Schmid: Tire Understanding “Key Point” to Improved Lexus Form

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI

Clemens Schmid identified the work Akkodis ASP Team has carried out to improve its understanding of the Goodyear tires as key to the team’s leap forward in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 class, describing it as “an amazing job” after the team qualified in the top three for the second race in a row.

The Austrian was bested only by polesitter Valentino Rossi during Saturday’s Hyperpole session at Imola, while the second Lexus RC F GT3 in the hands of Finn Gehrsitz qualified fifth.

It marked the second consecutive time that both cars pushed through into Hyperpole, with Gehrsitz capturing third in qualifying for the Qatar 1812km in February.

As a result, the Jerome Policand-led squad has already improved upon its qualifying record from last season.

The four combined Hyperpole appearances from the opening two rounds of this season serve as an improvement over the three it made across all of last year.

Speaking after qualifying, Schmid identified the team’s work on making the Lexus more compatible with the Goodyear tires as a key reason for its improved form.

“Obviously last year the team struggled quite a lot with the car and the tires,” Schmid said.

“They did an amazing job over the winter to find a lot of pace. We are now going two seconds faster than we did here last year. It’s really nice to start on the front row.

“I think with all the testing they did last year after the season, they found how we can keep the tires alive.

“That’s, I think, the key point. Last year we were always overheating the tires and now we keep them in the window.”

Schmid further explained that the Lexus had a tendency to quickly burn through its tires last year, leaving it struggling badly in both qualifying as well as during longer runnings.

However, the Austrian expressed confidence that the team had managed to cure its ailments with its work during the winter, leaving him with a “really positive” feeling.

“The way how we are getting the car working with the tires is a lot better,” he said.

“And also we have less tire degradation. Last year, obviously I wasn’t driving here in Imola, but the other races I did, in qualifying we had most of the time one lap and then the tire was gone.

“Now we can do a few more laps with the consistent pace because for the long run we get the car in the right window.

“I think it was a tough time last year learning but now they did a good job.

“At the moment it looks like, always when we were running really high mileage, that we still keep the tire in some sort of a window.

“We did a test two weeks ago in Spa, we were trying to run the tire on the extreme limit of the mileage and even, it looked like we had found something. So I’m really positive for the race.”

Schmid ultimately fell just over three-tenths of a second behind Rossi’s No. 46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVO in qualifying, identifying the Variante Alta chicane as one of the areas where the BMW likely performed better.

“Each car has some positive and some weak points,” he said.

“In Qatar, for example, the last sector with the high-speed corners was not our brilliant sector.

“There, for example, the McLaren or the Ferrari were way better. So it’s a give and take. One car can do something better than the other.

“I think we are quite strong in the first sector, but for example, Variante Alta, the chicane with the high curbs, we are struggling a lot with traction, so we need to drive a little bit around it.

“We can’t attack it like for example the BMW. I think it’s a give and take.”