Watkins Glen Saturday Notebook

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

***Loris Spinelli in the No. 78 Forte Racing by US RaceTronics Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 ended up as the quickest car overall (pictured above) in a weather and accident-affected qualifying session for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, that saw the LMP2 and LMP3 sessions end under red flag due to a three-car accident and the GTP session called due to track conditions from rain.

***GTP, LMP2 and LMP3 cars will start according to team points, with the GTD and GTD Pro fields set by qualifying laps.

***Both Nick Tandy and Steven Thomas, who will start on the GTP and LMP2 poles, respectively, supported IMSA’s decision to abandon the qualifying sessions for the prototype machinery.  “There was the red flag anyway, which took up most of qualifying,” said Thomas. “By the time I came in, that was not a safe track on rain tires. I think IMSA made the right decision there.”

***Tandy said: “When I saw the cars going off in the LMP session before, and saw the forecast that was likely coming, and has come, I wasn’t excited to go out there because the level of risk for something going wrong is massive… I think it would have just been tip-toeing around and honestly probably who could have done a lap before the red flag for the first crash.”

***Colin Braun, however, expressed slight disappointment with qualifying being cancelled after the Meyer Shank Racing driver led the first two practice sessions. Braun, who was due to qualify the No. 60 Acura ARX-06, said: “We would have loved to qualify. We felt like we had a really good car in the dry and wet. I’m sure IMSA based the decision on a lot of factors that they saw, but expectations were high.”

***IMSA’s call to set the GTP grid by the teams’ championship standings meant that MSR’s 200-point penalty after the Rolex 24 at Daytona had a direct impact on its starting position. The No. 60 Acura would have started fifth, rather than eighth, had the points not been rescinded.

***Ben Keating was an early adopter of slick tires in LMP2 qualifying. A drive-through penalty at the start of the session for a pit stop infringement in practice scuppered his first potential flying lap, meaning that he was pushing to “put down a lap” when he encountered a “river” between Turns 6 and 7 and aquaplaned in a straight line.

***The ensuing impact with Ari Balogh’s Jr III Racing Ligier JS P320 Nissan caused right-front suspension damage to Keating’s No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 Gibson.

***The PR1/Mathisen driver explained that the move to start on wets came after a Friday observation from co-driver Alex Quinn that the dry circuit was still slippery on slicks. “Some people might be wondering if I was on slicks because I didn’t change tires, but I was the only one who went out on rains even though the front straight was dry,” Keating told Sportscar365.

***Keating was initially worried about being sent to the back of the LMP2 grid for being part of the accident that caused the red flag in qualifying. However, IMSA confirmed at the drivers’ briefing that the No. 52 Oreca will start second in class.

***During the drivers’ meeting, IMSA President John Doonan made a special mention of the series’ drivers who achieved notable results at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago, including Keating, Nico Varrone and Michael Dinan who stood on the GTE-Am podium.

***Dennis Andersen is absent from High Class Racing’s LMP2 lineup due to a fever that caused him to decide against flying to the U.S. according to his co-driver Anders Fjordbach. Late stand-in Mark Kvamme, who last raced in the WeatherTech Championship LMP2 class in 2019, teamed up with Fjordbach in the No. 32 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

***Kvamme suffered an accident in the No. 20 High Class Oreca in final practice, although was on track in qualifying prior to the red flag in the session that resulted in LMP2 and LMP3 cars lining up on points.

***Michelin is debuting the Medium High Temperature (MHT) tire compound to GTP teams this weekend, after previous races with the Soft Low Temperature (SLT) and Soft High Temperature (SHT) compounds. While having been renamed to Soft (SLT), Medium (SHT) and Hard (MHT) in the FIA World Endurance Championship, the nomenclatures have not changed in WeatherTech Championship competition, creating slight confusion.

***Luis Perez Companc’s LMP2 outing with AF Corse is currently a one-off and is unlikely to be repeated at Motul Petit Le Mans according to the Bronze-rated driver. “It’s not easy to get a car next year for WEC,” he told Sportscar365. “If I don’t do WEC, the alternative is IMSA. If I do IMSA, most likely it’s going to be with a P2 car. That’s the idea of this weekend.”

***Watkins Glen marks Companc’s first LMP2 race since his 2013 WEC campaign with Pecom Racing. The Argentinian driver lapped Watkins Glen in his Ferrari F2004 Formula 1 car a couple of years ago. “[Francois] Perrodo couldn’t race and I’m a friend of his,” he added. “Amato [Ferrari] knew that I had experience with LMP2, so he offered me to come to this race without any practice. I said, ‘you’re crazy!’ But it’s impossible to say no.”

***Although Companc doesn’t expect to do Petit, it is understood that AF Corse is planning to field its U.S.-based Oreca at the ten-hour season finale. The Italian squad finished third at Daytona but didn’t race at Sebring, breaking up its planned Endurance Cup campaign. “It just didn’t fit,” said team manager Ron Reichert. “It was a double weekend with drivers doing double duty.”

***Pfaff Motorsports has ruled out a move to the GTP class with a Porsche 963 next year, with team manager Steve Bortolotti citing the higher-than-expected costs associated with the LMDh platform. Bortolotti told Sportscar365 that it’s the team’s goal to continue in GTD Pro with its Porsche 911 GT3 R next year.

***Bortolotti and Pfaff Automotive President and CEO Chris Pfaff have become business partners, having purchased the Mosport Karting Centre at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Bortolotti said their goal is to help bring young Canadian talent through the ranks, to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Zach Robichon and Roman De Angelis.

***Pfaff alumni Robichon will be at the wheel of the team’s Porsche during next week’s Michelin GTD tire test at Watkins Glen due to both Patrick Pilet and Klaus Bachler having other commitments. Sportscar365 understands that one car from each GT3 manufacturer will be present for the two-day test.

***It will mark the second manufacturer-based test this month for the Canadian squad, which completed a Porsche-commissioned test at CTMP that solved the Type-992 911 GT3 R’s ongoing wheel speed issue, which was initially patched with an update in late April. Bortolotti said they validated a software change on both Michelin and Pirelli tires.

***Tristan Vautier has been confirmed by Vanwall Racing Team to be taking part in next month’s 6 Hours of Monza FIA World Endurance Championship round, alongside the reshuffled lineup that now includes Joao Paulo de Oliveira. Vautier was brought into the team’s lineup at the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a replacement for Jacques Villeneuve.

***The Frenchman is one of many drivers making the rounds in the paddock this weekend working on 2024 programs. But Vautier, a longtime driver for JDC-Miller Motorsports, downplayed his chances of completing the team’s lineup in the Porsche 963 for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

***NBC Sports’ coverage of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen will begin exclusively on Peacock on Sunday at 10:30 a.m. EDT and will conclude on USA Network and Peacock beginning at 2 p.m. Leigh Diffey, Brian Till, Calvin Fish and Townsend Bell will be joined by pit lane reporters Kevin Lee, Hannah Newhouse and Matt Yocum.

***IMSA Radio will have full coverage of the race with the regular team of John Hindhaugh, Jeremey Shaw and Shea Adam.

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John