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American Le Mans Series

Tafel Racing looking forward to Mid-Ohio

By Team Update ⋅ July 16, 2008 ⋅ E-mail this post ⋅ Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

Competition in the American Le Mans Series is always wide-open. Now, even at the season midpoint, everything in the GT2 class is still wide-open. Who can win on any given track? Which will be most dominant, Ferrari or Porsche? Who will prevail at the end of the season? None of these things has a forgone conclusion.

While Saturday’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge officially marks the second-half of the season, Tafel Racing attacks each weekend with the same intense focus on victory that it opened the year with in March. With two victories already this season, the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Racing Ferrari F430 GTC driven by Dominik Farnbacher (Ansbach, Germany) and Dirk Müller (a native of Germany living in Monaco) is looking to add to its podium string in the two hour and 45-minute feature on July 19. With two races now under their belts as teammate, Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Alex Figge (Denver) are looking to the familiar confines of the Ohio track to take the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari F430 GTC onto its first podium of the season. Lexington’s Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course provides an ideal setting for a wide-open assault for both cars.

After last weekend’s grueling battle of survival on the narrow confines of Lime Rock (Conn.) Park, Tafel Racing is looking forward to the wide-open spaces of the American Midwest. At 2.25-miles long, the 13-turn Mid-Ohio facility is three-quarters of a mile longer than the tight Lime Rock course. The difference in length, run-off room and wider track surface is like walking from a cave to a pasture for drivers trying to race in 400+ horsepower machines in four distinctly different classes. Unlike last weekend’s fifth round of the 11 race season, Mid-Ohio gives drivers room to challenge for position while making way for the quicker Le Mans Prototypes (LMP) within the multi- class race.

Last weekend’s race left few teams in the Series without some level of repair to be made before heading to Mid-Ohio. For Tafel Racing, Technical Director Tony Dowe (Cumming, Ga.) decided that the damage to the No. 71 Tafel/Bell Micro Ferrari was too great and the work to critical to be done ‘in the field’. The team opted to return to its Cumming, Ga. headquarters to mend the bodywork just behind the driver-side door. The body of the beautiful No. 73 Ferrari had already been spoiled with a hard impact into the tire barrier during Lime Rock’s second practice session. The David Fullerton-led No. 73 crew worked diligently and returned the ride to Figge and Tafel by race morning warm-up. Although suffering additional battle scars during the event, the No. 73 Tafel Racing Ferrari requires only cosmetic repairs prior to traveling to Ohio.

The Mid-Ohio Sports Car Challenge marks NBC Sports’ first American Le Mans Series broadcast of the season. A tape-delayed airing of the event can be seen on your local NBC affiliate on Sunday, July 20 from Noon until 2:30 pm (ET). Live timing and scoring of each on-track session and the American Le Mans Series Radio Web broadcast can be found at www.AmericanLeMans.com.

Quotes
Tony Dowe, Technical Director:
About the challenges of back-to-back weekends: “We have a plan for the year and I think it’s good enough to allow some flexibility when things don’t go quite the right way and solid enough to allow us to press very hard when things do go our way. Repairing the damage that even a car that finishes the race has is a major challenge with back- to-back weekends. Our number 71 car has had to be brought back to Cumming and is undergoing a big repair in order for it to be ready to race again correctly.”
About Mid-Ohio: “This race is at one of the best circuits for overtaking. Our testing highlighted that this circuit has many faces, from being very greasy and lacking in grip, to being very good in grip levels. It’s always changing and is particularly affected by the sun and heat.”

Dominik Farnbacher, Driver, No. 71:
About this weekend: “I am very motivated for Mid- Ohio. Lime Rock showed us again we can win the race but we had bad luck there. Our car proved outstandingly strong in the race. So we will try to get it to work as well at Mid-Ohio.”
About the Mid-Ohio circuit: “I only drove last year at Mid-Ohio but I was very comfortable with the track. My favorite part is the 180 [degree turn] before you go on the long backstraight. It is a very challenging corner; quicker than you expect.”
About the GT2 competition this season: “It is very good competition this year. ALMS and GT2 gets stronger and stronger every year. I think The GT2 class is the one with the most competition. I want to win the championship with Dirk. It doesn’t matter how and who is driving against us. ”

Dirk Müller, Driver, No. 71:
About the Mid-Ohio circuit: “Mid-Ohio is a great place. Everything needs to be perfect to get a good lap time there. You as a driver in combination with the setup of the car have to be right. I have no favorite part of the track because the whole track, as a combination, is the highlight for me. I very much like the track and I am looking forward to the weekend.”
About the GT2 competition this season: “This kind of competition is what I had five years in a row in the touring WM championship. Obviously, I like that very much and I am proud about our competiveness at Tafel Racing.”

Discussion

4 comments for “Tafel Racing looking forward to Mid-Ohio”

The #71 car is getting all the good parts, mechanics and strategy calls. Of course when you have Dirk Muller driving it you got to.

