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News From the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship - Watkins Glen 2014
Le Mans Results 2014
Fisi - Ferrari’s expresso grande
EX-F1 ACE TAKING FERRARI BACK TO THE TOP SPOT
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t is surprising that one of the premier sports car drivers in the world is making his first visit to one of America’s most storied circuits here at the Sahlen’s 6 Hours at the Glen. It seems like introductions are in order as Giancarlo Fisichella meets Watkins Glen International. “I haven’t been there yet but everybody says it’s a fantastic, challenging circuit with lots of ups and downs, so I’m sure I’ll like it and I’m really looking forward to being there,” said Fisichella who arrives fresh from a win at Le Mans. “Fisi” will drive a brilliant red Ferrari 458 Italia from the highly successful Risi Competizione team in the ultracompetitive GT Le Mans class at Watkins Glen. “This year is the first time I’ve done a full season in North America and I really enjoy it and am happy to be in the USA every time,” said Fisichella. “There are beautiful circuits, but it is the atmosphere which is special and the fact that there are a lot of people who all want to be there for the racing and to have fun. That’s a great atmosphere to work in and be a part of.” Indeed, if atmosphere and competition are what he was hoping for in 2014, Fisichella seems to have found the right combination here in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. “It’s great and I’m really happy to be part of the championship this year. I did a couple of races with Risi in 2010 and enjoyed
it very much every time I visited a new track, and of course I won Petit Le Mans that year with Risi [co-driving with Jaime Melo and Mika Salo] so that’s a favorite!” Led by team principal Giuseppe Risi, the Houston based squad has been the very sharp point of the Ferrari spear in North American sports car competition for years, with multiple GT wins at Sebring, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Petit Le Mans and an ALMS GT championship. Fisichella and the Risi team will need to deliver speed and a near flawless run to take the GTLM win here in the face of a fiercely competitive field. BMW Team RLL’s Bill
3 Auberlen and Andy Priaulx currently lead the class championship. The Bobby Rahal led squad has claimed podiums in each of the first four events. Teammates, former champion Dirk Mueller and John Edwards have also been impressive in their BMW Z4 GTE at every event. The new Porsche North America team roared out of the gate with the new Porsche 911 RSR as Nick Tandy and Richard Lietz took the victory at the season opening ROLEX 24 at Daytona and teammates Patrick Long and Michael Christensen won at the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Having overcome early teething issues with the sleek new seventh generation C7.R cars, Corvette Racing’s 2013 series champions, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia, have reeled off a pair of wins at the Long Beach and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca rounds and recently finished second at the 24 Hours of
Le Mans while teammates and 2012 champs, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner, have been quick and are poised for their first win of the season. Meanwhile the always tough SRT Motorsports Viper, which already has a pair of podiums, and Falken Porsche, have taken advantage of the lengthy 24 Hours of Le Mans schedule break to mount their mid-season challenges, having each scored victories in the second half of the 2013 season. The 2014 season did not start well for the Risi squad or Fisichella. The team was knocked out by major on-track incidents at both Daytona and Sebring before Fisi ever got his first stint in the races. The former F1 driver with 229 Grand Prix starts to his name for teams including Renault and Ferrari finally made it into TUDOR Championship competition in the third race of the season at Long Beach. He brought the car home to a strong third in the next round at Monterey to claim the team’s first podium of the season and set the stage for a winning run at Watkins Glen. With Fischella’s energy and spirited drives and the opportunity for the team to regroup after the early season challenges, the Risi team appears to be returning to form just in time for Watkins Glen. And as Giuseppe Risi knows well, a shot of espresso is best served after champagne.
