As the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar paddock reconvenes this weekend north of the border at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, the GTP title battle is the centre of attention. With just four races to go for the top class, every point gained is now vital.
It’s been a rather topsy-turvy first season for the new breed of hybrid-powered GTPs, with major incidents for contending teams, disqualifications and reliability woes shaking up the order throughout the opening five races.
It’s been exciting and unpredictable. There have been frustrating moments, but as a whole, the new era has delivered, with all four GTP manufacturers already capable of winning races.
As it stands, Action Express’ Pipo Derani and Alex Sims with just a single win (at Sebring) under their belts lead the way, ahead of Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi from BMW Team RLL.
And it’s the BMW duo who have become a somewhat unlikely title challenger after securing podiums at Sebring and Long Beach and a victory last time at Watkins Glen. Quietly, the pair have navigated the choppy waters and find themselves firmly in the title race.
Since the trucks arrived in the paddock at Daytona in January, BMW Team RLL has remained firmly under the radar. The team has made clear strides since its rocky start to the season in Florida, but it has benefitted from a number of late-race incidents to pick up crucial points and results.
At Sebring the multi-car pile-up at the end of the race vaulted the #25 to second, and Ricky Taylor’s error at Turn 1 at Long Beach helped RLL secure a podium too. It was perhaps fitting then, that the first win for the M Hybrid V8 should come following a post-race penalty for the #6 Porsche 963 at Watkins Glen, late in the evening after the podium celebrations.
For 30-year-old Connor De Phillippi, scoring what was a hugely significant win for the programme in such strange circumstances felt typical of the team’s season.
“I was out getting ice cream with Nick, we were trying to cheer ourselves up after we thought we’d let a win slip away,” he told DSC. “I found out from an email bulletin at 21:30 at night. We were proud of second, but I felt like we were wearing out that step of the podium.”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to celebrate. We all want to get that win that’s unassisted where we beat everyone fair and square.
“It was a rare weekend where we had a tyre test right after the race weekend to attend though. So we came in the next morning at noon and there were a lot of smiles. But it was short-lived as we had to get to work.”
Over the course of the season, De Phillippi feels significant strides have been made with the M Hybrid V8. After what he describes as a ‘survival’ run at Daytona, now the team has managed to put itself in the hunt for wins each weekend.
In part, this is due to the #25 finding ways to keep out of trouble, something De Phillippi says he has focused on all season with Yelloly, instead of trying to win every race on outright pace.
“Nick and I have got on well from the very beginning. We have very similar personalities and driving characteristics,” he said.
“We’ve been pushing above our weight class all year. If you look at the races after Sebring, aside from Laguna Seca where we went in the wrong direction on strategy, we’ve been heading in the right direction.”
“I actually sat down with Nick at Daytona, and we had a conversation about the season. I said: ‘Listen, we know we are not going to be the strongest early in the season, but if we finish every race we can be there.”
“Look at Sebring. I had said to Nick, because I knew he was going to finish the race, that all he had to do was keep it on the tarmac. I had no doubt that there would be some type of chaos at the end.”
With the M Hybrid V8 maturing, it is becoming clearer where its strengths are. Testing between races has helped the RLL team close the gap to the other GTP manufacturers.
“We’ve made a huge difference to the way the car field since Daytona where we were just trying to finish. There, set-up work was like another language to us, we had no idea, so we played it safe to try and get to the end.”
“But for instance, we finally had a proper two-day test at Watkins Glen several weeks ago and that allowed us to prepare for the six-hour race, and it made a real difference. It allowed us to show up, roll off the truck with a good race car. We weren’t on the back foot in practice because we were trying to find a good set up.”
“At Watkins we were very good through the first sector and the first half of the middle sector. We had very good high-speed balance and compliance on kerbs. In fact, we were one of the only cars that could use all the kerbs at the Bus Stop, which was impressive. We could run over them, land and be okay.”
“The area we still need to work on the most is the low-speed performance and traction through the mid-corner and exits of each corner.”
I don’t have a DPi or LMP2 reference, but in GTP you are fighting the car more than you’d expect
Now he feels more at home in the M Hybrid V8, De Phillippi finds it a joy to drive. The weighty, low downforce characteristics of the LMDh platform play to his strengths as a driver. The high-level GT3 and GTLM experience he can draw from has helped him adapt to racing in a car with more downforce.
“I don’t have a DPi or LMP2 reference, but in GTP you are fighting the car more than you’d expect,” he explained. “It’s a heavy car but I enjoy that. You have to hustle it and get your elbows out. I find this fun and challenging. It’s physically and mentally draining but it’s a great package.”
“I’m sure if you have a lot more aero it’d be fun to rip through corners, but I like the challenge of dancing through high-speed sections in the car. It separates those of us who are willing to take risks.”
Looking ahead, there are some major tests still to come. Should its title rivals in the GTP field find ways to get through the races at CTMP, Road America, Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans unscathed, taking a second win will be difficult.
I’m sure if you have a lot more aero it’d be fun to rip through corners, but I like the challenge of dancing through high-speed sections in the car
But don’t sleep on BMW Team RLL. It already has a win under its belt, yet it feels like as a package the M Hybrid V8 hasn’t hit its stride.
“We have several more test days planned, and we know there’s still so much we can do with this car,” De Phillippi concluded. “There are a lot of areas of the car we don’t fully understand yet.”
“It’s things like setting up the car so it runs better in dirty air, now we’re more competitive and involved in battles through traffic while following other prototypes.”
“We’re all hungry in this programme, we’re all pushing each other to our limits. It’s a really fun process and I am excited to see where this goes. We just have to keep doing what we are doing and more results will come.”
Images courtesy of BMW
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