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CTSC Watkins Glen Weekend Notebook

John Dagys’ Continental Tire Challenge weekend notebook from Watkins Glen…

Photo: KohR Motorsports

***The No. 4 Team TGM Mercedes-AMG GT4 of Guy Cosmo and Ted Giovanis has been withdrawn from today’s Continental Tire 240 following Giovanis’ heavy accident in qualifying. The team owner, who was sidelined for much of 2017 with a ruptured Achilles tendon, escaped serious injury in Friday’s crash although the car has been totaled.

***TGM will return to a two-car operation for Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with one of the ex-Robinson Racing Mercedes GT4s already en route to Watkins Glen to be prepped for the next weekend’s race.

***The pair of KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4s are sporting World War II Warbird-inspired liveries this weekend (pictured above), with the No. 60 car carrying the “Gentleman Jim” design and the No. 59 car in the “Old Crow” design.

***The No. 60 Mustang GT4 of Nate Stacy and Kyle Marcelli is seeking its third consecutive Continental Tire Challenge victory following wins at Sebring and Mid-Ohio.

***Andy Lally, meanwhile, has been a late addition to KohR’s No. 59 car, replacing Joey Atterbury, who had a conflict. Team principal Dean Martin said Lally was his first choice, given his past experience and success at the 3.4-mile circuit.

***NASCAR XFinity Series driver Ty Majeski makes his second Continental Tire Challenge start of the season in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT4 alongside Scott Maxwell. Ford Performance development driver Chase Briscoe had taken part in the Sebring and Mid-Ohio rounds alongside Maxwell.

***Automatic Racing has expanded into a three-car Aston Martin Vantage GT4 operation this weekend, with the addition of the No. 9 car for Aurora Straus, Nick Longhi and Ramin Abdolvahabi.

***Only three teams have elected to utilize three-driver lineups, in the first four-hour Continental Tire Challenge race held at Watkins Glen. WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca had played host to the extended format race last year.

***Despite the double race length, the minimum drive time of 45 minutes remains unchanged for all classes.

***There have been several Balance of Performance adjustments made to the GS class since Mid-Ohio, the most notable being a 30kg minimum weight increase to the McLaren 570S GT4.

***Fuel capacity reductions have been made to the Audi R8 LMS GT4 (-4 liters), BMW M4 GT4 (-2 liters) and Mercedes-AMG GT4 (-6 liters), along with associated changes in the refueling restrictors for all three cars. Additionally, the BMW is to now use the “red power stick”.

***eEuroparts.com Racing has expanded into a two-car TCR operation with the addition of a second Audi RS 3 LMS TCR for Kenton Koch and Tom O’Gorman. Koch qualified the car, which only completed build earlier this week, fourth in class.

***VOLT Racing and BimmerWorld Racing are fresh off last weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge round at Road America, which was used by both teams as preparation for the upcoming Continental Tire Challenge round at the four-mile circuit in August.

***Watch the Continental Tire 240 at 1:45 p.m. on IMSA.tv. Tape-delayed coverage will air on July 8 at 7:30 a.m. EDT on FS1.

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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