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T H I S
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or many of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans class teams, the first race at the historic Watkins Glen circuit means learning a new
track. But it shouldn’t take long for the factory squads from BMW Team RLL, Porsche North America, Corvette Racing, SRT Motorsports Viper, and the Falken Porsche and Risi Competizione Ferrari to find the quick way around the 3.4-mile circuit. Data and imagination are the keys to unloading a car with a set up that will likely require only minor adjustments, and that means extensive use of simulators. As a factory driver with the SRT Motorsports Viper factory team, Kuno Wittmer keeps it real both on and off the track. To optimize time away from the track, one of his assignments is to spend hours locked in a high tech simulator at Multimatic outside Toronto. There, the popular Montréal native can cover more options in a day than the entire team could hope to achieve in week of on track testing. Armed with data from prior races, tests, wind tunnels and highly detailed track diagrams, Viper engineers are able to produce incredibly accurate simulations of track configurations, surfaces, loads and even grip levels. “We can make changes so quickly on the simulator, it’s just few keystrokes and we have changed a shock setting or even springs,” said Wittmer. “At the track those changes would each take chunks of time, but we can try 25 or 30 set ups a day on the simulator.” As a result, teams can predict lap times, gearing, aero package, chassis settings and start to develop a race plan based entirely on simulations. Simulators help both drivers and engineers prepare for a race. Engineers crave data and the ability to evaluate a wide range of options quickly and
efficiently. Meanwhile, drivers like to learn the track layouts, including bumps, visual reference points and braking zones. Either way, teams reduce the number of expensive track test days which include costs for track rentals, team travel, equipment usage and risks of weather, crashes or time lost to fix balky cars, change engines, transmissions, electronics or bodywork. Wittmer’s Viper squad uses test days to validate simulator results data. A test at Watkins Glen International last month still left time for a possible return to the simulators with the newly acquired data. Simulators are not limited simply to race set-ups. Porsche made extensive use of simulators in designing and engineering the new Porsche 919 Hybrid for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Corvette Racing credits extensive simulation work in designing and racing the new 2014 C7.Rs. In fact, one example of the technology transfer from track to street comes in the development of sophisticated simulation tools. Michelin, the technical partner for the top Porsche, BMW, Corvette, Viper and Ferrari TUDOR Championship teams and the 2014 Audi, Toyota, Porsche and Nissan Le Mans teams uses advanced simulations to help determine tire sizes, shapes, compounds and constructions, tire selections, and anticipated tread wear rates. And while the super-sophisticated factory simulators are the ultimate, a variety of simpler, less expensive options are also used by teams and drivers. The Extreme Speed Motorsports team carries a
simulator aboard its race transporters. While former American Le Mans Series teams and drivers make first visits to Daytona, Watkins Glen and Indianapolis, the simulator doors swing both ways as the former GRAND AM teams encounter Sebring and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport) for the first time. Action Express’ 2014 ROLEX 24 at Daytona co-winner Christian Fittipaldi said, “I will use the simulator for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. I’ve never been there before. The video games are so good they really help you get an intense feel for the layout.” Yet simulators are not for everyone. “I can’t do it. I get motion sickness,” says Wittmer’s Viper teammate Dominik Farnbacher.
Mark Reuss, the Executive Vice President and head of Global Product Development for General Motors, told a recent technical conference that GM can simulate the subtleties of every track for every series and every car they race, including the Pratt & Miller simulations with Corvette Racing focusing in the TUDOR Championship. And….Corvette Racing’s GTLM class victories in its last two TUDOR Championship races with the new C7.R were very real.
et real!
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FAST FACT Watch us now on FOX All the action of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship races from Watkins Glen International can be seen from flag to flag on the Fox Sports 1 network. International fans will also be able to see the race live on IMSA.com.
LM24 Iron Men The Alley salutes TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTD stars Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen who overcame a number of hurdles to drive the entire 24 Hours of Le Mans without a third driver while finishing fifth in the GTE Pro class. Cooper did a bit over 10 hours while Jeroen wheeled the WeatherTech Porsche for nearly 14 hours. Macho!
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL Saturday, June 28: Qualifying 3:55pm – 5:15 pm (EDT) on IMSA.com (Live) Sunday, June 29: Race 11:00 am – 5:30 pm (EDT) on FOXSports1 (Live)
2014 Schedule January 25-26
Rolex 24 at Daytona
March 15
Twelve Hours of Sebring
April 12
Long Beach (P and GTLM only)
May 4
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
May 31
Raceway At Belle Isle Park (P, PC & GTD only)
June 7
Kansas Speedway (PC only)
June 29
Six Hours of The Glen
July 13
Canadian Tire Motorsport Park
July 25
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
August 10
Road America
August 24
VIR (GTLM/GTD race; PC race)
September 20
Circuit of The Americas
October 4
Petit Le Mans
24 for 24 The Porsche North America drivers may have walked away from the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a new watch but the men and women behind the scenes recently received their prizes. Prior to opening round of the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, Michelin put up a prize for all its partner teams – 24 sets of tires for winning the Rolex 24. The new Porsche team won on debut and the Michelin Man recently headed at the team’s Rock Hill-SC headquarters carrying presents – no – he wasn’t wearing a red suit and driving a sleigh – just a big Michelin truck full of tires.
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“For most of the race we had the fastest car out there and we managed to finish in second a lap behind the leader.”
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NEW DAD ANTONIO GARCIA TALKING ABOUT CORVETTE RACING’S RESULT FROM LE MANS
Mullet Over
All good things and some, well rather shaggy things, come to an end…so Jordan Taylor has decided that after 18 months, his signature mullet haircut is no longer cool. Taylor is looking to raise money for Camp Boggy Creek and Camp Anokijig through a lottery. The winner gets a race car ride. “I’m ready for it to be gone,” said Taylor.
