After taking a maiden win last time out in St Petersburg, Tafel Racing will look to make it two wins in as many street races as the American Le Mans Series heads to Long Beach this weekend for the latest round of the year.
Dominik Farnbacher and Dirk Muller took the team's maiden ALMS victory in St Petersburg to move to the head of the GT2 standings and will hope to repeat that feat in the #71
Ferrari 430 at an event that it set to draw in the crowds as the final race weekend for the Champ Car World Series.
Although a street circuit like St Petersburg, this weekends race will thrown up its own challenges being both narrow and bumpy and also being made up completely of public roads which means that the track will be very ‘green' at the start of the weekend.
"There are a lot of people that think the setup for Long Beach will be the same as St Petersburg,” technical director Tony Dowe said. “Other than being by large bodies of water and temporary courses they are quite different, so the setup will demand some subtle, but very different, changes.
“Long Beach has a very bumpy and quite different surface to St. Pete, with all of the problems that will bring to setups. The ambient [temperature] at Long Beach is usually quite a bit cooler than St. Pete so the tire choice will also bring some different options; as will the length of the race. The decision on what to do with tyres during the race will vary quite a lot as it will depend when, not if, there is a yellow caution period. The race being 15 minutes shorter than at St. Pete will place a premium on good driver changes during the stop."
Former WTCC racer Muller is one of the stars of street circuits and said he felt that the team can have another good weekend this time around as it seeks to drive home its points advantage.
"I won't tell until I retire,” he said when asked what his secret is. “I just think that you have to be used to it and that you need to have the confidence. I got both racing a lot with the world touring cars on street tracks. Also, with knowing the Ferrari so well I can just do my job.
