VIR Friday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***The Riley Motorsports team has voiced its displeasure following the latest round of Balance of Performance adjustments, with a handicap parking sign spotted under the team’s tent. The Viper GT3-R has been handed a 10kg weight increase, 3mm reduction in air restrictor as well as a 200 rpm reduction following its GTD class win at Road America.

***The ViperExchange.com-backed Viper of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating ended the day dead last on the time charts, more than 1.5 seconds adrift from the pace-setting GTD cars.

***As expected, this weekend’s Oak Tree Grand Prix features an 18-car entry, following the no-show of the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT America. It’s believed the John Wright-led team could be done for the season, despite initial plans for Patrick Dempsey to return to the wheel for Petit Le Mans.

***No further action has been taken following IMSA’s impounding of the DP diffusers following the Road America race. Official results and points were released earlier this week, with no changes to either.

***A World Challenge GT-A team is poised to make its TUDOR United SportsCar Championship debut next month at Circuit of The Americas, which would provide a boost to the GTD class.

***Following its test at Road America earlier this month, the new Ford GT will continue its development program next week at an undisclosed circuit in the U.S. It is expected to be the final test for the car prior to being shipped off to France for the FIA’s Balance of Performance test.

***While questions surround the future of Porsche Team Manthey’s factory GTE-Pro effort in the FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche North America is expected to continue with its works, CORE autosport-run GT Le Mans class effort for a third season.

***Despite being replaced by Nicolas Lapierre on the entry list, Nick Tandy confirmed to Sportscar365 that he’ll be in KCMG’s Oreca 05 Nissan in next month’s FIA WEC race at Circuit of The Americas. The Englishman will be one of a handful of drivers expected to pull double duty between the WEC and TUDOR Championship races.

***There will be an IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway on Nov. 17-18, which is expected to feature the North American debuts of several new GT3 cars that will compete in the GT Daytona class next year. The annual Roar Before the Rolex 24 is scheduled for Jan. 8-10, 2016.

***Corvette Racing held its post-Le Mans celebration in Detroit last week. All three of the GTE-Pro class-winning drivers Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Jordan Taylor were on hand. More than 250 people, including members of the Corvette production car team, participated in the celebrations.

***Continental has partnered with Global NCAP’s ‘Stop the Crash’ information campaign, an initiative of the London-based consumer organization for new-car safety testing. A number of consumer agencies, including Global NCAP, help define the standards the vehicles must meet to be awarded the top five-star safety rating.

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