Drivers: Hot COTA Conditions Could Lead to Single Stints

FIA World Endurance Championship drivers say the extremely hot conditions expected for this weekend’s Lone Star Le Mans event at Circuit of The Americas could force them into single-stint strategies.

Weather forecasts predict temperatures to be nudging towards 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) throughout the weekend as the WEC resumes after its summer break.

While the Austin event is usually hot, there is not expected to be the heavy rain that caused chaos during last year’s cooler contest.

Joint WEC points leader Rene Rast said single stints “could be the way to go” to avoid drivers spending lengthy spells at the wheel in the heat.

“The heat is a big factor which comes on top of the normal racing stress for the driver, but also for the whole team,” BMW Team WRT driver Rast told Sportscar365.

“In the race we will probably see different strategies for driving stints.

“It also depends on the free practice sessions and how we feel in the car. If we say, ‘OK, the single is no problem,’ then maybe we can extend to a double.”

The BMW M Hybrid V8 has performed well so far in hotter conditions this year, including at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but Rast said there was no guarantee that would also be the case at COTA.

“Our car seems to be more performant in the hotter conditions but in these extreme heat conditions we don’t know,” he added.

“We obviously hope that we’re going to be on the level of the others but we need to wait for the free practice sessions to see.”

Genesis Magma Racing driver Pipo Derani was another to suggest that single stints may be required “to avoid falling off the cliff,” telling Sportscar365 that “everybody is somewhat concerned” about the weather.

“You start asking yourself that question: what is the best in terms of strategy?” he added.

“But, also what’s the best in terms of surviving the race. It brings an extra element into the race which normally we don’t have.

“Normally it’s always 100 percent performance, but if you can’t finish the race physically, then performance means nothing.

“You have to bring that into the equation, which will be interesting to see.”

Derani therefore reckoned it could be particularly challenging for the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie squad as it has only got two drivers assigned for each car — something that Tom Gamble downplayed prior to the event.

“I honestly think it’s a bit of a stretch for those guys,” said Derani.

“It’s doable if you do a single but if you do a single with only two, then your recovery time is not enough and you have to get back in it again.”

For WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO racer Augusto Farfus, the bigger concern about the hot temperatures is how the Medium Goodyear compound tires mandated in the LMGT3 class will perform, rather than the drivers themselves.

Goodyear brought its Hard rubber to this event last year but has opted to use a softer compound this time around.

“I think the heat itself for the driving will not be the main issue — we’re all fit enough and on top of this game,” Farfus told Sportscar365.

“For the tires we have the Mediums here and this track is a high-degradation track — a hard track on tires on top of this heat, it can be quite something.”

Farfus said he believes this combination could result in teams shifting their attention during Friday’s two 90-minute practice sessions.

“The focus this weekend will be, looking at how the forecast is, it’s going to be more on making sure the car is good on tires, than actually making sure the car is fast,” he explained.

“A 2:05 lap, to lose three seconds at the end of the stint because of the wrong setup, the wrong tire pressure, could be [costly] like this.”

John Dagys contributed to this report