BMW M Team RLL’s #25 M Hybrid V8 topped the times on the second day of IMSA testing at Indianapolis yesterday in hot conditions trackside, which topped out at 30 degrees celsius.
Connor De Phillippi ran a series of laps in the 1-minute, 14-second bracket in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, culminating in a 1:14.655 in the final half hour of the afternoon session. That was the fastest time of the two-day test, after JDC’s Tijmen van der Helm led the way on Day 1 with a 1:15.244 in the #5 Porsche 963.
Jesse Krohn, who co-drives the #24 BMW in IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup rounds, was second fastest with a 1:14.758 around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course.
“It was a productive two days and I’m really proud of the team,” said De Phillippi, who with co-driver Nick Yelloly rank second in the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) season point standings, just 10 points behind the lead #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R duo of Alexander Sims and Pipo Derani.
“We’re trying to learn something every run, trying a lot of different software stuff and trying to improve areas of the car that I believe we can get more consistent lap times out of if we get better,” De Phillippi added. “The entire field is super tight and you’re fighting for half a tenth here, half a tenth there.”
With an eye toward the fact that the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta is likely to be critical to deciding the championship, BMW M Team RLL was pleased to have the opportunity to get endurance drivers Krohn and Colton Herta seat time in the #24 and 25 BMWs.
“We have a bit of long run pace to find,” De Phillippi noted. “We need to try to understand that and make the car more drivable over the full stint. Now we have a direction and we can push down that path. That’s been a positive from the two days.
“Just nice to be in the mix and be competitive. Hopefully, it stays the same when we come back here in September.”
The unexpectedly quick lap times in the summer heat surprised and delighted Cadillac Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais.
The co-driver of the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R along with Renger van der Zande turned the fastest lap in the first of Saturday’s sessions, reeling off a 1:15.025. Bourdais was then third on the afternoon speed charts, improving with a 1:14.809.
With the GTP field closely bunched (the top five lapped within 0.181 seconds in the morning and 0.360 seconds in the afternoon), Bourdais was impressed that the Michelin tyres kept producing quicker lap times the harder he pushed – all while showing minimal degradation.
“You think the tires have come in, and you keep going and there’s still more and more grip,” he said. “It’s very tight, and it seems like everybody is kind of driving to the potential of the tire.
“Everybody is pushing like crazy,” Bourdais added. “To get those lap times, you have to push really hard. The time doesn’t come easy; you have to really dig and use the brakes super hard. But the more you push the tires, the more it gives you. I don’t think anybody is taking it easy!”
Bourdais predicted qualifying for the race could be “deceptively quick.”
“It’s the first time we’ve had this much grip in these cars,” he said. “You have to hustle it. I don’t know what it looks like on the outside, but it’s pretty fun from the inside.”
Mikkel Jensen, driving the #11 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 07 was quickest in LMP2 after a 1:16.532, while Wayne Boyd in AWA’s #17 Duqueine D08 set a 1:20.624 to run fatest in LMP3.
Misha Goikhberg put the #78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2 fastest of the seven GTD class entries participating in the test with a 1:24.192.
Among the 11 Michelin Pilot Challenge contenders testing at IMS, Eric Filgueiras paced the Grand Sport (GS) class in the #28 RS1 Porsche 718 GT4 RS Clubsport with a lap of 1:30.680 in the third of four test sessions, while in TCR, Harry Gottsacker in the #33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR was fastest with a 1:32.388 in the final session.
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Image courtesy of IMSA
