COTA Friday Notebook

Photo: Brian Cleary/BCPix.com

***Adderly Fong’s Bentley Continental GT3 returned to the track Friday afternoon after getting worked on at a local body shop following Fong’s heavy accident on Thursday. Additional parts were flown in from the UK overnight and the car is expected to return to action for qualifying tomorrow morning.

***Bentley Team Absolute will fly in one of its chassis from China for next weekend’s round at St. Petersburg to replace Fong’s damaged car. Both of the cars here this weekend are the ex-Dyson Racing Continental GT3s that were run last year.

***Another stricken car, the No. 66 DIME Racing Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT3 of Frankie Montecalvo, is also expected to be back on track tomorrow after suffering axle failure on Thursday. The team is flying in a part from Eric Lux’s car in Florida, thanks to some quick work from the reigning GTA champion. “I called Eric and said I need your left-rear axle,” Montecalvo told Sportscar365.

***Veteran official Peter Roberts has been named the new Chief Steward. Roberts, who has enjoyed an extensive officiating career in Europe that includes Porsche Super Cup and the British Touring Car Championship, replaces Pat di Natale, who has retired after a lengthy stint with the series.

***Both Dorsey Schroeder and Brian Till, meanwhile, return as Race Director and Chief Driver Steward, respectively, as part of the championship’s increased competition department, which includes the addition of Todd Ketcham as technical manager.

***Track limits are under much more scrutiny this year. Any car that has all four wheels outside of the lines will be penalized, unlike what had been seen previously at some tracks. Roberts explained during the drivers meeting that the change has been made to have closer conformity to FIA and European rules.

***It’s been a challenging start to the weekend for K-PAX Racing with ECU issues plaguing the McLaren 650S GT3s of Alvaro Parente. The car has completed limited laps in today’s two official practice sessions.

***The K-PAX McLarens are sporting new liveries designed by Troy Lee, with the No. 6 car of Austin Cindric in blue, Parente’s No. 9 entry in yellow and the No. 13 car of Colin Thompson in orange. Thompson’s car has been upgraded from one of K-PAX’s McLaren MP4-12Cs that ran in 2014.

***The Flying Lizard Motorsport-run operation expands from a two to three-car operation this year. Flying Lizard team principal Thomas Blam told Sportscar365 they’ve added four new mechanics and an engineer for the effort.

***GM Racing Director Mark Kent is playing the role as Cadillac Racing Program Manager this weekend, as the manufacturer continues its search for a replacement to David Caldwell, who has joined PWC as its new Director of Operations.

***TRG-AMR is not currently entered for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with Kevin Bucker telling Sportscar365 they’ll likely focus on a return to GTD for the third round of the season next month at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

***Buckler said they’re finalizing a multi-car entry for the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North America series this year, which could see up to three entries, in addition to its two-car full-season GTS commitment in PWC.

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