Visit Florida Racing is going for a Third Consecutive Victory at Watkins Glen International

Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen ;Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the third-round for the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

Story By:ISMA SERIES MEDIA                                                                                                                                                                 Photos By:JAY FISH / RACERSGUIDE.COM

Watkins Glen NY.- June 28, 2016- The Daytona Prototype #90 Corvette team returns to The Glen with a new set of drivers, with Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens piloting the No. 90 Corvette DP.

“It’s time to go back Stateside to be back with Visit Florida Racing and Ryan Dalziel,” said Goossens, who competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France and visited the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England the past two weekends. “This is one of the races in the Patrón Endurance Cup, and Watkins Glen is a fairly demanding track. But I strongly believe that our Visit Florida drivers and team are ready for the challenge.”

Goossens is currently fourth in the Prototype standings, nine points out of the lead, trailing three sets of Corvette DP drivers. Two-time defending WeatherTech Championship Prototype champions Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, drivers of the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Cider Tree Corvette DP, are tied for the lead with brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor of the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP, with 151 points each.  Eric Curran and Dane Cameron, drivers of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering/Team Fox Corvette DP, are third with 147 points.

The four Corvette DPs on the entry list expect strong challenges from Mazda and Honda Prototypes in the six-hour race on the historic 3.4-mile road circuit.

As co-leaders of the Patrón Endurance Cup with the No. 5 Action Express team, the Tequila Patrón ESM team returns to The Glen with the No. 2 Honda Ligier JS P2 that won both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida. Pipo Derani will be making his Watkins Glen debut, joined by Watkins Glen veterans Scott Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek.

After finishing a team-best fourth at both Long Beach and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Mazda Motorsports placed third and fourth in the most recent race at Detroit. Jonathan Bomarito and Tristan Nunez will be joined by IndyCar driver Spencer Pigot in the No. 55 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype, while Joel Miller and Poughkeepsie, N.Y. native Tom Long will partner with Ben Devlin in the team’s No. 70 Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype.

Other Prototypes looking to end the Corvette DP streak at The Glen include the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca-winning No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Honda Ligier JS P2 of John Pew, Ozz Negri and Olivier Pla; the No. 0 Panoz DeltaWing Coupe of Katherine Legge, Sean Rayhall and Gabby Chavez; and the No. 50 Highway to Help/Fifty Plus Racing BMW Riley of Jim Pace, Dorsey Schroeder and Byron DeFoor.

Defending Winner Starworks Motorsport Takes Point Lead, Momentum To The Glen

Starworks Motorsport has momentum on its side as Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow defend their Watkins Glen Prototype Challenge (PC) victory in the No. 8 ORECA FLM09. The pair also won the most recent race at Detroit, taking over a three-point lead in the PC standings with 162 points.

“We finally got the monkey off our back at Detroit, because we’ve been fast but having bad luck,” Popow said. “Now we’re going to The Glen looking to win there again, and hoping to extend our lead in the championship. We’re looking to win more races this year, but our big goal is to win the championship.”

Robert Alon, Tom Kimber-Smith and Jose Gutierrez in the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca-winning No. 52 Professional Security Consultants/Westfield ORECA are second in the standings with 159 points, followed by Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson with 153 points. Goikhberg and Simpson won the class in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and at Long Beach in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Hi-Tide Boat Lifts/Red Line Oil entry.

Other PC entries include the two-time defending class champions and 2014 Glen winners Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and Mark Wilkins in the No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box/Composite ORECA FLM09; the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports Southwest Funding/Top 1 Oil ORECA of Don Yount, Johnny Mowlem and Matt McMurry; the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry of James French, Kyle Marcelli and 2015 Mazda Prototype Lites champion Kenton Koch; and the second Starworks Motorsport car, the No. 88 Popcorn Sutton ORECA of Mark Kvamme, Maro Engel and Sean Johnston.

Practice for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen begins at 11:25 a.m. ET on Friday, with qualifying on Saturday at 3:40 p.m. ET.