Preview: 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio
Just a stone’s throw away from Clear Fork Reservoir, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is located in the middle of the green landscape of Ohio, halfway between the metropole regions of Cleveland and Columbus.
Through 13 – at times quite narrow – turns, the track is 2.26 miles (3,62 km) long and offers very few passing opportunities like turn one, turn two or the straight leading up to turn four.
“IVRA is pretty brave. Running GT and LMP2 cars on a track like this, simultaneously. That is not going to be easy. Especially considering the size of the LMP2 grid. We spoke about this in the team and are concerned about this. There were 28 LMP2 cars on the grid last time and only 26 GT cars. On a short circuit like this, that makes racing in the GT field extremely difficult, because basically you get LMP2 traffic from behind the entire time.”, explained No. 385 Porsche driver Nathan Manning.
Manning and the No. 385 Porsche team hope to stop the downward trend of recent. In three races so far this season, the team was punted by LMP2 cars three times.
“I think we deserve a little luck.”, Manning laughed.
Changing the team’s fortune could be potential “lucky charm” Jason Allen. The 47-year old Las Vegas native will replace Benjamin Fischer going forward and join Manning as team-mate in the No. 385 Porsche in GT AM. For Allen, it will be the first ever career start in the IVRA Endurance Series.
“I am excited about this opportunity. We practiced a lot, did a lot of setup work. I think we’re still a little short on pace. But overall I think we should be fine. I am just focused on avoiding mistakes and then see where we finish.”, Allen explained his goal for the race.
The sister car No. 284 Porsche with drivers Manuel Mayer and Pascal Theis turned a large number of laps in third free practice on Friday, as the team battled handling issues.
“It’s a difficult situation. The track is not our best. We have tried virtually everything, but at the exit of some corners, we still struggle with snap oversteer. The balance is not as good as we had hoped. Unfortunately it looks like we’re down on pace more than usual. Hopefully we can make up some of that through consistency and strategy in the race.”, said Manuel Mayer.
In the championship, both cars are far behind in each of their class, after a rather disappointing and at times unlucky first half to the season so far. The No. 284 Porsche team sits in P10, 141 points out of the lead in GT PRO. The No. 385 Porsche team meanwhile maintains eighth place in GT AM, 101 points back.
“Sure, the championship battle is basically over for us; we know that. We have simply lost too much ground in the first half of the season. But we’ll give everything we have. We are always looking from race to race.”, team owner Benjamin Fischer said.
The 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio will be broadcast live by RacespotTV, starting 15:50 CET / 9:50 am EST. Race start is scheduled for 17:00 CET / 11 am EST.