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COTA TUSC Friday Notebook

Tony DiZinno’s Friday Notebook from TUSC at COTA…

Photo: John Dagys

Photo: John Dagys

***OAK Racing team principal Philippe Dumas confirmed Ho-Pin Tung will race alongside Alex Brundle and Gustavo Yacaman in the team’s No. 42 Ligier JS P2 HPD at Petit Le Mans. Olivier Pla is unavailable, as he will be testing the G-Drive Racing Morgan Nissan at Monza for a Dunlop tire test.

***Darren Cox, Global Head of Brand, Marketing & Sales, NISMO, told Sportscar365 he’d like to see at least one Nissan GT-R at the Rolex 24 at Daytona to open the TUDOR Championship, and also has additional interest in Pirelli World Challenge. As for Nissan LMP2 engines, Cox said he had “unfinished business” here, and is happy with the current engine BoP.

***Corvette Racing has confirmed it will only run two drivers for its pair of GT Le Mans cars at Petit Le Mans. Robin Liddell, who had been third driver in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R, will instead focus solely on his Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS title hopes in the No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R.

***On another Corvette note, Oliver Gavin is back from the first of three Australian races as part of the Pirtek (Motor Oil) Enduro Cup. He raced last week at Sandown and after Petit Le Mans, will race at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 in a Holden Commodore. Austin last year, Gavin pulled double duty between the Corvette C6.R and a fill-in role for Stefan Mucke in a GTE-Pro Aston Martin Vantage in FIA WEC.

***Brothers Justin and Stefan Wilson are at Circuit of the Americas this weekend exploring their sports car options for 2015. Meanwhile Jack Hawksworth, another IndyCar driver who is dovetailing in sports cars, hopes to have his IndyCar plans settled in the next several weeks and thus open himself up for future non-conflicting sports car races in 2015.

***Justin Wilson is doubtful to race in Michael Shank Racing’s No. 60 Riley-Ford at Petit Le Mans. Additional MSR news is that the head of team sponsor AERO paint, Jim McGuire, tested alongside John Pew at Mid-Ohio last week. Shank’s team has not determined whether it will be a two or three-driver lineup at Petit.

***The No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda SKYACTIV-D coupe will have blue accents on the nose, wheel covers and rear wheel guards this race. The accents were meant to debut at Road America before the car was withdrawn following its accident in the morning warmup.

***Riley Motorsports completed a test with its Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R at Road Atlanta last week with Sebastiaan Bleekemolen, while Jonathan Bomarito and Marc Goossens shook down a single GTLM class Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R. Bleekemolen got his first seat time in the car since Sebring practice, as he never got the chance to race due to the first hour fire.

***Five more Porsche 911 GT Americas will be built, per Porsche Motorsport North America president Jens Walther. The car has been the most heavily subscribed to GT Daytona this year.

***Muehlner Motorsports America’s No. 19 Porsche 911 GT America, driven this weekend by Alec Udell and Mark Klenin, had a mechanical issue that prevented it from making qualifying. The team is determining whether it can be fixed before Saturday’s race.

John Dagys contributed to this report

Tony DiZinno (@tonydizinno) is Sportscar365's North American Editor, focusing on coverage of the IMSA-sanctioned championships as well as Pirelli World Challenge. DiZinno also contributes to NBCSports.com and other motorsports outlets. Contact Tony

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