CTSC Road America Weekend Notebook

***A heavy crash for the GS championship-leading No. 60 Roush Performance/KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 has prompted the team to scramble to keep drivers Nate Stacy and Kyle Marcelli on the track. Work began at 1:30 a.m. CDT on Saturday when the spare chassis, which the team ran as the No. 59 car in Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge last year, arrived from Michigan.

***Team owner Dean Martin said the rebuild almost didn’t happen as his shop keys were still in Michigan, which were retrieved by his parents to let Jason Scott, a Ford engineer, into the shop to pick up the car and transport it to Road America.

***Per IMSA rules, KohR was required to use the original drivetrain, as much of the suspension as possible, and as much of the bodywork as they could on the spare chassis. IMSA sealed all of the parts they were required to use overnight, with the rebuilt car passing all safety checks prior to final practice this morning.

***Chad McCumbee will qualify the No. 8 Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT4 that he shares with Patrick Gallagher, a departure from recent races. McCumbee told Sportscar365 that the team wanted to give Gallagher more experience finishing races and a chance to wash out the bitter taste of the Mid-Ohio round where he lost out in a thrilling duel with Kyle Marcelli in the closing laps.

***Craig Lyons escaped major damage to the No. 9 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage when he spun in The Kink in Practice 1 on Friday. The car suffered minor damage to the nose and did not turn a timed lap in Practice 2 but was ready to go for qualifying.

***Ty Majeski, who is back in the No. 15 Multimatic Mustang GT4 this weekend, is coming off of a dominant win the the prestigious Slinger Nationals stock car race last month, where he led 131 laps of the 200 lap race. It’s been a memorable month for the Seymour, Wisc. native, who announced his engagement to his girlfriend Ali on Friday on Twitter.

***LAP Motorsports team owner Luis Perocarpi says he feels Road America owes his squad after bitter disappointment for his MINI JCW entries in each of the last two series trips to the track. Mat Pombo appeared poised for class victory in 2016 before running out of fuel on the final lap, while a red flag for weather derailed a strong performance in last year’s race.

***Perocarpi, whose team has been a stalwart in the soon-to-be sunsetted ST class, said he’s optimistic that the team would be on the grid in IMSA next year, acknowledging that TCR is the way of the future.

***The team’s MINIs could continue to race next year, but in another series, according to Perocarpi, who has long-held aspirations of taking part in the Dakar Rally. The Indianapolis-based team recently placed 1-2 in class in the Sonora Rally in Mexico with custom-built MINI rally cars.

***Chevrolet’s Camaro GT4.R is set to return to Continental Tire Challenge competition before the end of the season, with a team featuring a former series champion to potentially debut as early as the next round at Virginia International Raceway.

***Liam Dwyer is set to make his racing return in next weekend’s ChampCar (formerly ChumpCar) race at Virginia International Raceway, sharing a McCumbee-McAleer Racing-entered Global Mazda MX-5 Cup car with James Cameron, Chad McCumbee, and Tom Long in the 24-hour race.

***Dwyer, who suffered life-threatening leg injuries in Afghanistan in 2011, sat out the majority of the year after undergoing multiple surgeries to improve the attachment and removal of his prothesis.

***Michelin Pilot Challenge teams will have a reduced two-day testing schedule at the Roar Before the Rolex 24 next January, as part of IMSA’s cost-cutting measures announced during Friday’s annual ‘State of the Series’ address by IMSA President Scott Atherton.

***Watch the Road America 120 live on IMSA.tv, with coverage beginning at 3:55 p.m. CDT. FS1 will air tape-delayed coverage of the race on Aug. 12 at 9:30 a.m. EDT.

John Dagys contributed to this report