Former LMP2 and LMHC EES champion talks about the upcoming season, his experience in endurance racing and more
Lorenzo Arisi has been at the top of the simracing scene for quite a while now, and it does not look like he wants to stop anytime soon. For the third consecutive year he will be on the grid of the eSports Endurance Series, his second with Wave Freem eSports. He will share the wheel of the Cadillac Dpi #1 with Riccardo Corazzari, Rens Klop and Christian Malghera. As we are approaching the season-opener in Suzuka, we met him to speak about the upcoming championship.
Hello Lorenzo, and welcome to this interview. Saturday you will start your third year in the eSports Endurance Series. Of course a lot of things have changed from your first race in the championship, but which are the main differences that you noticed, if you can find any?
«Hi! First of all thanks for the invite. Plenty of things have changed in the EES championship. New classes, new cars and especially the strength of the field, higher than ever. This year we will have half of the grid consisting of non-italian teams, making it a quite international championship».
Compared to the official content, the Dpi class has struggled a bit to fill the grid, even though 7 entries is a decent result. Why did you and your teammates choose this car?
«It’s a matter of continuity. As we won the last 2 championships in the premier class, we signed up this year in the premier class as well. Also, we like the Cadillac DPI a lot compared to the Senna last year. Secondly, we decided to put Klop and Malghera in a prototype to learn how to pass traffic instead of being passed, being experts of the GTE class».
Last year Lorenzo drove the LMHC #1 and won the championship – Screen by Alessandro Appolloni
You have won in all the classes you have raced in, LMP2 first, then LMHC. Will you do it again in Dpi?
«I hope so! But this year it won’t be easy. Even if there are only 7 entries in DPI, the strength of the field is really high. Some very well known international teams have joined the party, it will be interesting! I hope that during the season there will be some more signups in this class to give us some even more hard time».
Wave Freem eSports has four cars signed up to the championship and is competing in every class. Leaving aside the Dpi, who do you think are the main title contenders in LMP2 and LMGTE?
«Both classes are really open, there are 4-5 cars capable of winning races in both classes. I think that consistency and scoring points in every round will make a huge difference in the outcome of both championships. Let’s also not discount some newcomers in these classes who are an unknown quantity. We will find out in the first race».
In the 2020-2021 season Lorenzo will drive the Cadillac Dpi #1
We have seen you in sprint races and championships, but I would say that your main focus has always been on endurance. When did you start to approach this type of competition and why?
«I started to do endurance races with rF2 in 2017, in VEC season 10, LMP2 class. I did a few sporadic endurance races some years before with rF1 but nothing really serious. We as Wave Freem were born last year to compete mostly in endurances. I think personally I’m more suited to this kind of competition because my main strengths – consistency and not making mistakes – for endurances are key qualities to perform well».
If you could add a feature in rFactor 2 to improve the experience of endurance racing, what would you choose?
«For the official S397 cars, the tyre model for sure. With the current one there is a forced choice of tyre since it’s faster 99% of the times and the less tyre wear with the other compounds doesn’t make up the time lost with softer tyres. Also, the tyre wear is currently not influenced by track temperature. That would play for more variety in strategies and more fun for us!»
Thank you for your time Lorenzo, we cannot wait to see you on track this Saturday!
«Thanks and see you on track!»