Traffic and overtaking, the unknowns on the six hours of Imola
Among the many challenges posed to the drivers who will face the six hours of Imola there is certainly that of the difficulty of overtaking which has characterized the Santerno track for years. The rather narrow road surface, especially when compared with more recent racetracks, combined with the sequence of challenging chicanes that characterize the track, represent an extremely challenging mix for Hypercar drivers who will continually find themselves in the overtaking phase, arriving from behind of trains of Gran Turismo cars. Nineteen Hypercars and Eighteen GT3 cars will certainly continually annoy each other throughout the six-hour race, and you shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that in an endurance race you can wait too long to overtake your slower opponent. Each stint of an endurance race is run at the maximum possible pace, and from this perspective overtaking and slower cars will represent an important variable for the drivers of the two classes. In the first free practice sessions on Friday, it was revealed that the lap time between the Hypercar and the GT3 was different by around 12 seconds, equally distributed across the three sectors of the track. A difference that should even reduce during the race. This will also contribute to making overtaking between the cars of the two classes more complex
The drivers' opinions after the first free practices
In the paddock of the Imola racetrack we collected some statements on this topic from the drivers. everyone takes traffic into serious consideration in the economy of the result of the Imola race.
This is the opinion of Antonio FuocoHypercar driver of the team Ferrari AF Corse
“Certainly during the race the traffic and the difficulty of overtaking will make things difficult for the drivers, especially in the fighting phases. Traffic will be the real key to the race. The track then represents a real challenge in this sense considering that the escape routes have been modified by adding more gravel so any mistake that can lead a driver to the escape routes will be paid dearly since it will then be necessary to do a few laps to clean the tyres. You will have to be perfect without making mistakes but this does not mean you can wait too long if you need to overtake a GT. It will be decisive for the race to lose as little time as possible in lapping because in such a situation many precious seconds can be lost. Qualifying will be very important, especially considering that this year we have nineteen cars in the Hypercar class. Considering the nature of the Imola track, if you have the possibility of starting from the front you can have a much less complicated race.”
Mirko Bortolottihypercar driver of the newly arrived team Lamborghini Iron Lynx he also sees the issue of overtaking as an opportunity
“Imola is a generally difficult track for overtaking, but nothing is impossible. There will certainly be a lot of traffic which, however, is a factor that could even favor overtaking. In fact, it could happen that a driver makes a mistake in an attempt to force an overtaking of a slower car, perhaps choosing the wrong trajectory and his opponent could take advantage of this. It won't be easy to overtake cars that run times close to ours but as mentioned nothing is impossible. The efficiency of the brakes will also play an important role, especially on a track as demanding on the brakes as Imola.”
Among the pilots of the LMGT3 class we have collected the opinion of Augusto FarfusBrazilian driver of the team WRT which ranks them BMW M4 LMGT3
“The Hypercars will struggle in the race on the first lap coming out of the pits after a pit stop due to cold tires and may find themselves having to overtake a GT3 in these conditions. The braking points between the two categories are not very different but the speeds at which they reach that braking point are different. It will be interesting because both we GT3 drivers and the Hypercar drivers will be able to use these opportunities to gain an advantage in a fight with our direct opponents, especially in the case of Hypercar trains arriving on a group of GT3s. The chances of a contact or accident are clearly greater in these situations, which could lead to revolutions in the provisional ranking.”
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