Griffin Eyes BOP Changes For Sebring

GTD Ferrari racer Matt Griffin believes IMSA still has work to do after the opening round of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, where the issue of performance balancing was on everybody’s lips.  Speaking ahead of testing at Sebring for the 12 Hour with the Spirit of Race team, Irishman Griffin warned that the speed advantage held by the GTD-spec cars over the more bespoke GTLM (GTE) cars down the straights, compared with the rest of the lap, could cause accidents.

“It was one of the fastest things in a straight line of all the classes, quicker than the LMP2s even, but the car has less grip, so it was quite hard to drive,” Griffin told The Motorsport Journal. “It’s difficult for championships to balance all the classes properly because they look at it based on lap-times, and obviously the GTD cars have very little downforce, so on an overall lap it’s not that quick but down the straights they’re absolutely ballistic. 

Griffin is concerned by the GTD Ferrari's top speeds relative to
their handling performance. (Credit: Trevor Horn/ Motorsport.com)

“I think they do need to do something because it makes things hard for all the drivers; at Daytona, a GTE car would pass you in Turn 5 before the banking, and then you’d drive straight pass them down the straight again.  It puts you in a situation where contact is likely to occur, because in a GTE car it’s very easy to get frustrated.  It’ll be very interesting to see how the changes take effect at Sebring.”

The reigning European Le Mans Series GTE champion, Griffin is set to combine his United SportsCar campaign in America with an assault on the GTE-Pro category in the WEC and Le Mans 24 Hours with British squad RAM Racing, an interview which will be available later this week on The Motorsport Journal.  Having driven the 458 in both GTE and GTD spec, as well as the GT3 variant in the domestic British GT championship and in the recent Bathurst 12 Hour enduro, Griffin is well-placed to describe their differences, which are more considerable than meets the eye.

“The biggest difference between the GTE and the GTD I’d say is the GTE is much more of a racing car, so it has a lot less road car parts on it. Technically it’s at a different level due to some of the electronics you have on the car, the way the car is set up, but because of the Balance of Performance they have less horsepower than the GTD car. Also, the GTE car doesn’t have ABS whereas the GTD car does.

“The only similarity really is they both have Ferrari badges on them; the cars really are different.  I think most drivers will tell you it’s more gratifying to drive the GTE car.”

Make sure to check back with The Motorsport Journal later this week, as Matt Griffin discusses his ELMS championship, Bathurst disappointment and the pressures of competing in the Pro category.