DGFX Race 3 - 4 hours of Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle
For the third race of the DGFX season, we went to a slightly more unconventional track for multiclass racing. The Belle Isle track is a street track, taking place on the streets of the island in Detroit. Street track means a lot of walls around the track, often tight corners and a track surface that is not as smooth as the tracks usually are. The walls mean that any accident is often followed by more accidents, as the cars have nowhere to go and bounces back on track. The bumpy street surface is not something the LMP1 cars typically race on, as they are built for smooth tracks with very little ground clearance and aerodynamics that is dependent on that the car is close to the ground.
With all this in mind, it was with a mix of expectations, fear and respect that the two Hellracers cars took place on the grid. The main goal of the race was merely to keep the cars rolling without being involved in any major incident, and with that, we expected to get a good finish.
With some close calls along the way and some bad luck in the timing of safety cars (once again, the strategy becomes a crap-shoot since you don’t know when the next pace car will come out), we are proud of our results. The LMP1 car, this time handled by Andreas Olsson and Magnus Vallström ended up in an impressive second place. While the GTE car, with Wilhelm Wiberg and Victor Dravegård behind the wheel, with an unfortunate timing of the pace car leading to a late splash-and-dash stop, ending up in a fourth place. The third place was well within reach, but they managed their fuel better at the end of the race.
Both cars still maintain a second place in the league standings with half of the season left to race. A little more luck is needed with the pace car timing, but the pace is definitely in place. Now, we look forward to the next race, taking place at Laguna Seca in December.