A very busy weekend has just passed but also full of adrenaline for 3DRap. The Squadra Corse team was involved in a double endurance event: the 12 Hours of Sebring on iRacing and the third race of the WEL (World Endurance Lan) championship on Assetto Corsa, organized by LICS (Lega Italiana Centri di Simulazione), on the same circuit in Florida.
The thousand miles of Sebring, with 268 laps, a duration of 8 hours and bonus points for the winner, put the Squadra Corse team of 3DRap to the test.
The Yellow Team
For the Yellow Team, on the Porsche 911 GT3, Gianluca Rotello and Massimiliano Giachino took turns on the track, the duo protagonist of the first WEL race on the Monza circuit in December. The Yellow team, despite some mistakes, finished in fourth place, but remains first in the general classification.
The Red Team
Series of problems also for the Red Team, which takes sixth place on the tricky American circuit. The team consisted of Roberto Martorana, Lorenzo Dal Rio and Giuseppe Muià. Just the driver Muià, very fast and known in e-sport, was at his first live race in the 3DRap headquarters. Here he said that he had so much fun in his first group experience, having competed, up to now, only and exclusively from his home location.
Therefore, neither of the two teams managed to get on the podium at Sebring, but the cars once again withstood an endurance race: the peripherals, the set up, the outfitting, all signed by 3DRap. And all perfectly put together by mechanics and technicians who did an excellent job during the pre-race week.
The behind the scenes
“Behind the scenes – says Beniamino Izzo, project manager of 3DRap – is a fundamental job. In particular, those involved in set-up, maintenance and assembly have great responsibility for the quality of performance on the track. The valid technicians Antonio Palmese and Marco Dello Russo carry out an important and precious job, because they regulate the peripherals and adapt them to the driving style of the pilot, to improve his involvement. To make him feel at one with the car. Just like the mechanical engineer Davide Cervone and the electronic engineer Guglielmo Galluccio, the developer of the Dashboard VIRi”.
The social dimension of the event
The WEL championship is the only one that takes place exclusively in sim racing centres, and is also an important social container and moment for sharing. In the 3DRap headquarters, once again, many guests. Among these, Aristotelis Vasilakos, developer of Kunos Simulazioni, who creates Assetto Corsa and Assetto Corsa Competizione, the best-selling simulator in the world.
“Aristotelis is the heart of the driving simulator because it makes it realistic – specify the 3DRap engineers -. Luca Sodano, also a developer of Kunos, came to visit us with him, in particular he is in charge of the sound, a component with a fundamental role for involvement and realism, possible only thanks to high audio quality”. The two guests spent about two hours live with the official commentators of the event. And two hours of interviews with two technicians like them don’t happen often! Many questions from the public to which they answered and so much fun that was created around the event which, also thanks to its social dimension, was a great success with the public.
Our guests
Two other great and welcome guests of the weekend were Francesco Svelto, journalist and manager of the eSports section of Auto.it, enthusiastic about living a new racing experience together with the team. And the driver Sara Fruncillo from Forino (AV) who said after the race: “I felt like I was living the stages of a real race. I’d like to participate in the next events, perhaps as a protagonist, as a driver”.
In short, engineers, pilots, technicians, influencers, all agree: these initiatives must be encouraged and enriched with events. In fact, the championships organized by the simulation centers allow you to participate in the centers and not from home, and this makes the driver feel part of a team, allowing him to experience the sensations and emotions of a real race with negligible costs compared to those of the real motorsport.
A unique experience for everyone
“The endurance races at the venue – Izzo continues – lead to the sharing of all the moments: from breakfast to practice, from lunch to qualifying, from the briefing to the race. Joys and difficult moments. The concentration and tension at the beginning of the race vanish when we start discussing simulators or something else. The last stages of the race become more and more exciting. And then, beyond the result, we celebrate! During the night the comments continue, with photos and videos on social networks. An extraordinary weekend!”.
The comment, upon awakening, by Aristotelis Vasilakos: “Human warmth, competence, professionalism. Thank you all, I hope there will be other opportunities to collaborate. You are strong and you are exquisite people. It’s too nice to be with you!”
The post-race comment from the Squadra Corse 3DRap team: “Weekend started uphill due to several problems at the GT position used by the “Red” crew, who despite everything saw them qualified 1 tenth from their “Yellow” teammates, who snatched the third place. After an excellent first stint by Giuseppe Muià (Red) and Gianluca Rotello (Yellow), the problems on the red got worse, which made it even more difficult to tame the car for the following hours of racing. The yellow crew found themselves involved in an accident which forced them to return to the pits after only 10 laps of stints. Position slips didn’t knock down the crews, who worked hard to recover as much as possible, closing the 268 laps of the race in 4th and 6th position. Things didn’t go very well even for the team’s Ferrari 488 which faced the 12h on iracing, victim of 3 accidents caused by the lapping of the Dallara P2 which saw them involved.
The crew, made up of Federico Elli and Daniel Zanon, was joined by the team’s new entries, Matteo Stromieri and Roberto Monticciolo, who gave their all, always correct on track and with the right mentality, allowing them to finish the race in P12. A weekend that didn’t bring the results we expected but that we see with great positivity. We understood what to work on and we will return to Spa even more aggressive”.
The pilots promised it. We’ll see you in May at Spa, in Belgium, ready to face a new race, on a new circuit, but with the usual grit and strength.
See also the result of the previous competition.
