We selected a list of things to keep in mind as we approach the first race on American soil
It has been a long month of wait, but it is finally time to go racing again! Following the dramatic inaugural 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, EES will go overseas to visit the Virginia International Raceway for the second time in its history! The tight track will give a hard time to drivers and teams as they try to navigate through traffic to bring home solid points.
Sector 2 and Full Course Yellow
Turns 11 and 12
While we always hope for flawless races, incidents are a part of motorsport and will always be. Considering the nature of the track and the high number of cars on track, it is likely that we will see a lot of Full Course Yellow, spicing up the race strategy-wise. Drivers must keep their eyes wide open, looking for yellow flags and potential dangerous situations. Last season we had… well, not the start that you would expect. A small contact between two prototypes at the beginning of the second sector ended in tragedy, causing a massive pileup of cars.
Sector 2 is clearly one of the most challenging sections on the entire EES calendar. The “S” between turns 7 and 10 is a big “no-no” for dangerous overlapping. The following two corners, 11 and 12, may end your race if you are not careful enough. Barriers are very close to the race track and a strong impact may kill the engine.
LMHC and LMP2 similar pace
With not many chances to deploy all its horsepowers, Hypercars might struggle to get away from the LMP2 pack, especially the front runners. Longer stints and the shorter stops of the Toyota GR 010 might come handy in trying to separate the fields, but there will still be situations in which the two classes will be close on track.
In this situation, it will be important for drivers to keep their cool and not overreact. Sure, finding a car from a different class in your way might be frustrating and could slow you down, but this is a multiclass endurance and patience is a quality not less important than pace, strategy and setup.
Performance check
The first race showed us something in terms of values on the field, but nothing is written in stone yet. Changing weather might have caught by surprise someone who could have underperformed, while others might have overperformed. Following the second round, the organization will reassess categorizations, so it is crucial for everyone on the field to bring their A-game on the track.
This time around weather shouldn’t be a factor, but predictions are called predictions for a reason. Will we see a more linear race compared to Spa? How will the field cope with the nature of the track and the difficulties that it brings?
Green flag will drop at 16 CEST this Sunday, the 15th of October. Make sure to join our live stream on Pitlane TV to not miss out any of the exciting action!