Mid-Ohio Saturday Notebook

Photo: John Dagys

***Saturday’s rain-shortened race saw EFFORT Racing pick up its second victory in the last three races and the first for Ryan Dalziel, who made his return to Pirelli World Challenge competition. Dalziel won in his series debut at St. Petersburg last year but his TruSpeed Porsche was later disqualified due to an issue with the car’s front splitter.

***RealTime Racing’s new Acura TLX GT made a quiet debut appearance, finishing 23rd in the GT class. Confirmation to race in this weekend’s doubleheader only came on Thursday afternoon following a successful shakedown at Road America earlier that day.

***While not confirming to FIA GT3 regulations, the all-wheel-drive Acura TLX GT features a number of high-tech components, including a 3.5-liter twin turbo V6, derived from HPD’s championship-winning LMP2 powerplant.

***Look for Mike Hedlund to make his return to the series at Sonoma, with Scuderia Corsa operating his ex-ESM Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 for the weekend. Hedlund took part in the opening three rounds of the championship with DragonSpeed and has since focused on further test days with his Prancing Horse.

***World Challenge President/CEO Scott Bove has set a target of 30-33 full-season entries in GT/GT-A next year. This year’s grid has consistently seen more than 20 cars, with 24 entries having participated in this weekend’s doubleheader.

***A number of the projected additional entries are expected to come from existing teams. GMG Racing team owner James Sofronas told Sportscar365 that he’s received interest from two new customers, while DragonSpeed’s Elton Julian said he could return to a multi-car operation in 2015, with inquiries from Ferrari Challenge drivers. It’s also understood a few existing TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GTD teams are considering a switch to World Challenge as well.

***SRT Motorsports Racing Manager Gary Johnson confirmed an increased interest in the Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R since its win last month with Kuno Wittmer. Johnson said that exact chassis could soon be sold to a customer in Europe, while Riley Technologies has two additional GT3-Rs already in build due to the expected increased demand of the car.

***The 2015 World Challenge schedule will again be released during the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) Show on Dec. 11-13. Bove said he expects the core GT/GTS calendar to remain at 9 weekends next year, with the majority again on a shared bill with IndyCar.

***Tomorrow’s Round 12 from Mid-Ohio is scheduled to go green at 1:35 p.m. ET, with live streaming set to begin on www.world-challengetv.com at 1:15 p.m. ET.

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