Almost 5 months have passed since the debut of the Ferrari 296 GT3 on tracks around the world and the first level results for the new Prancing Horse car are starting to arrive.
Everyone will remember the uphill start suffered at the 24h of Daytona, of which we had already told you in some detail during the first event of the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In the meantime, the heir to the glorious 488 continued to grind kilometers not only in tests, but also in other races, managing to achieve its first victories on a particularly difficult track – perhaps the biggest of all – such as the Nürburgring Nordschleife during the events of the NLS series.
Yet there are still those who tremble at seeing the newborn GT3 from Maranello on the top step of the podium almost everywhere, but in addition to the well-known patience needed when grappling with something new, some aspects also need to be clarified very important ones that explain why we are not dealing with an opponent-slayer.
#51 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3: Robert Shwartzman, Niklas Nielsen, Alessio Rovera
Photo by: Luca Rossini
The original sin
Every problem that can arise on a new car is part of the youth of the project, despite the fact that the development tests lasted for almost a year, which obviously are very different work situations than when you’re on the track with others.
Even the 488 at the time of its debut had some headaches, but as we all know later it became one of the most successful GT3s in history and among the Ferrari GTs, thanks to a series of interventions on engine controls, optimization of power delivery and reduction of turbo-lag performed over the years, arriving at the precision of each parameter imposed by the FIA, championship organizers, and above all by the infamous Balance Of Performance.
Obviously the 296 is at the beginning of its life and consequently also of these processes – with some different characteristics at a technical level compared to the 488 – which require a meticulous work of refinement and relative patience.
And there is still work to be done on the set-up issue, starting with weights and breakdowns; the situations that may occur in practice are very different compared to those in actual races, with inevitable repercussions on car behaviour.
“Being forced to measure ourselves against others in difficult situations certainly helps to bring out the areas of the car where we can focus more attention to improve, which is very positive for me”, explains Engineer Ferdinando to Motorsport.com Cannizzo, head of Ferrari’s GT and endurance programmes.
#023: Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Charles Scardina, Onofrio Triarsi, Alessio Rovera
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Daytona, a nasty surprise
The development that had begun in June 2022 was aimed at remaining within the performance window envisaged by the FIA, with an estimated weight between 1250kg and 1300kg, but at Daytona the BoP for the 296 was set at 1365kg of minimum weight, without considering pilot and fuel on board.
A big discrepancy compared to what was the scenario on which they had worked in the months preceding the homologation, surprisingly shuffling the cards for technicians, engineers and drivers who had to… ‘invent’ something to have the best distribution of possible weights inside the passenger compartment in that situation, a very important thing when the set-up has to be adjusted.
The BoP problem for the first IMSA round is known to have also involved the other new generation GT3s, such as the Porsche 911-992, as well as those updated with the Evo kit such as the Lamborghini Huracan. It all stems from the fact that the FIA had only shared a summary of the data collected in the aerodynamic tests in the wind tunnel during the homologation with the technicians of the American series.
Most likely the choice made by IMSA insiders was excessively cautious with the new cars making their debut on the track. The trouble is that by changing the mappings and weights that fall within this average, the comparison becomes between two totally different things, therefore quite useless in order to arrive at a series of parameters to adopt for an event.
#47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Antonio Fuoco, Alessandro Balzan
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
To this we also add that IMSA did not take into account the results of Tests and Free Practice, and therefore did not modify the BoP for the 24h. In fact, the proof that something was wrong at Daytona arrived early, clearly visible from the results actually achieved during the race. And this has affected not only the 296, but also Lamborghini and Porsche who have suffered enormously.
There was indeed a reaction for the subsequent Sebring race, but the IMSA system for modifying the BoP is based on the times recorded in the previous event; considering all the characteristics of American racing, where given the large number of neutralizations that often occur, sometimes the strategies prepared do not go in the direction of pushing to the maximum from the first to the last hour, here is that the average time trial does not always reflect the real potential of the means.
After Sebring, a few more steps forward can still be seen in the next endurance races in the Stars and Stripes. In general, the extra weight that they found themselves having to put on board at Maranello messed up the car’s set-up plans, both at a mechanical level (suspensions and aerodynamic load in primis) and from an electronic point of view of controls in the power delivery and whatnot.
All things that had seemed to be in place during the tests to the great satisfaction of the riders and engineers, only to then come to terms with other aspects to improve, and which took the men in red a bit by surprise.
As mentioned above, the car’s behavior in traffic and in the slipstream of other rivals also needs to be evaluated, which is very difficult to take into account when designing it between simulation and tunnel. Details that fully come to the surface only in a race weekend and therefore can be improved with experience on the track.
#62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3: Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Gabriel Casagrande
Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images
Monza, between confirmations and analyses
The other event to focus on was the 3h of Monza of the GT World Challenge Europe held at the end of April. Here, for example, the problems of weight (fixed at 1306kg) and engine control were on the agenda because the 296s suffered a lot in the first and third sectors, i.e. those where top speed matters most.
On the contrary, in the driven stretches the battles saw the crews of AF Corse-Francorchamps Motors forcefully make up for it, so much so that the drivers themselves had shown themselves quite happy with the behavior of their vehicle, not fast enough however to follow on the long straights Brianza the other cars.
“We have a list of 3-4 points that we identified after Monza, on which we know that more can be done. This came out when we found ourselves racing in difficult conditions”, underlines Cannizzo, who then makes a comparison with what was achieved at the Nürburgring in the NLS.
“We did very well on the Nordschleife, achieving an exceptional result with great satisfaction from the riders and teams. Performance in terms of top speed matters a lot if we look at the long final straight, but it’s not as crucial as at Daytona and Monza. Overall, that track enhanced the handling characteristics and ease of driving”.
“At Monza and Daytona, the difficulties emerged more because we struggled to have the same performance as our rivals as we had very fast stretches of track. But the positive point of view for us engineers is having had the opportunity to highlight those areas for improvement where we can focus attention more than others, in order to work on the growth of the vehicle in the coming months and in view of next year”.
#22 WTM by Rinaldi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3: Leonard Weiss, Jochen Krumbach, Indy Dontje
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Ready to fight in the Ring
There are still many things to do, and for this reason the Ferrari 296 GT3 has faced many tests between one race and another. Also because the performance of the tires should also be highlighted, a fact that counts a lot in the general behavior of a car.
Every km traveled therefore serves to try to fix things with the tires supplied by Michelin for the IMSA and with the Pirellis that the 296 mounts in the GTWC, whose next Endurance Cup event is set at Paul Ricard. In the meantime, in addition to the aforementioned patience, there will also be a lot of attention to the changes in BoP in order to finally have a Red capable of playing with everyone.
“In some ways, the development of the car has never stopped, except to face the first races where data and information have been collected, on the basis of which we will start again. We have to be patient because I believe that the base of the car is decidedly good”, he concludes Cannizzo.
“Like any new project, it is obvious that not everything is perfect at first experiences and that there is always something that can be improved. It was the same for the 488, it is also for the 499P. For the 296 GT3, the results obtained on the Nordschleife demonstrate that the foundations are solid and now we can do nothing but continue to grow”.
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