Watkins Glen Thursday Notebook

Photo: IMSA

***Cars sporting patriotic liveries for this weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen assembled Thursday afternoon for a group photo. More than 30 entries across the four IMSA-sanctioned series are playing their part of the Fourth of July weekend celebrations.

***It is the third consecutive year teams have rolled out special liveries for the event, in an initiative started by Watkins Glen International.

***Mario Farnbacher has been a late addition to the No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3, alongside full-season drivers Jack Hawksworth and David Heinemeier Hansson. Farnbacher, who is coming off GT Daytona class victory in Detroit with Meyer Shank Racing, is making his first start with the Gentilozzi family-run team, although his brother, Dominik, drove for 3GT in the Rolex 24 at Daytona in 2017-18.

***3GT’s No. 14 Lexus remains with the two-driver lineup of Dominik Baumann and Kyle Marcelli.

***Porsche’s No. 912 chassis, which was due to be retired from factory competition following Mid-Ohio, has been put back into service in the wake of Sven Mueller’s accident at Le Mans. The car, which was purchased by a collector, will now be used for the remainder of the WeatherTech Championship season.

***CORE autosport’s No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, which ran as No. 93 at Le Mans, arrived in New York last week, following pre-race prep work done by the team in France.

***Both of the Corvette C7.Rs and U.S.-based Ford GTs also returned from Le Mans and are competing this weekend, although Pratt & Miller’s spare third Corvette chassis is still en route via sea freight and not scheduled to arrive until next week, according to crew chief Dan Binks.

***Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan told Sportscar365 that he expects to single-stint their drivers in the race, amid the forecast for near-100 degree Fahrenheit temperatures on Sunday. Only the Team RLL BMW M8 GTEs have opted for three-driver lineups in GT Le Mans, with Bill Auberlen and Tom Blomqvist joining the team this weekend.

***Jan Magnussen is set for a busy stretch, with five races over the next six weeks, including a round of the Danish Tundersports Championship in Rakkestad, Norway. “I actually have six races in six weeks, but unless I can find some way to clone myself – it’ll be tough to be doing IMSA and Thundersports at the same time over the first weekend in August,” he joked.

***The No. 86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 is carrying a new all-black livery and sponsorship from SiriusXM Canada for The Glen and next weekend’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which has been added to the car’s schedule.

***SiriusXM USA CEO Jim Meyer recently became a co-owner in the Ohio-based team.

***Continental Tire and Watkins Glen will present the first-ever “Dinner with Racers: LIVE” show, a fan-oriented live version of the popular podcast series hosted by Ryan Eversley and Sean Heckman, on Friday from 6-7:30 p.m. in victory lane. The first 100 fans will receive free food at the show, which will feature guests Ricky and Jordan Taylor, Andy Lally, Ryan Dalziel, Joey Hand and more.

***While absent since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sportscar365 understands that Risi Competizione is planning to return for the season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans with its GT Le Mans class Ferrari 488 GTE. Outings at Virginia International Raceway and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, are also possible but believed to be sponsorship-dependent.

***Turner Motorsport was involved in the production of the upcoming motion picture “The Art of Racing in the Rain” in Vancouver earlier this week. The team’s BMW M4 GT4 was utilized, with Porsche 911 GT3 Rs painted up in Park Place Motorsports and Wright Motorsports liveries also spotted on the set.

***The film, produced by Patrick Dempsey, is set to star Milo Ventimiglia, who plays lead character Denny Swift from the popular novel. Swift’s name is on Turner’s GT4 car, which is on-site this weekend at Watkins Glen.

***Nearly a dozen injured U.S. and Canadian servicemen are embedded with IMSA teams this weekend and at CTMP, as part of the latest initiative from Operation Motorsport. The non-profit organization provides recovery, retraining and rehabilitation opportunities to medically released service members and veterans through motorsports.

***Among the teams taking part include Action Express Racing, Bodymotion Motorsports, CJ Wilson Racing, CORE autosport, Montaplast by Land Motorsport, Paul Miller Racing, Park Place Motorsports and Winward Racing.

***A technical working group meeting between the FIA, ACO and manufacturers on the new proposed ‘hypercar’ regulations is set to take place on Monday in Paris. Sportscar365 understands it will again include representation from IMSA, which still remains in dialogue on the potential implementation of the regs for the 2022 WeatherTech Championship season.

***It’s believed that a firm decision on whether IMSA will adopt the FIA and ACO’s platform will likely be made by the end of this year.

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