Velorex Becomes Final Ferrari Team to Make Evo Switch

Velorex has become the third and final Ferrari SUPER GT team to switch its 296 GT3 to Evo spec ahead of this weekend’s Fuji 300km.

The Team LeMans-run operation ran in the opening two rounds of the season at Okayama and Fuji in original specification, finishing ninth in the GT300 class in the curtain-raiser before slumping to a troubled 23rd place in May’s Golden Week round.

It was the only one of three Ferrari teams competing in the championship not to have made the switch to the Evo, as PONOS Racing began pre-season testing with it and CarGuy MKS Racing received its upgrade in time for the opening race.

But a three-month break since the previous Fuji race, lengthened by the cancellation of the Sepang round, afforded Velorex ample time to take delivery of its upgrade kit.

Team advisor Nagataka Tezuka believes that the biggest difference to Velorex’s competitive prospects is likely to come from a revised Balance of Performance that has given the Ferrari teams more turbo boost pressure and a lower minimum rear wing angle.

Although the car’s minimum weight of 1320kg remains unchanged, but it can now run its rear wing at three degrees instead of five degrees, while it has been afforded higher turbo boost levels to the tune of around 1.5 percent at peak revs.

“As well as the car specification changing to the Evo, the BoP has been adjusted quite a bit since the previous round,” Tezuka told Sportscar365.

“The Ferrari was at quite a disadvantage last time, in terms of the engine power and the rear wing, which was giving us a lot of drag.

“Now the BoP is more in line with what the SRO is using, so we have a bit more power and also with the angle of the rear wing we should be faster in the straights.

“In terms of cornering, CarGuy and PONOS already had the Evo package from the previous race, and I don’t think the Evo kit is an advantage on that side.

“All the Ferraris struggled in Round 2. We were the fastest of the three, I think we had the most potential, but we ended up quite far down in terms of position. But now with the BoP change, I think we can expect to be more competitive this time.

“There’s also the success weight, and the extra pit stop time [for the highest-place championship cars], so I think that will also help us to fight at the front.

“Of course, we’re aiming for the win and I think we have a chance.”

Yoshiaki Katayama and Niklas Kruetten, who joined Velorex this year in place of ex-Formula 1 racer Roberto Merhi, ended up out of the points in the Golden Week Fuji race after a slow second pit stop due to a stuck wheel and an emergency third trip to the pits.

It leaves Katayama and Kruetten 14th in the drivers’ standings ahead of this weekend.

Elsewhere in the Ferrari stable, PONOS is going into this week’s Fuji round with a refreshed driver lineup as Shintaro Kawabata replaces Kei Cozzolino alongside Takuro Shinohara, after Cozzolino abruptly parted ways with the team in June.

Meanwhile, CarGuy MKS will be fielding Zak O’Sullivan and Toyota junior driver Kiyoshi Umegaki as a duo for the first time, having run O’Sullivan and Reimei Ito in the Okayama opener and then cycling through all three drivers in Round 2 at Fuji.

CarGuy MKS’ best finish of the year so far was 11th in the previous Fuji round, with O’Sullivan and Ito lying 13th in the points, while PONOS has yet to score.