Watkins Glen Friday Notebook

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

***The lineup in the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo was only confirmed late Thursday following the publication of the official event entry list, with Jan Heylen and Dillon Machavern joined by Eric Lux, who makes his first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship start in two years. Heylen and Machavern also drove the car in the opening two IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup races at Daytona International Speedway and Sebring International Speedway.

***The GTD entry, which completed only 16 laps in opening practice on Friday, ended up slowest in class after Machavern spun into the Turn 10 gravel trap. As a result of bringing out a red flag, the car will lose its quickest time in qualifying on Saturday. Work was underway making repairs to the car’s floor after the session.

***The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 completed only 13 laps after a vibration sent the GTD Pro car behind the wall for repairs. IMSA Radio’s Arjuna Kankipati reported that the car undertook a brief shakedown at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park before arriving at Watkins Glen with some new components.

***Several other cars found trouble in the session, including the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 of Trend Hindman, which stopped on track with a fuel delivery system issue according to a team spokesperson. The No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR Oreca 07 Gibson was given a mechanical black flag early due to a transponder issue according to George Kurtz, who only got 14 laps in the LMP2 car.

***Jack Aitken, who paced Friday’s session said: “I think most cars are on the same strategy just to use the one [tire] set, so the quick times came at the start. We got a nice clean lap just being first out of the box and settled into a bit of a program afterwards trying to keep different things, getting Fred (Vesti) back in the car after a bit of break away from us. So it was just pretty smooth session and we’re gonna have a busy day tomorrow, so we’ll get our homework done tonight, so we’re ready for it.”

***Four cars: the No. 36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, No. 80 Lone Star Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo and No. 81 DragonSpeed Corvette, were all given five-minute hold penalties at the start of opening practice for failure to perform the mandated torque sensor offset test.

***Loek Hartog told Sportscar365 that he quickly came to grips of the No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche in his first laps of Watkins Glen at the wheel of a GT3 car, after previously making starts here in Porsche Carrera Cup North America. The former Porsche Motorsport North America Selected Driver was the quickest of the three drivers in the GTD Pro entry, in his debut WeatherTech Championship weekend.

***The ‘Grello’ entry is the only three-driver lineup in the class this weekend, with the Dutchman sharing duties with Michael Christensen and Klaus Bachler. “The rules are quite simple,” said Hartog. “The benefit is that we can save a bit of energy for our last driver, which in IMSA, is an important thing. Other teams most likely will have to start with their finishing driver.”

***The car is sporting additional red on the hood and rear wing for new sponsor Wessmann.

***Alec Udell, who is making his debut with AF Corse in the team’s GTD class Endurance Cup-leading No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, which won last time out at Sebring, told Sportscar365 that the deal came through one of the Italian squad’s team managers Philippe Dumas, who also manages Pipo Derani, whom Udell met when he drove with the Brazilian at DXDT in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***Udell, a FIA Silver-rated driver, said it then led to a further conversation at the recent European Le Mans Series round at Paul Ricard, prior to a short test with a 296 GT3 Evo at Motorland Argon in preparation for this weekend. “The goal of course is to continue getting [Endurance Cup] championship points for them,” said Udell, who is subbing for the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa-bound Lilou Wadoux. “They wanted someone that’s familiar with all the rules and regulations of IMSA and the race.”

***While track limits have been a talking point, Udell believes slight changes to a few of the corners have made it more difficult for drivers to run afoul of the rules. “When we walked the track yesterday you look around the circuit and it looks like they’ve added a little bit of pavement in the back of the curb in Turn 1 and it’s actually cut out, so you don’t have as much grip wide at the exit of [Turn] 1,” he explained.

***Udell added: “There’s some things that have changed in a couple of places. You could definitely utilize track limits and gain time there but you can’t go super wide like you used to be able to; there’s just not as much pavement. It’s now diamond-cut; it’s almost like they did it for sure to make sure people don’t run way out wide.”

***Renowned race strategist Thomas Blam is filling in for Sean Heckman at Conquest Racing this weekend, with Heckman back in his strategy duties with Magnus Racing, which is making its second start of the season after a runner-up class finish at Daytona. Heckman is slated to return for the balance of the season with the Eric Bachelart-led team, whom he also now assists with PR duties with.

***With Manny Franco’s driving future in flux, Sportscar365 understands that Conquest is keeping an active eye on potential new driver opportunities for next year.

