Nurburgring: Will Langhorne Friday notes

There was quite a bit of rain in the practice. It is the first time that I have been in the BCN Competition F3000 Car in the rain so it was a good learning experience. On the whole the car felt good in the rain and my times were mid-pack, but the balance was a bit off and I couldn't maximize the full capabilities of the car in wet. On the last lap of practice I came around the last corner and noticed the checkered flag waving as well as all the lights were red, so I immediately braked and slowed down anticipating a problem on the track. I then learned that this is how the practice sessions ends and that I made a "rookie" mistake.

For qualifying we initially went with a full wet set-up since the track was wet but drying. With this set-up we knew that the rain tires would be destroyed but we needed to sort the car out. After six or so laps, I noticed other drivers coming in to take on dry tires, so I pitted with 20 minutes left in the session and switched to dry tires. We initially went with higher tire pressure to compensate for a cold track, but unfortunately the track dried quickly and the tire pressures increased, overheating the tires and causing the car to be very loose. We pitted and the team re-adjusted the tire pressures. The balance of the car improved, although we were still fighting a low speed push and a high speed oversteer.

In the debrief with the team, I realized that I was shifting too early and giving away free speed. I also had a radio problem, which caused me to be shocked whenever my engineer keyed the mike. Fortunately, he is not too talkative!

In terms of results, this was a tough session. However, now that I have more seat time in the car, I am confident that with the set-up changes planned for tomorrow, as well as me shifting later, we will pick up many positions in the race.