Balancing act
The lap times are close, but IMSA continues to seek the ideal balance of performance to match the former Daytona Prototype based and P2 cars. The DPs have four wins in the first five races thanks in part to greater torque and power that is an edge on restarts and long straightaways. A Time magazine photo of a seal balanced on the nose of a great white shark seemed to perfectly capture tech boss Scot Elkins’ job description.
Boat time Ron McMahon, the VP-CFO and General Manager of Riley Technologies since 1995 is retiring after this weekend’s Watkins Glen event. “His leadership in both good times and bad was critical, and it was his efforts through the challenging years that had such a big effect on the company,” said Bill and Bob Riley. McMahon’s wife, Denise, is hopeful that he will spend some time at home, visiting his grandson, and maybe even some time on his boat. Ah, but what happens in week two?
Friday, June 27, 2014 12:50 pm - 1:50 pm
Practice #1 - TUDOR (All Classes)
Saturday, June 28, 2014 8:10 am - 8:55 am
IMSA Lites Race
9:10 am -10:10 am
Practice #2 - TUDOR (All Classes)
11:35 am - 2:05 pm
Race - CTSC
12:15 pm - 1:00 pm
TUDOR Autograph Session
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Practice #3 - TUDOR (All Classes)
3:55 pm - 4:10 pm
Qualifying - TUDOR (GTD)
4:15 pm - 4:30 pm
Qualifying - TUDOR (GTLM)
4:40 pm - 4:55 pm
Qualifying - TUDOR (PC)
5:00 pm - 5:15 pm
Qualifying - TUDOR (P)
5:30 pm - 6:20 pm
Race #2 - Lamborghini
6:45 pm - 7:30 pm
Race #2 - GT3 Cup
Sunday, June 29, 2014 8:30 am - 8:50 am
Warm Up - TUDOR (All Classes)
11:15 am - 5:15 pm
Race - Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen for the TUDOR Championship - 6 Hours
Le MANS WINNERS Giancarlo Fisichella – Won GTE PRO / AF Corse Ferrari Ricky Taylor – 9th in LMP2 Corvette Racing – 2nd in GTE Pro – Jan Magnussen, Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE Pro – Tommy Milner, Oliver Gavin, Richard Westbrook Richard Lietz – 3rd in GTE Pro / Porsche Team Manthey Nick Tandy – 7th in GTE Pro / Porsche Team Manthey
Cooper MacNeil & Jeroen Bleekemolen – 5th in GTE Pro / Prospeed Competition Frankie Montecalvo – 4th in GTE AM / 8Star Motorsports Dempsey Racing – Proton – 5th in GTE AM – Patrick Dempsey, Joe Foster, Patrick Long Seth Neiman & Spencer Pumpelly – 7th in GTE AM / JMW Motorsport
PORSCHE
FAN FAVORITES
911
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Tandy/Lietz Porsche North America • Porsche 911 RSR GT Le Mans Michelin
Smartphone scan code here See the video of the Porsche team receiving 24 sets of Michelin street tires for winning the Rolex 24.
HPD - HONDA
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Brown/van Overbeek/Lazzaro Extreme Speed Motorsports • HPD ARX-03b Prototype Continental
CORVETTE DP
Fittipaldi/Barbosa Action Express Racing • Corvette DP Prototype
CORVETTE DP
J.Taylor/R.Taylor/Angelelli Wayne Taylor Racing • Corvette DP Prototype
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Continental
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Continental
MORGAN - NISSAN
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Brundle/Yacaman/Tung Oak Racing • Morgan - Nissan Prototype Continental
CORVETTE
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Gavin/Milner Corvette Racing • Chevrolet Corvette C7.R GT Le Mans Michelin
FERRARI
Fisichella/Kaffer Risi Competizione • Ferrari F458 Italia GT Le Mans
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Michelin
SRT - VIPER
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Farnbacher/Goossens/Bomarito SRT Motorsports • SRT Viper GTS-R GT Le Mans Michelin
BMW
Müller/Edwards BMW Team RLL • BMW Z4 GTE GT Le Mans
PORSCHE
56 06 Michelin
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Dempsey/Davis/Foster Dempsey Racing • Porsche 911 GT America GT Daytona Continental
Michelin North America, Inc • One Parkway South, • Greenville, SC 29615 • TEL: 1-800-458-5000 • www.michelin.com • Printed in USA, June 24, 2014 • Volume 8, Issue 5 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the publisher. • Copyright © 2014 Michelin North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Printed on recycled paper • 10% Total Recovered Fiber • All Post-Consumed Fiber