NICK YELLOLY
Such has been the explosion of GT3 racing across the globe that it can be tough to work out the little intricacies across the various series. But BMW factory driver Nick Yelloly, who will campaign the new M4 GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe this season and has contested the early-season IMSA blue-ribands with the Rahal Letterman squad, is well-placed to explain.
And it’s tyres that are the obvious starting point.
“For this year Pirelli [supplier to GTWCE] have upped their game,” says Yelloly. “Last year it was pretty peaky – it was a similar lap time to the Michelin [used in IMSA and the DTM] on one lap, but degraded. I’ve only done the Paul Ricard test on the new Pirelli, but it seems that its peak is on a par with the Michelin for one lap, if not better, and degradation-wise we’ve found we can manage it much more like a Michelin. I think they’ve done it to keep up with the DTM.
“Also you have to take into account Balance of Performance. It’s different from SRO [which runs
GTWCE] to IMSA to DTM. All championships have different power outputs depending on who’s doing well. You could have 10 or 20 millibars of boost here and there, or a bit of weight added.”
As such, car development is aimed more at providing a car that’s comfortable to drive consistently. “The main thing is to get it correct for the gentleman drivers,” points out Yelloly. “The M6 [which the M4 replaces this year] was difficult to drive even as a pro, but an Am can drive the M4 consistently and well.”
Yelloly has also had racewinning success in Germany’s
ADAC GT Masters, which uses the same Pirelli as GTWCE: “I really enjoy that series – it’s tough, hard racing. People forget that so many drivers who could or should have made it to F1 are in GT. The level is just unbelievable.”
“People forget that so many drivers who could or should have made it to F1 are in GT”