If we know anything, it is that we know nothing after one busy day of practice ant Watkins Glen ahead of next weekend’s 6 Hours of the Glen.
Several teams struggled with a slippery track at very hot track temperatures making for difficult handling race cars. Some teams looked strong in short runs but seemed unhappy so far on overall race pace in longer stints.
“Yeah, it was definitely a bit weird out there. The hotter temperatures made the car a little bit more unpredictable. We just couldn’t really understand it, so it was difficult to stay consistent out there, with a lack of confidence in the car.”, Champion Motorsports driver Thomas Fisher said.
The No. 79 Dallara P2 Prototype driver, who finished second at Mid-Ohio, together with teammate Cameron Baker, added:
“There seems to be some promise though, as the session cooled off a little later on. That’s when the car seemed to come back to me and I could wrestle with it a little more, before that big crash.”
The crash that Fisher mentioned occurred late in the session in the final corner when the Saint-Lazare, Canada native hurt his wrist, rendering him unable to return for the remainder of the session.
Firestorm Motorsport, who debuted their new entry, the No. 30 Audi R8 LMS GT3 in Saturday's session, had plenty of reason to smile. Team driver Sean Hatfield placed the team's new entry in P1 on the results board for Free Practice 1, as the No. 30 Audi set the fastest lap of the day at 1:43.431.
GT3 championship leaders and back-to-back race winners Torque Freak Racing and their No. 6 Porsche posted the second-fastest GT3 lap time on the day, one tenth behind.
“It was really hot out there, I think between 40 and 50 °C (104 to 122 °F). We were struggling a lot with a lack of rear grip. We’re working on tuning the car to get it to behave consistently.”, Jonathan Dance, driver for Torque Freak Racing said.
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| Firestorm Motorsport's brand-new series entry, the No. 30 Audi R8 LMS GT3 topped the speed charts in Saturday's Free Practice 1 |
Besides logging laps and posting lap times, teams and drivers were busy discussing the balance of performance and tire set limits announced by VSCA.
P2 Prototypes will be limited to seven tire sets in the six-hour race while GT3 teams will have their choice between five tire sets total.
“Based on our testing, we think we’ll be fine. Five sets for six hours means just one full double stint would be needed, which we think should be fine, though probably slower in the second stint. There are other strategies as well, of course.”, explained Jonathan Dance.
Visibly concerned faces were spotted in the BMW camp on Saturday. Real Pixel Motorsport and the No. 312 BMW M4 GT3 team posted the slowest lap time on the day, nearly three seconds off the pace.
BMW pilot Wolfgang Wildenauer showed confidence and wasn’t concerned:
“Our primary target today was to get used to the track updates, the slightly changed track layout, especially in turn one.”
The Adelsdorf, Germany native added:
“We didn’t really worry so much about the temperatures, though we heard about all the discussions about it and the tire set limits.”
“We believe there will be plenty enough for the race. We don’t see a big issue with either topic, really, at least so far.”
So what will ultimately be most important in the 6 Hours of the Glen, to achieve a good result?
Wildenauer: “We do not expect the race to go green all the way through. Experience says that with all these super-fast sections, sooner or later a FCY will come in.”
“So for a good result, our main target will be not to get involved in bigger issues and keep our patience in dealing with the traffic and tires.”
Free Practice 2 is on Thursday, June 16th.
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