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 Lone Star Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas (CoTA), September 15-17, 2016.
Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) and Toni Vilander (Finland) will drive the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTLM in the penultimate round for the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series, Round 10 for the GTLM class. They recently finished seventh at the Michelin GT at VIR in Danville, Va.General: The 2015 race only had two safety car caution periods. The 2013 race went green without a caution and 2014 had one caution. A modest car count this year could see a relatively caution free race. CoTA's long 3.4-mile circuit has ample run-off; this should reduce practice stoppages and race caution periods.
CoTA is quite wide and has enough straights where passing slower traffic will be easier than on street or tighter permanent circuits. The track surface is smooth - as you'd expect from a relatively new track with mild winters. There have been some changes to the edges of the track limits to dissuade drivers from going outside the bounds of the track. This could change the setup and will likely slow the lap times relative to last year when there were no imposed track limits. Championship Titles are starting to coming into play; this may put some cars in a point's preservation mode.All the GTLM cars are new for this year and this track is difficult to setup for. But I can't tell you specifically why. This track seems to be more difficult than most on the schedule to find the right balance.The Track: CoTA is certainly a more traditional, European-style layout more than some of the other permanent road courses we visit. The twisty section between Turns 3 and 9 will be partial throttle for GTs and this section will probably have more than one line; this could be a tricky complex to get right and will favour the cars with the highest downforce. The car needs platform for this section but it will not require an overly fast change of direction like the bus stop at Daytona or Turn 10 at Road Atlanta. The curbs are usable here and aid in achieving a quicker lap time. Top speed going into Turn 12 will be on par with Road America, VIR, Mosport and Road Atlanta. The low speed corners (Turns 1, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 20) will work the rear tires hard on the exit.
Setup: The track has one long straight with the run up into Turn 1 and down to Turn 11 being quick as well. A good lap time here will come from being able to run through the corners well as opposed to trimming for top speed. CoTA has 20 corners, including some long ones, and we'll need to find a setup and tire compound that allows the tires to last. This track prefers a stiffer platform as there's a lot of high speed corners that require pitch control and general platform support. The surface is smooth but it's a compromise as the many low speed corners will work the rear tires hard. We'll work with the dampers, anti-roll bars and springs to get good transition and platform support. We should have a good base setup from last year with some small changes based on what we've learned this season. The predominate tendency of this track is under-steer. But you need to cure this without hurting low speed traction or rear stability when trailing brake into the corner.
The Race: We would expect few full course caution periods (with a good chance of none) during the race (if dry), as this track has a lot of run-off room at nearly every corner. The conditions are forecast to be warm but not super-hot like previous years and a good chance for some rain. Hot and dry conditions (with no rain) will make the tires and tire life the key for long runs as the heat will exaggerate their fall off. Rain could wash any rubber build up off the track, making for a bit of an unknown. We expect some green flag pit stops to play into the outcome of this race. Changing weather conditions would make an interesting race. The Ferrari should be quick here but the competition is fierce. This will be another thriller of a GT race for the fans. Hopefully we can get some Texas home track luck and get a good result!Tune-In Information:Live coverage of the Lone Star Le Mans airs Saturday, September 17 at 11:30 a.m. CDT (12:30 p.m. EDT) on FOX Sports 2 & FOX Sports GO app. The race will be streamed live in its entirety for international audiences on IMSA.tv and the IMSA Mobile App.
