Ferrari photocall
AF Corse Ferrari’s cars and crew gathered for a photoshoot (featured) yesterday ahead of what is a hugely significant occasion for the Italian brand this week in Sebring, competing in the top class of sportscar racing for the first time in 50 years.
#51 oddity
A numerical oddity befell AF Corse on Sunday, the second day of the Prologue test.
After James Calado shunted in the #51 Ferrari 499P there were two further significant incidents for Ferraris.
The #21 488 GTE was damaged in an impact with the wall at T17 and the #54 was heavily damaged after a clash between Thomas Flöhr and David Heinemeier Hansson’s #28 JOTA Oreca, the LMP2 car hitting the Ferrari in the rear as Flöhr attempted to get across to the pit entry at T14.
The oddity? The #54 was last year’s Championship-winning GTE Pro #51, and the 21 was the previous year’s Championship-winning #51!
Calado plays down imapct of testing incident
James Calado says his off at Turn 1 during Sunday’s Prologue running (which resulted in a full chassis change) didn’t disrupt AF Corse’s Prologue plans too much, in conversation with DSC between sessions today.
“The Prologue wasn’t challenging for us,” he said. “It was a good first day, we got a lot of miles in and a good base set up. Then on the second day I went off and it wasn’t ideal but we didn’t lose too much. We were lucky that it happened then and not this week. The car was working normal and as it should this morning when we got it back out. The balance was similar too. We are happy.”
Alpine playing catch up on LMP2 return
The Signatech Alpine crew returns to full-time LMP2 action this weekend with a pair of ORECA 07s. According to #36 driver Matthieu Vaxiviere, things are improving for the team as it adapts to life in LMP2 once again, following its Hypercar effort with the grandfathered LMP1 chassis.
“The Prologue was tough for us in the beginning,” he told DSC. “It’s been years since we’ve run these cars, two full seasons since we were last in LMP2. So understanding the performance level of the car and the tyres has taken time. Every session we have seen improvements, we haven’t put everything together yet but this is normal. Now we are going through practice and we have a good base.
“We are a bit behind, it will be hard to get everything together for the first race.”
Westbrook: Cadillac LMDh ‘unlike anything else I’ve driven’
Richard Westbrook, a driver with so much experience in a variety of GT and prototype machinery during his career, says the closest comparison to the LMDh Cadillac he’s in this season is the GT1 cars he drove more than a decade ago.
“The V-Series.R is really unlike anything else I’ve driven,” he says. “Last year I was in the DPi, which was lighter, less power, more aero. This feels more like a GT, but not a true GTE. I would say the closest thing I’ve driven to this is the old GT1 cars. They had a similar weight and power. It’s really interesting. Fun to drive and so new for all of us. We are still finding the sweet spot.”
Villeneuve on Vanwall
1997 F1 Champion Jacques Villenueve says the Vanwall Vanderwell 680 is a ‘handful’ to drive. The Canadian, who has struggled for outright pace thus far, is nevertheless keen to turn this drive into a full-time return to racing.
“It’s a handful, partly related to the track which is so bumpy,” he said when asked for his impressions of the car at a media conference today. “It’s not as stable as some of the more modern cars I’ve driven. It reminds me of the late 90s F1 cars that were jumping around all over the place, which makes it fun I guess. There’s a lot still to do with the set up as well.
“I’m relying a lot on my teammates, who have had a lot more time in the car.”
Featured image courtesy of Ferrari
