While Luca Filippi has headed to many tracks that he is not used to, Toronto isn’t one of those street circuits as he ran the Honda Indy Toronto previously.
“Instead of having to learn everything from the beginning, I know what to expect from the car, what to expect from the circuit, and go from there,” he stated.
The familiarity has brought success for Filippi, as he was near the top of the speed charts on Friday and will start Sunday’s event from the sixth position.
Even on the familiar circuit, though, there are spots that have thrown Filippi for a curve, namely the concrete patches that at in the center of each corner on a track consisting of asphalt.
“That makes it very tricky from the driving point of view because actually you’re breaking in kind of a surface, when you turn it’s another surface again, then you get to the concrete patch in the apex, so you lose grip,” he explained. “You expect to gain more grip at the end of the exit when you don’t have the patch anymore. It’s tricky.”
Filippi added that as a result, it makes it tough on the team setting up the car as you have to balance being good on the concrete, and being good on the asphalt.
“There are also a couple of corners where you just have some asphalt, which makes it a little bit more predictable and consistent,” he continued. “Makes it difficult for us driving and for the engineers to make a perfect set-up.”
