Lime Rock CTSC Weekend Notebook

***Multimatic Motorsports has built up a brand new Ford Shelby GT350R-C chassis and tub in only a week, following Scott Maxwell’s heavy accident at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. A new tub had been in the works, while any and all usable parts from the previous No. 15 car have been carried over to the new one. However, qualifying didn’t go according to plan, with an electrical issue preventing the car from setting a time.

***Freedom Autosport enters its No. 25 Mazda MX-5 again, as it has at Mazda Raceway and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Devin Jones switches from the No. 34 Alara entry for his third start of the year, while Britt Casey Jr. will make his second start of 2015 alongside him.

***Tom Long, who co-drove with Liam Dwyer to win at Lime Rock last year, will serve as Freedom Autosport’s chief race strategist this weekend. Tasks include radio communication, setup decisions and calling race strategies.

***Austin Cindric will pull off a unique double duty race sequence this weekend. Cindric qualified fourth, and will start the No. 158 Ford for Saturday’s race, then immediately after his stint, he’ll head to the airport and fly to Detroit for this weekend’s Red Bull Global Rallycross races. Cindric competes full-time in the GRC Lites season, and was due to miss the Saturday Detroit race had the Continental Tire race time for GS cars not been moved forward.

***Nic Hammann, who makes his series debut this weekend from fifth on the grid after an impressive qualifying effort, told Sportscar365 he is planning to finish the season with Steve Doherty in the No. 41 Doran Racing Nissan 370Z. The No. 41 car has had a rotating driver lineup this year, with Hammann joining Doherty, Nick McMillen and Bryan Heitkotter as drivers of the No. 41 car throughout 2015.

***Stephen Simpson joins Zack Meyer in the No. 37 MINI JCW for LAP Motorsports this week, replacing Dan Clarke. It’s Simpson’s first trip to the circuit. The rebuild on the team’s No. 52 car continues, and the car is again absent this weekend but still figures to return later this year.

***Dylan Murcott has his third different co-driver in as many races in the No. 18 Rennsport One Porsche Cayman, with Lee Carpentier following from Gary Browne (CTMP) and Adam Isman (Watkins Glen).

***In another late driver change, Racers Edge Motorsports’ No. 78 Ford Mustang Boss 302R now features Nick Galante alongside Chris Beaufait. Galante was due to race the team’s second car, which was withdrawn from the race. He replaces James Vance.

***CJ Wilson Racing’s No. 33 Porsche 911, which was originally slated to race at Lime Rock, is not on the entry list. It’s understood the car will be appearing in one or more further races though in the remainder of the season.

***Quirks of qualifying: the ST class polesitting No. 5 CJWR Mazda MX-5 set the ninth overall fastest time while the slowest GS car, the aforementioned No. 78 Racers Edge Ford, was 36th overall and behind 25 of the 28 ST class cars. With a split GS/ST start and a gap in-between the two classes, the No. 78 car moves up to 12th overall while the No. 5 car moves back to 13th overall.

***The layouts for the two races at Lime Rock Park are slightly different (above). The TUDOR Championship uses the 1.474-mile, seven-turn road course with the chicane at the bottom of the hill for Turn 5, while the Continental Tire Challenge uses the “classic” 1.53-mile course, with no chicane.

***Simpson and Spencer Pumpelly are the two drivers running in both the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge races at Lime Rock Park.

***Saturday’s sixth round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge season from Lime Rock Park will be live streamed on IMSA.com at 10 a.m. ET.