So, for our second car, we're very excited to have Luca Filippi on board from Indy on. Like Takuma, Luca has shown his pace in a very competitive series in Europe. His Formula 1 dream didn't quite work out. It takes nearly as much mastering of politics as pace to make it to F1, which is difficult, but now he'll get to take advantage of an opportunity here and come over then.
Additionally, we're still in a lot of heavy discussions about a third car for Indy only, and I would say it's quite possible it will happen. It's not done, but we've done that for several years. It would almost exactly be like 2004, when we started with one car and then had three by Indianapolis, with two for the rest of the year.
Where we will have two cars from the start, as we have since 2009, is on our BMW program in the American Le Mans Series. But trying to match our success last year is gonna be tough, let's face it!
It's difficult to know where everybody is in testing, because although everybody's been running around the same time, you wonder what it really means. I don't know if we've seen the real times, and the real deal or whether teams are holding their cards close. Testing-wise, we really have to look at where we are compared to a year ago, and that's our best guide. Still, we feel there have been some improvements made to the car. Dunlop has made some gains again, which is great for us as the only real leading team on Dunlops.
And, really, that's what we have to go on. The car's better, I think the tires will be better, and that's all I know. I for sure think the Porsche's gonna be fast – it just looks fast! The Corvette will be improved, too, but it's kind of a disappointment that Risi won't be there with the Ferrari 458 at Sebring. It perhaps was the best car last year, just like Ferrari's previous car was in 2010. Ferrari puts together a tough package, but there will be other Ferraris there from the WEC.
I'm hopeful, though, because the good thing about Sebring is it's not strictly about pace. You have to get to the end. We have consistency and continuity with the drivers and the cars.
We prepared to defend our 1-2 finish here by doing another 12-hour test this year, at the end of December. Those tests are really beneficial for us, especially on the tire front. For us, you look at the past few races here and our number of mistakes has been minimal, if any. A lot of the other ones have been self-inflicted. We saw the Corvettes take each other out in the pits a couple years ago, and then last year Patrick Long hit one of the Corvettes, and it really delayed those two cars. They were obvious clear, potential race winners. Staying out of the pits and out of trouble sounds simplistic, but honestly, it's hard to do.
In any event, we have to go about staying focused on doing our job, and see how it shakes out. It's busy times for us but we're excited to get going. I look forward to checking in again soon.
-Bobby
Bobby Rahal and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing competes with Takuma Sato in the No. 15 Panasonic/Interush Dallara-Honda in the IZOD IndyCar Series and with two BMW M3s in the American Le Mans Series. To learn more about the team, go to www.rahal.com. Rahal is also on Twitter at @BobRahal.