Watkins Glen Friday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***Dream Racing will revert to its spare Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Sunday’s race, following Larry DeGeorge’s massive accident in Friday’s Practice 2. The spare car is the same chassis DeGeorge crashed in February’s Sebring Winter Test, which ended up on top of the barriers.

***Ryan Briscoe returned home to Connecticut on Friday morning, after getting the news that his wife, Nicole, has gone into labor with their second child. Briscoe is expected to return for Sunday’s race, with Richard Westbrook scheduled to qualify the No. 67 Ford GT.

***FIA World Endurance Championship star Richard Bradley has been a late addition to the No. 88 Starworks Motorsport Oreca FLM09, joining Remo Ruscitti and Mark Kvamme. It marks Bradley’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut, in an expected one-off with the Peter Baron-led squad.

***Konrad Motorsport, which had planned a full Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup effort with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3, is not here this weekend due to a clash with its European logistics plan. The German squad has two Huracan GT3s entered for next week’s official 24 Hours of Spa Test Day.

***Change Racing’s Robby Benton hopes to get their No. 11 Lamborghini back on track later this year, after again being a scratch this weekend. Benton told Sportscar365 they’re open to new customers after going separate ways with Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, who drove the car at Sebring and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

***Benton believes the sweeping Balance of Performance adjustments made to the GT Daytona class this weekend will make for the most competitive weekend yet. Both the Lamborghini and Audi R8 LMS have been given a 2mm larger air restrictor. “I told IMSA this will be the fairest GTD race all year,” he told Sportscar365.

***The BoP in all classes is locked in for next weekend’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park as well, as any changes are given with a minimum of seven days’ notice prior to official track activity, per IMSA rules.

***Matt McMurry will become the first WeatherTech Championship driver to race in both the Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona classes in the same race, as the 18-year-old will be in the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09 and No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R this weekend. Paul Dalla Lana is the most recent driver to compete in multiple classes, having driven in GTLM and GTD at Daytona in 2014.

***There are two Gas Monkey Energy-sponsored cars at The Glen, with the addition of the BAR1 entry of McMurry, Johnny Mowlem and Don Yount. Yount is an investor in Gas Monkey Energy, along with Richard Rawlings, Buddy Rice, among others.

***Yount told Sportscar365 that he will also drive at Circuit of The Americas and Petit Le Mans with the team.

***Ben Keating has sold his second Dodge Viper GT3-R to a Houston-based racer. Chassis No. 004 was the No. 93 car that scored GT Daytona class victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the Patron Endurance Cup last year.

***IMSA has commissioned #OrlandoUnited decals for teams this weekend, in support of the victims and those affected by the recent shooting. The Daytona Beach, Fla.-based sanctioning body is also making a donation to the OneOrlando Fund and is encouraging others to do the same via www.oneorlando.org.

***Chip Ganassi was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America on Wednesday. Ganassi, who is coming off GTE-Pro class victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was joined by fellow NASCAR team owner Richard Childress, NHRA announcer Dave McClellan and racer/broadcaster Sam Posey as 2016 inductees in Daytona Beach, Fla.

***Fans who are attending this weekend’s event will be able to drive any of five new models of Mazda vehicles on the original 6.6-mile Watkins Glen street course. The historic circuit debuted in 1948. The drive begins and ends at the Mazda Ride and Drive location outside of the Argetsinger grandstand.

***Fans can also receive free shuttle rides in the brand-new Mazda CX-9 from the Mazda consumer display and Owner’s Lounge near the Watkins Glen paddock area. The Ride and Drive event will be open Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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