The promising 20 year-old West Flanders based Enzo Ide, who finished third in last year’s FIA GT3 European Championship, is this season competing in the FIA GT World Championship. For the third race of the year the McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes SLS caravan traveled on down to Navarra, in Spain where the competitors were once again faced with two races of 60 minutes. Even before the weekend Enzo Ide received some bad news, as the FIA had decided to reduce the AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia’s air intake, which would have a dramatic outcome on the result. Enzo Ide and his Italian team mate, Francesco Castellaci were unable to score any points and in pure frustration left northern Spain hoping that for the following round, in a fortnight’s time in Slovakia, the FIA would review its decision.
“A small technical explanation is definitely called for here, because there’s not much point in talking about the results “, Enzo Ide commented after the races. “We were 13th and 11th, our team mates, with amongst others the experienced Ferrari works driver Toni Vilander 11th and 9th… No further comments are required here. Neither did we make any mistakes nor experience any technical problems; basically the car had become far too slow.”
“But how can that happen? Well in fact GT3 cars compete in the World Championship, cars which technically are kept in balance. This allows for exciting racing, but this was not the case here in Navarra. The FIA, the international motorsport federation, has the right to interfere with each make, by for example limiting the air flow to the engine, as such reducing its power. On the other hand they can increase a car’s weight. Other cars then have less weight or increased power. In principle you then arrive at a balance. However in our case for the air intake we had arrived at a critical point. The Ferrari 458′s flange was already pretty small and for the Spanish race the decision was taken to limit the air intake even more. The outcome was a car with a complete lack of any power. Apparently the FIA were not aware that even such a small intervention could produce such a major effect. The Ferrari did not stand a chance and it was far from pleasant to go out and race. On top of that our car has a serious weight problem, resulting in the brakes and tyres having to take an additional pounding. If this is not amended shortly we don’t stand a chance of scoring any decent results. Great, enjoyable racing…that’s something else..”
Enzo Ide and Francesco Castellaci are presently twelfth in the World Championship. The following round takes place on 9th and 10th June in Slovakia.
Source : Enzo Ide