Scuderia Corsa COTA Pre-Race Report

With their dominating victory at the previous IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race at Virginia International Raceway, Scuderia Corsa and drivers Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell edged closer to the GT-Daytona championship lead.

Two races remain in the 2015 season, including this weekend’s Lone Star LeMans at the Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, providing two additional chances for the team to overtake the championship lead. The team has also helped to advance Ferrari to the lead of the GT-Daytona manufacturer’s championship.

After handily leading during his stint at the wheel of the no. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia at VIR, Sweedler is eager to get back into the car this weekend.

“There have been a lot of races this year where we couldn’t have won on speed, so we had to maximize our execution,” said Sweedler. “Now that the tide has turned a little bit, we are in a position where we can really attack and the team is executing flawlessly. That gives us a lot of confidence to go out and attack, and since winning the championship is our only goal, that is our plan – to go out and attack. The Circuit of The Americas is a really fantastic circuit, one that is very challenging, and one that should really suit the Ferrari.”

Bell is likewise looking forward to continuing the momentum that the Scuderia Corsa team has built up as a result of the victory at VIR. However, he anticipates that the Circuit of The Americas circuit will present some different challenges when compared to VIR.

“The race at VIR was such a fantastic result for the Scuderia Corsa team, and now we’d like to go out and score another win,” said Bell. “At VIR, Bill did such a great job, the team gave such great pit stops, and the Ferrari was so good that, in a way, the victory came very easily. I don’t expect that we’ll have things so good at Circuit of The Americas! The level of competition is so high, and the track presents some very unique challenges, but we’ll be in the hunt and the fans will enjoy a great show.”

Circuit of The Americas Technical Analysis – Joe LaJoie, Engineer of the no. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia

“Circuit of The Americas is a world class track built to F-1 safety standards. The track is challenging to drive because of all the different types of corners. The setup requires good compromises between grip and high speed corners. The warm weather will also be a challenge that we will need to factor in to our setup.

“The first section starts with braking uphill, a flat hairpin, and then it is flat out, back down the hill and through six high speed corners. The brake zone is a possible passing zone except the wide track makes it difficult to make it stick. Then you could get left behind accelerating down the hill and loose time in the next six corners. 

“These corners are single file due to the narrow width of the track. The second section starts after turn eight which leads into a short straight. Turn 11 is another slow, tight hairpin and provides a better place to attempt a pass than turn one. The car must accelerate well to get down the longest straight of the track to turn 12, the best braking zone to pass.

“The third section is a group of technical, slow-to-medium speed corners. The first couple corners are just far enough apart to get to full throttle between them. The last few curves create one long triple apex corner that gets faster and faster.  These turns are always difficult to setup for since it is difficult to maintain the front grip with all the power that must go to the rear wheels.”

Saturday’s Lone Star LeMans will be broadcast live on FOX Sports 2 at 12:30 PM ET with an encore presentation on Sunday, September 20 at 1:30 PM ET on FOX Sports 1. Qualifying will be streamed live on Friday, September 18 at 4:45 PM ET.