Except for Dirk Muller every other driver on this team is a wealthy playboy. Jim Tafel owns the team and his dad is a successful race horse owner ($$$).

Dominik Farnbacher is of course the son of Horst Farnbacher of Farnbacher Loles fame. It’s the same operation as the Farnbacher team in the european LMS. They run the F430GT there though.

Alex Figge’s dad Tom, used to own Pacific coast motorsports, they ran a C5R in GT1 in 2005 and in 06 and 07 ran 2 cars in Champ Car. They run one car in Indy now.

Dirk Muller just happens to be one of Ferrari’s top GT aces in the same rank as Mika and Jaime. 2007 FIA GT champ. (though the top ALMS teams are better funded).

When you combine all those facts, there are possibly some huge egos on this team.

Posted by Bamba | July 17, 2008, 2:03
What?

Dom has been very quick and was quick at Le Mans years ago, he kept pace with Risi and took advantage when they ran into problems last year.

Alex was cutting some good lap times at Lime Rock and as he becomes more comfortable he’ll be fine, he should be racing sports cars, he was decent in Atlantics and middle-packer in CART/OWR.

You make it sound like the #71 has fallen into victories. NO they have EARNED every one of them and done well.

Jim Tafel has put together a solid team, they just needed some luck which they didn’t have last season.

The championship battle will go down to Laguna Seca…

Posted by Anthony | July 17, 2008, 7:06
Of course Dom is quick that’s why they concentrate their efforts on the 71 car. To be truthful The 73 is only there for strategic reasons. They’re really not there for any points or gains.

Tafel was looking for a pay driver to fill the seat in that car. After their first 2 wins it made that seat even more desirable ($$$). If you had the right amount I think Jim Tafel would step out for you.

Alex i think is on a gentleman driver program. They can get higher caliber drivers if they really wanted to go all out with the second car. Ferrari wouldn’t mind having another good bullet in the gun, especially in the US (their biggest market).

Posted by Bamba | July 19, 2008, 1:51
Some interesting misinformation being banded about. Tafel was a non-competitive Porsche team last year–they were never close to the Lizards and switched to Ferrari because they saw Risi win 8 out of 12 races last year. In essence, they moved into the spot vacated by Petersen/White Lightening (who ran Ferraris in 2007 but campaigned Porsches the year before and switched because they saw Risi win the Championship in 2006 with a 430GT). Petersen/White Lightening moved out of ALMS racing this year completely–it would not be inappropriate to say that Enge had more than a little to do with this decision, as he was disciplined and ultimately fired for hitting cars intentionally at Lime Rock and Mid-Oh (one of the cars he hit was a Tafel Porsche). Strategically, Tafel have some un-acknowledged incidents. At Lime Rock, they lost the podium because of a missed strategic call, so saying they’ve got it all going for them is a bit hyperbolic. The team’s biggest advantage outside of Muller is mechanic Peter Kaczmar, who came over from Risi (and two years experience with the 430GT). That got them up to speed in a hurry. Farnbacher is a professional driver, not a wealthy plaboy. He gets a check to race and it’s probably a good-sized one. Bamba’s comment that the No. 73 car is only there for “strategic” reasons and then saying it’s not there for “points or gains” is inaccurate and illogical; the only strategic reason for having two cars is to gain additional points should the lead car falter. The fact that the No. 2 car is a “gentleman’s driver car” is immaterial–the car accrues the same points whether it’s driven by gentlemen OR professionals. Tafel are very good competitively but will have their hands full dealing with a revitalized Risi team, which won Le Mans by a 7 lap lead this year, and is on the Pole at Mid-Oh, and the very powerful Flying Lizard team, which has enjoyed Porsche’s newfound interest in GT2 racing (i.e. more powerful engines, new gearbox, new aerodynamics, more Porsche racing engineers at the track, lowed engine architecture, etc.). As far as “DOM keeping pace with Risi at Le Mans last year”, that is totally erroneous. When Risi went out after an on-course incident, Melo was three laps in front of everyone else in GT2. So what pace was Dom keeping up with? Certainly not Risi’s. The new girl at the dance always gets all the attention, but only a fool would discount the most successful private Ferrari team in the world (Risi Competizione) at this point in time.Podiums at Sebring 2007, 2008, and Le Mans 2007, 2008, and wins at Sebring (2007) and Le Mans (2008), as well as back to back ALMS GT2 Championhips.All of these GT2 teams are extremely good and all deserve respect, ALMS GT2 racing is far more competitive than the FIA’s GT program and is conducted on tracks that are vastly more difficult. But let’s not diss the old guys quite so much…as Tafel found out at Lime Rock–and Porsche after qualifying–Risi is relentless. Risi may not be mathematically in the hunt but they can determine the outcome. They will not step aside.

Posted by Donzo | July 19, 2008, 18:40