The race week at Watkins Glen was ideal: the weather was spectacular and the track conditions were fantastic with the new pavement. There were a ton of fans there, too, and the autograph sessions were packed. Overall, it was a perfect weekend for racing.
Our Mazda prototypes were incredibly quick and competitive. The No. 55 car had the ability to do some testing at the circuit prior to the event, which gave us a great starting place for the setup package for the race. The 70 car was essentially learning a new track between the repaving and all the enhancements to the circuit, but both cars were able to qualify in the top five, and the No. 55 even qualified on the front row.
The circuit’s repave was incredibly smooth and well suited for our Mazda Prototypes.
The start of the race was great. I was able to shuffle up through the field and ran inside the top five, passing for positions and having some great racing with the top DP drivers, which was a lot of fun. Their cars were stronger in certain areas of the track while our Mazdas were stronger in others, so it was a lot of back and forth as we challenged each other through the GT traffic. It really kept the racing intense!
Meanwhile, the 55 car went on to lead several times throughout the race. The 70 had its time leading as well during the opening stages. Through some unfortunate pit stop miscues, our 70 team lost valuable time on the race track, which put us a lap down. We worked hard trying to regain our lap, but it seemed like the yellows never played our way to allow that to happen, even though we ran with the lead pack the final three hours of the race. My final double stint was gratifying because I was running with the leaders, but unfortunately we did it while one lap down.
Overall, it was a solid day for the pace of the Mazdas. Our fifth-place finish in the 70 is good, but we were certainly hoping for better than that. The 55 was sidelined by an engine problem with less than 30 minutes to go after running in the top three during the closing stages, which was just a heartbreaker.
Luckily for our team, we don’t have to wait long to get back at it for another shot at getting further up the podium, although it will be a lot of hard work to prep for the next event this coming weekend. We’ll be at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, which should play in favor of our Mazdas, just like Watkins Glen did. The race will be nothing short of exciting because the prototypes lap the 2.5-mile track in just over a minute and all four classes of the WeatherTech championship will be there, so GT traffic will be intense!
A special team photo opp with the special paint schemes.