of Houston: Dave 'Beaky' Sims dsims@risicompetizione.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Forward this email http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=srd8ylpab&m=1116012908082&ea=$submit@theautochannel.com$&a=1127606322347 This email was sent to submit@theautochannel.com by risicomp@burnsgrouppr.com. Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe(TM) https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=001HJ3lh0IXhuNDeqIAbALhJw%3D%3D&ch=24b398b0-71a1-11e3-8bea-d4ae528ed502&ca=e69ca668-5d47-4fcf-82e3-1ef35183579b Privacy Policy: http://www.constantcontact.com/legal/service-provider?cc=about-service-provider Online Marketing by Constant Contact(R) www.constantcontact.com BurnsGroup Unlimited | LLC | Atlanta | GA | 30308
