Connect with us

WeatherTech Championship

Lime Rock Friday Notebook

John Dagys’ Friday WeatherTech Championship notebook from Lime Rock…

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

***The GT Daytona class championship-leading Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 returned to action in Friday’s third and final practice session following an engine change that put the Madison Snow and Bryan Sellers-driven entry on the sidelines for the majority of the day.

***Sellers and Snow hold a three-point lead over Meyer Shank Racing’s Katherine Legge who, along with her No. 86 Acura NSX GT3, was recently confirmed for the remainder of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

***The pair of Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs are sporting new liveries for the upcoming Tom Cruise film ‘Mission Impossible – Fallout’ which hits the theaters next week. The No. 24 BMW of John Edwards and Jesse Krohn is now in a full black livery.

***For the first time in WeatherTech Championship history, cars will qualify and race on the same day tomorrow. Qualifying is scheduled to run from 9:35-10:15 a.m. EDT, with the two-hour and 40-minute race getting underway at 3:10 p.m.

***While never featuring in the American Le Mans Series, there had been several single-day Grand-Am events, the most recent being at Indianapolis in 2012.

***Corvette Racing seeks its 100th victory in North America on Saturday at the site of its 100th win in the program’s global history two years ago. The breakdown included 16 WeatherTech Championship wins, 82 in the American Le Mans Series and one Grand-Am victory.

***No. 3 car mechanic David James, meanwhile, is working his 200th event for the team this weekend. A small number of Corvette Racing staff, including program manager Doug Fehan, team co-owner Gary Pratt and engineering director Doug Louth, have been with the team from its inception in 1999.

***The Pratt & Miller-run squad has won five times in 11 appearances at Lime Rock, having accumulated 5,132.54 race miles at the Connecticut track. It represents approximately 46 trips from New York City to Lakeville, Conn.

***Lime Rock has been typically also been a happy hunting ground for Porsche, which swept four of the possible six podium positions in last year’s race.

***Christina Nielsen, who is in the lone-remaining Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R following the No. 16 car’s late withdrawal, earned her first North American podium finish at Lime Rock in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama. 

***The 2019 WeatherTech Championship schedule, along with key changes to the series for next year, are set to be revealed during the annual “State of the Series” address next month at Road America.

***IMSA President Scott Atherton told Sportscar365 not to expect any major changes to the calendar, although it’s believed the GT Daytona class could see a reduction to ten races as part of an aggressive cost-cutting initiative that’s expected to also be revealed during the event.

***Other rumored changes to the GTD class for 2019 include a crackdown on Silver-rated drivers and a reduction of crew members and testing opportunities. 

***Several IMSA drivers, including Laurens Vanthoor and Jack Hawksworth, participated in the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend.

***Vanthoor not only drove his 24 Hours of Le Mans class-winning “Pink Pig” Porsche 911 RSR but also took the iconic Porsche 911 GT1-98 up the hill, in a realization of a childhood dream for the Belgian.

***Lexus ambassador Scott Pruett escaped injury when his Lexus RC F GT3 erupted in flames following the run. The 3GT-liveried car was one of the manufacturer’s previous-generation GT3 cars that’s now used for demonstration purposes only.

***A 3GT Lexus is featured in a nationwide television ad campaign promoting its ‘Golden Opportunity Sales Event’. The shiny red No. 15 Lexus is included alongside Lexus performance vehicles in the television spot that will run throughout the summer.

***Continental Tire has brought more than 1,600 tires to Lime Rock, which has required five transporters and 13 employees to help service tires for the GT Daytona class and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge teams. 

***While it takes roughly 45 minutes to have a dealer dismount, mount, set pressure and balance a set of tires on a passenger vehicle, Continental estimates the same procedure can take less than five minutes for race teams.

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

7 Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in WeatherTech Championship