COTA Saturday Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***Kellymoss has gone to a backup Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport chassis following Jack Parriott’s accident in qualifying for this evening’s Lone Star Enduro at Circuit of The Americas. Additionally, Parriott, who was evaluated and released from the trackside medical center, has been replaced in the No. 73 entry by Riley Dickinson as the team claims Parriott is “unable to participate” according to a stewards’ decision.

***It was Parriott’s accident, just prior to the halfway mark in Pirelli GT4 America qualifying on Saturday morning, that resulted in the session being abandoned and the grid set based on results from Practice 2 on Friday. The three-hour GT4 America enduro gets underway at 5 p.m. CST with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch.

***Rebel Rock Racing’s Robin Liddell revealed the team has two Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evos in its possession, with the car he and Frank DePew are racing this weekend being the ex-Jason Bell chassis that ran under the Racers Edge Motorsports banner last year. The team has also acquired an ex-TF Sport Aston, which is an Evo spec as well, that was used for an initial testing program last November at the Apex One race at Sebring International Raceway.

***Liddell told Sportscar365: “It’s a pretty big financial commitment to own two GT3s when you haven’t even raced one yet. But it’s where we needed to be going forward, given the challenge of getting cars from Europe from at the drop of the hat, and everything that goes with that.”

***The team is “slowly offloading” its fleet of Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Evos, meanwhile, with Liddell confirming that one of its three chassis has already been sold and a second one is on the “cusp” of being sold. The car that was damaged last month’s massive start-line accident in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Sebring, meanwhile, will be repaired, and could be used for a future customer program, Liddell indicated.

***Sean Heckman, who appears to be sports car racing’s most in-demand race strategist as of late, has joined Rebel Rock to call tomorrow’s race. The co-host of the popular ‘Dinner With Racers’ series has worked with no fewer than four different GT3 teams over the last 12 months including Magnus Racing, Pfaff Motorsports and most recently Conquest Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

***Chouest Povoledo’s second Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, which competed in GT World Challenge America powered by AWS last year, has been used as a display car for the last two events according to team principal Aaron Povoledo, who continues to get behind the wheel of the team’s GT America powered by AWS chassis during GTWC America practice sessions to assist Ross Chouest in setting up his car for the single-driver sprint races.

***Chouest revealed to Sportscar365 that he will likely miss the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta weekend in mid-June, as it falls on the due date for the birth of his and his wife’s third daughter.

***Colin Braun is back in a Porsche 911 GT3 R for the first time since 2017 when he contested a season of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTD class in a CORE autosport entry. Of note, Braun got his professional sports car racing start in a Porsche, having been part of the famous ‘Team 16’ lineup in the 2005 Rolex 24 at Daytona, sharing a Porsche 996 GT3 Cup with fellow 16-year-olds Brad Coleman and Adrian Carrio as well as driver coach Ross Bentley.

***Braun, who is in the Pro-Am class No. 017 Kellymoss Porsche with Todd Parriott this year, told Sportscar365: “For me there’s been a lot to learn. The Mercedes I knew quite well and felt like I had optimized my driving and knowledge of the car. It’s kind of fun to have a new challenge, something different to learn, something different to figure out. It’s been fun.”

***Riley Motorsports has launched a livery competition for it ‘Sparkelfarts’ BMW M4 GT3 EVO, where a fan could get to see their design on the car for the the season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour presented by AWS. Submissions, via a blank canvas of the BMW on backside of the team’s hero card, are being accepted, with the top designs set to advance to a fan vote later this year.

***Jarett Andretti, who runs the BMW program on behalf of Riley, joked that he’d like to see an AJ Foyt retro livery on the car at Indianapolis, owing to the fact that the car already runs Foyt’s iconic No. 14, and even suggested a split design, with the pink ‘Sparkelfarts’ design on one side and a Foyt-inspired livery on the other.

***The unicorn livery that Slade Stewart has used since the start of his pro racing career, in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America competition, was designed by his daughter and has been a fan-favorite in the paddocks he has graced.

***Another eye-catching livery comes from the Riley-run, sister Kellymoss outfit’s No. 88 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Loek Hartog and John Gilliland, which makes its belated race debut this weekend after a testing accident at Sonoma led to an early withdrawal. The Pro-Am class entry is adorned in a full cow livery, for Gilliland’s ‘Moove In Self Storage‘ business, which has 32 locations across the Northeast.

