I'm much slower in the open-cockpit, but faster overall considering that I'm not losing 15-20s to recover from a spin I haven't raced with people for a while, so I think that my goal today is to keep it on track and pointing the way I want to go.It definitely helps to keep a little brake on during the early and mid corner so that you can always get the back end back in order if it starts to go. You do loose some speed but it saves the car.
The open-cockpit LMP2 car is way lighter and more stable, so with less power has about equal performance and is a lot easier to drive. Though if it is just as fun... that's up for debate