WEC / USC – Double challenge for Brown and ESM in Austin

Ed Brown and Extreme Speed ​​Motorsports will take on quite a challenge this weekend in Austin (Texas) by participating in the Lone Star Le Mans, penultimate event for USC, before making their debut in WEC with the 6 Hours of the Circuit of the Americas contested on Saturday evening. The CEO of Tequila Patron will compete with Johannes van Overbeek in the American race, while he will join Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel for the World Championship event. The Florida team carried out a test session last week on the Texan track in order to get used to the changes made to the HPD ARX-03b which will benefit from a lighter engine. On the menu of modifications, a narrower flange, corrected aerodynamics and a revised electronic package in order to comply with the ACO regulations.

If these elements deteriorate the performance of the LMP2, the transition from Continental to Dunlop rubber completely reverses the situation. “The Dunlops were fantastic,” comments Ed Brown who occupies sixth place in the USC rankings. “Even trying too hard, we gained two seconds a lap. Ryan (Dalziel) did a few laps on both types of tires and was immediately faster on the Dunlops. The car is essentially the same when braking, but you can attack the inside of the turns much more. The passing speed achieved with the Dunlops is incredible. Our car is made for this type of rubber. It wasn't easy at first because we tend to overdrive. »

Ed Brown is aware that the challenge he is about to take on is far from being an easy task since the benchmarks will be completely different from one event to another due to the different regulations between the two Championships. “It’s going to be a tough weekend. I train to be physically ready. The hardest part will be remembering which car I am in because the performance of the prototypes will be different. I will have to study the weekend program carefully. I will spend enough time testing each car to know what their limitations are. »