- BMW’s Conor De Phillippi—only one of three American drivers in the GTP ranks—has another opportunity to raise his profile in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen.
- The No. 25 BMW that De Phillippi shares with Nick Yellolo, who also works as a test driver for F1’s Aston Martin team, scored the runner-up finishes at Sebring and Long Beach.
- Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the RLL team, is long enough in experience to be conservative about any race predictions.
Prior to stepping up to IMSA’s vaunted new GTP class with BMW, Connor De Phillippi has scored wins in every series where he has competed as well as major race victories and an ADAC Masters GT Championship in Germany.
His success includes being the youngest winner of the Walter Hayes Trophy in a Formula Ford, an overall victory in the 24-hour at the Nurburgring and a GT class victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
Heading into Sunday’s six-hour WeatherTech Championship race at Watkins Glen International, De Phillippi—only one of three American drivers in the GTP ranks—has another opportunity to raise his profile. The race represents a good-case scenario for one of BMW’s new M Hybrid V8s to break into victory lane. After two runner-up finishes in four starts, BMW remains the only one of four GTP manufacturers yet to finish on the top step of the podium.
BMW’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan team participated in a two-day test on the upstate New York track in late May along with Acura’s two GTP teams and the Porsche Penske Motorsports squad. Times were not available, but De Phillippi said the BMW was on the pace. The high speeds and elevations changes are major factors at the classic circuit, which De Phillippi and his team believe will play to the BMW’s strong suits.
“I don’t know if anybody is going to have an advantage,” he said. “Our car seems to do better where the track is fast and more flowing. We have learned a few things at the test as well to extract more of our car’s natural tendencies. I’m hoping that holds true when all the others get on the track.”
The No. 25 BMW that De Phillippi shares with Nick Yellolo, who also works as a test driver for F1’s Aston Martin team, scored the runner-up finishes at Sebring and Long Beach. That may have surprised some since the BMWs have flown under the radar due to lower expectations after relatively less testing prior to the start of the WeatherTech Championship season. Two days of testing on the same track where they will compete for Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen were a big step forward, said De Phillippi.
Philipp Eng, who shares the No. 24 BMW entry with Augusto Farfus, was also happy with the test. “We’re on a very good path,” said Eng. “The car felt great and driving the BMW M Hybrid V8 on this track is incredibly enjoyable.” In addition to the Glen test, the factory and its engineers have been running a test program with a M Hybrid V8 in Europe in preparation for next year’s World Endurance Championship and Le Mans entry, which has helped accelerate data gathering.
Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the RLL team, is long enough in experience to be conservative about any race predictions. Having competed in his first Formula 1 race at the Glen as well as numerous sports car events since 1978 on the 3.4-mile circuit, Rahal knows how unforgiving the speeds can be on the upstate New York track. But one can glean he feels good about his team and BMW being in the competitive mix. “This year, with the GTP cars, it should be a very exciting weekend for the fans at Watkins Glen.”
Porsche Penske Motorsports leads the IMSA GTP field after four races.
De Phillippi points out that average lap times in five-lap segments confirm the RLL team’s pace has not been lacking. It’s double-opening front end that suggest the classic BMW street car design may be a turn-off for some, but it’s not the only GTP car with a big opening across the front.
The team, said De Phillippi, has been racing better than it has qualified. “Qualifying and that peak speed for one lap, we haven’t really understood or been able to execute that,” he said. “That’s been one of the weaknesses of ours. When you get to the race, we’ve actually been very close or on top (with lap times). Long Beach was a good example of that. I was able to run second in the opening stint. We had the best race averages over the stints at Long Beach. We were able to stay with the No. 31 Cadillac and the Acuras. That was promising. We didn’t get the result in the end as a result of tire strategy. We exposed ourselves on tire degradation, but we learned from that.”
The test at the Glen helped BMW catch up with the GTP teams that have cars competing in the WEC, which raced on the high-speed Spa circuit and its elevation changes in April. It was also an opportunity to work with Michelin’s new medium compound tire. The Glen is not known for as much degradation, another plus for the BMW as the RLL team and the factory engineers pursue their learning curve with the M Hybrid V8.
“Other teams have a reference point for this type of high-speed track,” said De Phillippi. “We don’t have a reference point for that because we’ve just been a GTP team. It was a really important test. We were happy with the car’s balance. The Acura teams were there as well. That gave us a little bit of a reference point. We were happy to be within range.”
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