Watkins Glen Friday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***IMSA is holding a manufacturers meeting tonight to further define the new-for-2017 LMP2 regulations. Series President and COO Scott Atherton told Sportscar365 the meeting will be focused on the IMSA-specific changes to the regulations, such as the custom bodywork and engine configuration. ACO technical delegate Thierry Bouvet will also be in attendance.

***While the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda was withdrawn this morning, it wasn’t for a lack of preparation from the Florida-based team. The gasoline-powered prototype was unloaded Thursday fully prepped for the weekend, with the decision for the car to forgo the weekend having been made from the manufacturer at the last minute.

***Larbre Competition’s Corvette C7.R chassis, which is on loan to the factory team this weekend, is off to a fast start, with Antonio Garcia having posted the quickest time in the GT Le Mans class this morning. The chassis, which sustained rollbar and fuel cell damage, arrived at Pratt & Miller last Friday and was turned around in less than 96 hours. It is carrying a Larbre decal on the a-pillar this weekend.

***Corvette Racing Program Manager Doug Fehan told Sportscar365 that a decision has not yet been made on whether they’ll use the Larbre chassis at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park or have its primary No. 3 car, which was heavily damaged in qualifying at Le Mans, ready for the next round.

***Corvette is coming off a sweep of the unofficial “triple crown” of endurance races, having claimed class wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. It marked the first time a team has achieved such a feat since 2000 with the Viper Team Oreca squad.

***The DeltaWing returns to action this weekend after missing the Detroit round. The team is coming off a successful three-day test at NOLA Motorsports Park, where Katherine Legge and Memo Rojas broke in a new, lighter tub.

***Park Place Motorsports needed a new tub for its No. 73 Porsche 911 GT America to replace the one damaged in Detroit. Spencer Pumpelly was OK after the accident but lost control on the increasingly wet track before start/finish.

***Kuno Wittmer got his first laps in the No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3 this morning, prior to the car stopping on course to bring out the morning session’s one-and-only red flag. Wittmer is filling in for James Davison, who is on World Challenge duty at Road America.

***Bob Dickinson has left TRG-AMR as Chief Operating Officer for the chance to look at and develop other opportunities. Dickinson had previously served as head of communications for the American Le Mans Series before joining the Kevin Buckler-led operation.

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