On the Friday preceding the 6 Hours of Imola, dedicated to free practice and media sessions, we had the pleasure of listening to Alessandro Pier Guidi, driver of the Ferrari 499P #51 and winner (with Giovinazzi and Calado) of the 24 Hours of Le Mans of the Centenary. In view of the second round of the 2024 WEC season, the driver from Tortona expressed his opinions regarding the Imola track, the degradation of the tires and – rather peremptorily – the risk deriving from the ban on pre-heating them before taking to the track .
Enzo and Dino Ferrari racetracka few hours before the start of the first Free Practice valid for the 6 hours of Imola. Alessandro Pier Guidi, on the occasion of the Meet the Team organized by Ferrari AF Corse in which Fuori Traiettoria had the pleasure of being able to participate, he explained to us his ideas regarding the second race of the World Endurance Championship and his concerns in this regard.
“Imola is one of the best tracks to drive onjust for the pleasure of walking around, but also one of the worst to have a race on“, began Pier Guidi. “It’s very narrow, overtaking points are practically zero, and therefore qualifying will be really important. We did some testing here in November, but there have still been some changes since then, including new curbs and gravel escape routes practically restored everywhere. Furthermore, during those days of testing we had encountered rain, so regardless they were not particularly significant tests for understanding our performances“
Spring weather in Emilia Romagna it can certainly give surprises (more or less welcome)and of this the Ferrari driver is fully aware. Speaking of the possible rain expected for qualifying and the race 6 hours of Imola, Pier Guidi declared that “it will be a big variable, but if it rains it will rain for everyone; we’re not sure yet… it could rain, it could be clear… in Imola it is easy to make mistakesand it will certainly be our goal to maximize the result even in difficult conditions; we aim to qualify in the first rows, because otherwise catching up would be very difficult. The track position will be crucial, especially since we expect a lot of neutralizations during the 6 hours. We will have to be awake and ready to exploit every opportunity to maximize the result; if you start to lose track position it will be difficult to recover, so it will be really essential to maintain it“
But it is on the topic of tires that the multiple GT champion does not hide his concerns; not so much about the degradation – which had compromised some races at the end of the 2023 season and the 1812 KM of Qatar – as regards the prohibition on pre-heating them using electric blankets/warmers before hitting the track: “Here in Imola I don’t expect much degradation, especially since we’ll be using Medium and Hard here; we expected to have to use Soft and Medium, so I could be wrong but I don’t expect much degradation“.
“The track will have certainly a low temperature“, Alessandro continued, “but I wouldn’t say this will be an advantage for us. When temperatures are low and the tires available are those with the hardest compound, it is simply dangerous for everyone. Unfortunately we are left with this ban on heating the tyres, which leads to no advantage in terms of performance and is simply dangerous. Especially here in Imola, where the exit from the pits is in the fastest section of the entire circuit. And going out at 80 km/h with cold tyres, without being able to stay upright, while the others reach 310 km/h when braking at Tamburello… in any case, with these temperatures, I don’t think we will have any advantages or disadvantages in Ferrari (unlike what was stated by teammate Antonio Fuoco); I only see a danger for everyone“.
Temperature situation which – by analogies – could be vaguely traced back to the one found at Spa Francorchamps in the 6 hours of 2023. Pier Guidi, however, explains to us where it is the difference between the possible situation during the 6 hours of Imola and the one managed last year in Belgium: “Compared to Spa it’s a little different, Belgium is still the coldest place but with a track that forces the tires to withstand great forces, so we are forced to use hard compounds with very low temperatures; same scenario as Le Mans night, which we have not yet experienced (due to the exception to the regulation applied in the Centenary edition, ed.)”. The – slightly – higher temperatures in Imola are therefore significanttogether with a track that doesn’t impart so much energy on tires like the one in Spa.
6 hours of Imola that will be raced on a track, that of Santerno, slightly updated. If in Qatar the curbs were a problem for the cars, here in Imolaalthough new, they should not reserve any unpleasant surprises: “I saw the new curbs, they are not a big problem“, noted Pier Guidi. “In Qatar we expected it, here they actually should be gentler on the tyres. In the Gresini variant, for example, they have not changed much but since the “banana” has disappeared a sort of step was created, with a first fairly flat part and another higher one; the concept is similar, but they made it safer this way because the banana was dangerous. And what’s more, here in Imola we will no longer have the problem of track limitsbecause finally we don’t have to think about not going out 10cm from the white line. Controlling track limits is boring for Race Direction but it’s also boring for us drivers, understanding where you are exactly when traveling at 200 km/h is not exactly easy. Here it’s very simple: this is the track, there’s grass there, and that’s gravel“
Tags: Hard tires dangerous cold
