Coming off their inaugural VSCA SportsCar Championship victory, JO Motorsports and their No. 99 BMW M Hybrid V8 will look to keep their momentum going to win their first endurance race.
In LMP2 competition, Trading Paints Racing Team and their No. 19 Dallara P217 team with Jordan Erickson and Selena Ward have been nothing short of dominant in the early part of the season. But can the three-time Sprint Cup race winners repeat their success in the 6-hour race on Saturday?
GTD racing is where sparks fly and the term “contact sport” is lived and breathed race in race out, more so than other classes. Finally capturing their first ever VSCA win, the No. 151 World Of SimRacing Team BMW has all the momentum going into round 6.
But what about Kinetic Racing? After winning the first three races of the 2023 season to start off the year, the No. 67 Porsche still leads the championship comfortably but hasn’t won at Laguna Seca or Canadian Tire Motorsport Park the last two races.
Torque Freak Racing were one of the teams to take advantage and capture their first win of the year at Laguna Seca - can the series veterans in the No. 6 Lamborghini recapture their magic at Watkins Glen once more?
Hot temperatures expected for Saturday
If the weather conditions in the practice sessions on Thursday and Friday are any indication, teams and drivers will be in for a hot race on Saturday. Not only is the race a test of endurance for man and machine at six hours length, but temperatures in the high 80s or even over 90s could make for hot tempers and short fuses and also lead to more incidents overall.
And then there are the tires. Many teams, especially GT teams, were reportedly struggling with tire wear in practice session long runs. How will the wear and tear affect strategies in a race that will award VSCA Endurance Cup championship points at the 3-hour mark and the finish?
Championship battles intensify at season’s halfway mark
With only a 22-point championship lead in the LMDh class, 24 Hours of Daytona champions Mayer Simspeed Performance look back on a recent stretch of disappointing races. At Watkins Glen, the Teisendorf, Germany team with drivers Kyle Birnie and Niclas Pedersen will surely put forth every effort to turn the ship around.
Breathing down their neck are the reigning Endurance Cup champions of No. 79 BMW of Champion Motorsports. Thomas Fisher and Cameron Baker have to be considered among the favorites for the win this weekend.
Grizzly Motorsports and their No. 7 BMW meanwhile also have gained ground in the championship, trailing by only 103 points and by way of earning two VR7UAL Pole positions in five races, have also shown to have elite pace in the field.
In LMP2 class, everything looks to be going just perfectly for Trading Paints Racing Team and their No. 19 car. Holding a 120-point lead with 3 wins out of five races, one has to wonder: What is the competition going to do?
Albrecht Motorsports have yet to win in VSCA SportsCar Championship competition, but have shown to be masters at playing the consistency game, earning four top-five finishes in five starts this year.
The No. 14 Dallara of Fischer Motorsport has lost a lot of ground lately with disappointing races at Mosport and Long Beach, but has a second-place finish to show for it at Laguna Seca. Facing a 226-point deficit at the season’s halfway-mark, nothing is over or decided, but the pressure is on for the German team.
VRG Sport and their No. 66 car trail by 260 points and hold P4 in the championship, also looking for their shot to close the gap to the leaders in a race that promises a lot of drama.
As mentioned before, in GTD class competition, all eyes are on Kinetic Racing’s No. 67 Porsche. Torque Freak Racing has reduced the points gap to only 84 points and sits in second place, offering fans and competitors a deja vu of the 2022 season when the American and British organizations dominated the GTD class championship throughout the year.
Screeching Moose Motorsports and their No. 5 Mercedes were involved in late-race drama with Kinetic Racing at Mosport and are looking to earn themselves championship contender status, at a points deficit of 122 points going into Watkins Glen. The question that is on everybody’s mind: When will the Canadian team capture its first win? Maybe Watkins Glen will bring the answer.
MAD Sim Racing, who have only brought their No. 393 Mercedes to Watkins Glen, minus their LMP2 entry, will put all their focus on getting their GTD entry to victory lane at Watkins Glen. After coming close several times in the early stages of the season, the Mercedes AMG GT3 of MAD Sim Racing will surely be found near the front in the second annual VSCA 6 Hours of the Glen.
Green flag Saturday 1600 GMT
The 6 Hours of the Glen will be taking the green flag and go underway Saturday at 1600 GMT. VSCA will provide a live stream with timing and scoring overlays on its YouTube channel, free for all fans and friends to watch.
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