MDK Rules Out Porsche GTD Pro Entry for Watkins Glen

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

MDK Motorsports has ruled out entering the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with its planned GTD Pro class entry according to team owner Mark Kvamme.

Kvamme previously indicated that its Porsche 911 GT3 R would return for the third round of the Michelin Endurance Cup after missing the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring amid Porsche’s early season Balance of Performance challenges in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

While the BoP situation has since been corrected, Kvamme has cited a constraint on spare parts and a focus on his team’s bid in Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS as the reason to forgo Watkins Glen.

Trenton Estep and Seth Lucas currently sit fifth in the GTWC America Pro class points standings, entering next weekend’s round at Virginia International Raceway, utilizing the same Porsche chassis for its originally planned four-round IMSA Endurance Cup effort.

VIR falls just one week before Watkins Glen in the calendar.

“We’re not going to do it because we couldn’t,” Kvamme told Sportscar365. “We had the drivers, we had the budget, I just couldn’t.

“I was too worried about the parts. I have a full-time SRO [entry] that was actually third in the [teams’] championship right now. I don’t want to mess it up for that customer.

“We’d be doing it as a get ready for IMSA next year. [But] I don’t want to put the car at risk for Seth and Trenton.”

He instead indicated the team could return at Motul Petit Le Mans in October to close out the season.

“If we do Petit, it doesn’t matter because we have plenty of time after,” he said So I’m 90 percent sure we’re going to do Petit.”

The Ohio-based team took part in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona with Kvamme, Estep, Jan Magnussen and Jason Hart at the wheel of its entry that was moved to the GTD Pro class at the last minute.

Both Magnussen and Estep are understood to be part of the lineup for the ten-hour finale at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, ahead of the team’s targeted full season WeatherTech Championship program in 2024.

Davey Euwema contributed to this report

John Dagys

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