Kansas Pre-Race Notebook

***Colin Braun led all three Friday practice sessions in CORE autosport’s No. 54 Oreca FLM09, and he also had 100 percent of the car’s track time before qualifying. Co-driver Jon Bennett missed the practice sessions to attend his son’s high school graduation in his and the team’s home base of Rock Hill, S.C., before flying to make qualifying later Friday night for his first laps at Kansas Speedway.

***The fuel tank capacity for PC cars increases 5 liters from 80 to 85 for the race, to ensure no scheduled pit stops.

***Maxton Prill, son of longtime SCCA employee/club racer Eric Prill and his wife Robin, has been named grand marshal for segment one of tonight’s PC/Cooper Tires Prototype Lites race; he’ll give the start your engines command and receive a pace car ride. The youngest Prill was diagnosed with Pre-B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in November 2013 and the racing community continues to support “Super Max” in his recovery efforts. Many Mazda teams carried a “Racing for Maxton” decal in Monterey; the “Maxton’s Fight” decals are being handed out this weekend in Kansas by Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge driver Ryan Eversley, among others.

***PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports’ Frankie Montecalvo, in the team’s No. 52 Oreca FLM09, led Saturday afternoon’s warm-up session at 1:13.107 on a drying track. Andrew Novich (No. 61 Comprent Motorsports) was the fastest Prototype Lites entry.

***Montecalvo and Matt McMurry will fly directly to Le Mans following this weekend’s race in Kansas for their scrutineering appointments. McMurry will set a record as the youngest driver in Le Mans history in Greaves Motorsport’s LMP2 car, while Montecalvo shifts focus from his PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports PC ride to 8Star Motorsports’ GTE-Am entry, where he’ll fill in for Enzo Potolicchio.

***Potolicchio, meanwhile, has made a last-minute appearance in 8Star’s Cooper Tire Prototype Lites No. 4 car, filling in for Dalton Sargeant. The team hopes to have Sargeant back for the next round of the season at Watkins Glen.

***Three teams, 8Star Motorsports, Performance Tech Motorsports and BAR1 Motorsports, will have both PC and Prototype Lites entries in today’s race. 8Star’s ratio is one PC to three Lites; Performance Tech’s is one to five, a Lites class high, while BAR1 has one apiece.

***JDC Motorsports also has affiliated entries in both classes, but with the PC car a JDC/Miller entry of Chris Miller and Stephen Simpson, and the Prototype Lites car for points leader Mikhail Goikhberg run just under the JDC banner.

***Alex Tagliani and Ryan Dalziel, former co-drivers at Starworks Motorsport, are the only two drivers who raced in last year’s GRAND-AM Rolex Series race who will be in this year’s PC/Prototype Lites race. Tagliani took GT class pole in his R. Ferri Motorsports Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 but finished sixth in class co-driving with Jeff Segal; the Starworks BMW Riley of Dalziel and Alex Popow was 11th in DP.

***Without the Prototype, GT Le Mans or GT Daytona classes running, there are no drivers pulling double-duty between the TUDOR Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge races this weekend.

***Élan Motorsports Technologies has built and delivered its 50th Élan DP02 chassis to One Motorsports. Chassis No. 49 and 50 were delivered to drivers Lee Alexander and Todd Slusher in mid-May.

***This race marks the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites’ first race since Sebring, following a more than two and a half month break.