***John Capestro-Dubets, who had joined GMG Racing for a dual series program including McLaren Trophy America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America, has parted ways with the James Sofronas-owned operation. Capestro-Dubets was at the wheel of a Kellymoss Porsche 911 Cup car in last weekend’s Carrera Cup round at Long Beach, in a one-off outing, and is not slated to take part in next weekend’s McLaren Trophy America round in Miami.

***VP Racing Fuels, the official fuel supplier for SRO America, has temporarily increased the price of its fuels, having implemented a $1 per gallon surcharge to account for the increased freight costs to deliver to events due to higher diesel costs. The surcharges, made amid the Iran war that has led to surging gas prices around the world, are being applied to all VP customers and race series and is intended to be temporary according to VP Racing’s senior Vice President of global sales Bruce Hendel.

***CieloVision, which is serving as this weekend’s event sponsor, has partnered with JMF Motorsports to bring its spatial intelligence technology into the SRO America paddock for the first time this weekend, which captures how cars enter and align within a pit box, with the goal of refining performance over time. The company’s platform is primarily used in retail and quick services restaurant settings, to monitor execution and improved operational consistency.

***CieloVision CEO Imre Szenttornyay said: “[Motorsports] is the kind of environment where you learn quickly. When timing matters and everything is happening at speed, you can see where technology adds value. We are putting our platform into a live setting and letting it show us where it works best.”

***Robby Foley revealed that his and Justin Rothberg’s ‘split livery’ on the No. 29 Laticrete-sponsored Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO was inspired by the team’s similar design from the WeatherTech Championship that splits the traditional Turner yellow-and-blue livery and Liqui Moly colors.

***Foley told Sportscar365: “Justin was trying to decide between a white car and a black car and he saw the IMSA car and he said, ‘I don’t have to decide!’ That’s kinda cool. It’s worked out. We’ve seen a couple more split liveries throughout the world. It’s the best of both worlds for us.”

***McLaren Trophy America is not in action at COTA as the single-make series will be part of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix event next weekend for the first time, alongside Porsche Carrera Cup North America and Formula 2 at the Miami International Autodrome, which is understood to be a venue under consideration for a possible full standalone SRO America weekend next year.

***McLaren Automotive Head of Motorsport Giorgio Sanna told Sportscar365: “Miami is very important. We are looking to have in the next few years a few very important events where McLaren Trophy will partner, in America and Europe. Miami is, of course, a very important event. It’s together with Formula 1. The momentum in Formula 1 for McLaren is important. The U.S. is an important market and Florida is probably one of the best markets in the U.S. There are all the elements to justify the attendance for this kind of event.”

***It has been rumored that McLaren Trophy America could switch to IMSA sanctioning next year, a potential move that is believed to be favored by Sanna, who previously ran Lamborghini’s motorsport department that has been aligned with IMSA for its single-make series in North America since its inception.

***Major construction work has been ongoing at COTA, including further progress on the ‘COTALAND’ amusement park that will be wrapped around parts of the track, as well as work on adding additional pit boxes, as previously reported by Sportscar365, to accommodate the new Cadillac Formula 1 team as well as potential expanded grids in the FIA World Endurance Championship in the future. The extra pit boxes will also be a welcome addition for SRO America teams ahead of its expected return next year.

***Sunday’s activities will include a 250-plus exotic car convoy to COTA, with super and hypercars from the Texas Grand Tour set to be on display in a trackside car corral, as well as completing on-track parade laps. Among the cars expected is a McLaren Solus GT, a $4 million F1-inspired track day car that’s limited to 25 units.

***There will also be fanfare on the grid prior to the three-hour GTWC America feature race, including a Texas longhorn cow and two horses from the nearby ‘Hooves and Horns’ ranch.

***The second round of the GTWC America season gets underway on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CST (1:30 p.m. EST) with live coverage on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel and on Twitch featuring the commentary team of Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish and Amanda Busick. A one-hour recap show, also including the GT4 America Lone Star Enduro, will air on FS1 on Sat. May 2 at 11:30 a.m. EST.

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