***Albert Costa has taken credit for bringing Fran Rueda into Conquest’s lineup this weekend. The 30-year-old FIA Silver-rated Spaniard is making his series debut. “When I knew Manny [Franco] didn’t want to be racing, I decided to help the team introducing Fran.” Costa revealed the team initially wanted to do a driver shootout for the seat.

***Laurin Heinrich took part in Porsche Great Britain’s ‘Sunstede Festival’ last weekend at Silverstone, celebrating 75 years of Porsche GB, which saw the German manufacturer’s newest fully fledged factory driver sample a number of iconic Porsches, on loan from the Porsche Museum, on the full Silverstone Grand Prix circuit.

***Heinrich said: “I drove the RSR, the RS Spyder and the 919 all in one day, which is incredible. I don’t think no one has ever done that before! On Saturday, we drove the GT1-98. To drive all of these historic cars from Porsche, especially the prototypes, it was very interesting as a current factory prototype driver to see where everything came from, the development over the years.”

***Heinrich believes now having a full season confirmed in GTP will help him significantly as he graduates into a full-time Porsche Penske Motorsport seat next year. “Testing is one thing but getting race mileage is another thing and I’m really thankful for this opportunity [with JDC-Miller],” he told Sportscar365. “I think it helps me a lot to get to know the car better. I always say, with this car, you never stop learning because there’s so much to learn. Anything you learn about the tools you have in the car as a driver is just extending your toolbox of stuff you can adapt the car to your liking.”

***He added: “For me, starting at Long Beach, it was already a track that I had never been to. Coming back to that place, having driven that car exactly on that track already before will just help me loads next year. I think it goes for all the races we’re going to do and already did because the car is just so complex.

***IMSA made several updates to the LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD technical regulations earlier this month, which is understood to be around the installation of driver cooling systems but could pave the way for other adjustments in the future. “These technical regulations grant specific permissions for modification, change, or adjustment of the specification of the car,” read the technical bulletin. “Unless specifically defined as permitted, any modification, change, or adjustment is inherently prohibited. This philosophy is clearly defined in the foreword and specific modifications are defined in Article 7.”

***Sportscar365 understands that Lamborghini has requested for its new-for-2026 Temerario GT3 to run adjusted rear wing angles outside of the car’s initial homologation in an effort to overcome a notable top-speed deficit. Both SRO and ADAC have approved the change for GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS and DTM competition, respectively, although it’s understood the car must re-enter the Windshear wind tunnel in North Carolina for IMSA to sign off on the proposed changes.

***McLaren Trophy America, which was absent from the SRO America 2027 schedule announcement on Friday at Spa, is understood to become IMSA sanctioned next year, with an official announcement forthcoming.

***It would become the sixth single-make series under the IMSA umbrella, joining Ferrari Challenge North America, Mustang Challenge North America, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup and Porsche Carrera Cup North America.

***IMSA’s return to Lime Rock Park next September, as a Michelin Pilot Challenge headline race, will offer an additional weekend to shift some of the single-makes on to next year, along with the continued four-hour Pilot Challenge round at Mid-Ohio, which will fall on the same weekend as the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2027.

***Romain Dumas claimed his sixth Pikes Peak International Hill Climb win last weekend, piloting a Ford Super Mustang Mach-E EV up the 12.4-mile, 156-turn course at a time of 8:18.202. It was just over the Frenchman’s all-time Pikes Peak record of 7:57.148 achieved in a Volkswagen I.D. R electric prototype in 2018.

***Newly signed Ford WEC Hypercar driver Nick Yelloly said he’s hopeful the Blue Oval’s LMDh-based prototype will eventually race in the GTP class. While Ford Racing global director Mark Rushbrook has ruled out an entry for next year, hints have been given around a potential effort in the 2028 Rolex 24, prior to the start of the WEC season.

***Yelloly told Sportscar365: “Let’s see how it develops with Ford. You never know. It’s a big American brand and being in IMSA, I guess it must be on their minds, but for me, WEC is the focus at the moment and bringing the Blue Oval back to Le Mans and try to fight all the great manufacturers for the overall win.”

***An Audi class win in the TCR ranks of tomorrow’s LP Building Solutions 120 Michelin Pilot Challenge race would complete the set of all 18 participating OEMs in IMSA-sanctioned competition winning at last one race this year. While such a feat has previously been achieved, it never would have come this early in the year.

***Saturday’s WeatherTech Championship activity includes a second practice session, which will begin as a FIA Bronze-rated driver only session for 15 minutes, which will run from 10:05-11:50 a.m. EST, before qualifying that gets underway at 3:40 p.m. EST. Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel will have coverage of the qualifying action.

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