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Road America CTSC Weekend Notebook

John Dagys’ Continental Tire Challenge Road America notebook…

Photo: Hilary Frank Photography/CJ Wislon Racing

Photo: Hilary Frank Photography/CJ Wislon Racing

***A heavy three-car accident in Friday’s opening practice eliminated at least one car for tomorrow’s race. Jeff Mosing lost control of his No. 56 Murillo Racing Porsche Cayman in Turn 11 and came back onto the track, collecting both the No. 65 Murillo BMW 328i of Tim Probert and the No. 81 Bimmerworld entry of Jerry Kaufman.

***All three drivers were evaluated and released, but the Bimmerworld car was done for the weekend, with the Murillo BMW sent to a local body shop for chassis repairs and is expected tomorrow. Mosing, meanwhile, qualified 10th in the ST class, following a valiant effort to rebuild the car in just a few hours.

***The No. 35 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport is sporting a special Chicago Blackhawks Charities livery this weekend. The car was formally unveiled during a media event at the United Center on Wednesday (pictured above).

***Justin Piscitell makes his team debut, filling in for Tyler McQuarrie, who has commitments with Formula Drift this weekend in Seattle. The No. 35 car is not currently scheduled to take part in the next two races at VIR and Circuit of The Americas, but an active effort is being made to fill the seats.

***Team principal CJ Wilson is on-site this weekend. The MLB star has been ruled out for the rest of the season with the Anaheim Angels due to a shoulder injury.

***Drake Kemper makes his debut alongside Christian Szymczak in the No. 34 Alara Racing Mazda MX-5 this weekend. The Mazda MX-5 Cup veteran hopes to do at least one more Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race weekend this year but he is only confirmed for this weekend. Kemper ran the MX-5 Cup weekend at Road America here in June.

***Andrew Hobbs, who makes his Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge debut in the No. 09 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage this weekend, tested Fall-Line Motorsports’ BMW M3 at Autobahn Country Club on Wednesday before arriving at Road America. Hobbs has only raced once this year, as part of Extreme Speed Motorsports’ IMSA Mazda Prototype Lites team at Sebring.

***The C360R lineup in the No. 75 Audi S3 has another driver rotation this weekend. Jayson Clunie steps in alongside Roy Block this weekend, and Clunie is also confirmed for Circuit of The Americas. Block is not yet confirmed for the COTA weekend. Tom Dyer and Block will share the No. 75 car at Virginia International Raceway.

***Automatic Racing is set to complete the season as a two-car operation, with Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman returning to the wheel of the No. 99 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 for this weekend, as well as the events at VIR, COTA and Road Atlanta.

***Be sure to download Andy Blackmore’s official IMSA Spotter’s Guide for this weekend, featuring all 37 Continental Tire Challenge entries for the race. Click Here to view.

***Watch tomorrow’s race live on IMSA.tv beginning at 12:35 p.m. ET. The two-and-a-half hour race will be televised on Sun. August 14 at 11 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

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

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