Watkins Glen Weekend Notebook

Photo: Porsche

***A total of 30 cars are entered for the third event of the Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands season, marking the highest entry since the opening round at Sebring International Raceway in March.

***Thirty-one cars were on the pre-event entry list although the No. 16 MRS-GT Racing entry has since been withdrawn after not being able to secure a driver for this weekend. The entry is understood to be confirmed for the remainder of the season, however.

***Both Vernon McClure (TPC Racing) and Rene Robichaud (Kelly-Moss Road & Race) return to the Pro-Am class after missing the round at Circuit of The Americas. Tim Pappas, who was present at the Sebring season-opener, is again absent from the series for the second consecutive event. 

***The Pro-Am 991 class sees Kurt Hunt (ACI Motorsports), Tom Balames (Kelly-Moss), Joseph Lombardo (Kelly-Moss) and Craig Conway (Irish Mike’s Racing) return to action after missing the COTA rounds while Richard Edge is set for his series debut in the No. 18 ACI Motorsports Porsche.

***Michelin has introduced a new rear tire for the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars. The Michelin Pilot Sport Cup N3 R is a minor evolution of the previous version and has been designed and built to maximize the rear tire’s performance in the global Porsche Carrera Cup series.

***Kelly-Moss Road & Race head into the weekend with a 1-2 lead in the Pro championship courtesy of three wins in four races between teammates Seb Priaulx and Kay van Berlo.

***Both Priaulx and van Berlo have earned podium finishes in each round, with van Berlo earning wins in Round 2 at Sebring and Round 4 at Circuit of The Americas and Priaulx victorious in Round 1 at Sebring.

***JDX Racing driver Parker Thompson is the only driver to have broken the Kelly-Moss stranglehold in Pro, with the Canadian having won Round 3 at COTA and currently sits third in the title chase, 32 points behind leader Priaulx.

***Kelly-Moss’ Alan Metni is undefeated in the Pro-Am class while the No. 55 Goldcrest Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car of Matt Halcome is riding a three-race win streak in the Pro-Am 911 class.

***Metni is pulling double duty this weekend between Carrera Cup action and Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America, where Metni drives for Change Racing n the Am class.

***Kelly-Moss and TPC Racing also have entries in both of the IMSA-sanctioned single-make series, which are running in support of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race this weekend.

***The No. 7 Wright Motorsports Porsche of Max Root is sporting a special Porsche 935 retro livery this weekend.

***While still navigating a fluid season-long schedule due to COVID-19 restrictions, series manager Brian Blocker said that Watkins Glen International was on a “very short list of absolute musts” for the series to visit this year.

“This track provides us with everything we look for,” he said. “It is fast, demands driver and team precision and it has a long history of Porsche success. The Glen rewards talent and commitment. Those are the attributes we are looking for in everything we do with the series and at Porsche.”

***One of the dates to be recently confirmed was the announcement of Porsche’s ‘Sportscar Together Festival’ at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 10-12 that will include two rounds of Carrera Cup North America as well as the USAC-sanctioned Porsche Sprint Challenge North America by Yokohama and Porsche Club of America racing.

***A replacement round for the canceled Toronto Indy event has yet to be formerly announced although are understood to have been decided internally.

***During the break since the Circuit of The Americas doubleheader, 311RS Motorsport joined Porsche Car North America PR at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to provide journalists with a unique look at both the 911 GT3 road and 911 GT3 Cup race car as well as the Michelin tires which shod both machines.

***Full coverage of both 45-minute races can be found live at PorscheCarreraCup.us with IMSA Radio’s John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw  providing commentary. Coverage is also available on Trackpass on NBC Sports Gold and IMSA.tv.

***Race 1 gets underway today at 1 p.m. ET with the second round scheduled for Saturday at 9:35 a.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