Last week Tyler made his début test behind the wheel of a LMP2 Lemans Prototype.  It was a week of firsts for the Canadian driver, a new team, new car, and a new circuit.  Despite all this Tyler impressed the team, with his speed and technical feedback.

 

On the 23rd of February the team arrived in Castelloli Spain a new track near Barcelona.  Tyler learned the track on a familiar piece of equipment, the Formula Renault 2.0.  “The circuit is interesting, resembling the major altitude changes of Infineon Raceway in California.  The first corner you must be very efficient on the throttle because you have to climb a steep hill.  Lots of mid speed corners a few hairpins, and a few high-speed corners make it a good test track.  After a few sessions I think I had the layout pretty figured out.”

Day 2 was the day Tyler had waited for, his first experience in the 530hp Radical SR9 LMP2. Tyler was to test different tire pressure settings during the day. Shortly through the second session however, a gearbox gremlin reared its head. "I noticed a slight problem in the first session while under lateral G force the car had difficulty shifting up. Roberto asked me to then short-shift for the time being. In the second run we decided to test the problem and sure enough by lap 3 the gearbox would no longer upshift." The problem was a sensor, which was fixed one hour later. Back on the track the Canadian did what he does best; drive. Setting a time 1 second faster than the other drivers, pretty impressive with just 8 laps under his belt.

The final day the team got down to some serious testing. Up on Roberto's agenda suspension component trials, followed by more aerodynamic analysis. A new bump stop was fitted to the car to try to keep the car from bottoming out on a bumpy section of track. "I enjoy this part of the job, being a bit of a grease monkey myself. Working on setting up the car is something I really love. Making improvements to such a technically advanced machine is exciting."

Tyler is now on the road to famous circuit Paul Ricard, for the official Lemans Series test. Next week he will be in the Formula 3 car for winter testing. Tyler is looking to make a lasting impact on Ferrari Driving Academy. The Racing titan will be watching the Formula 3 Italian series for their next generation of Formula 1 talent. Stay tuned for more on this next week.