Continental Tire IMSA Spotlight: Marc Goossens

IMSA Spotlight: Marc Goossens
Driver, No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP
Follow: @MarcTheGoose

Given the challenging start to the weekend, were you satisfied with the second place result in Monterey?

“We didn’t have the greatest weekend at Laguna Seca because we struggled throughout all the practice sessions to find overall grip. Then Ryan (Dalziel) had to start the race from pit lane and serve a drive through penalty for being too late to the grid.

“During the race, the car was the best we had it all weekend but still not good enough. Ryan drove a strong stint and our team did great, both in strategy and pit work.

“When others started making mistakes, at the same time, we slowly moved up to second place. I think I had the No. 31 car behind me covered towards the end of the race but we lost so much grip that I was hanging on to keep the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette DP on the track.

“We are extremely happy to come away from Monterey with second place.”

Does the Monterey result give you a boost to your championship hopes?

“For sure! But we need to stay focused now and work hard to make the car better, so that we can keep scoring valuable points for the championship.”

How has it been returning to prototype racing, after a number of years focusing on GT?

“Other than the electronics and the tires, not much has changed. And the evolution of electronics was part of the GT program I was in too.

“But it is a complete new package for everyone. The team, the car, the tires, … we are still learning and finding the best way to communicate to extract the best out of our package.”

What are your thoughts on the 2017 Prototype class, with the arrival of DPis?

“It will certainly be refreshing and the new rules will kind of have everyone start from scratch.

“Let’s wait and see what is available and who comes with which package. Hopefully it attracts more teams and drivers for the championship.”

Have you ever been to Detroit? If not, what are you doing to prepare for the race?

“This will be my first visit to Detroit. I will get all the help possible from Ryan and the team. Hopefully I can study a lot of data and footage before going out there.”

If you had to choose one track to be added to the WeatherTech Championship schedule, what would it be?

“Spa! Oh you meant U.S. track? I liked Barber when we raced there in the old DP times. And Miller Motorsports Park was good to me as well. I won there with Ryan Hunter-Reay, so maybe I would add that one.”