It was great to be back at Watkins Glen, one of my all-time favorite circuits, last weekend. The Sahlen’s 6 Hours of The Glen is always one of the more exciting events on the IMSA schedule each season, and having our additional teammates Marino Franchitti and Spencer Pigot back with us was a nice addition to our Mazda Motorsports team.
Unfortunately, our No. 70 Castrol Mazda had its fair share of challenges throughout the event, which kept us from getting the results we had hoped for. The race got off to a great start, and Joel Miller had a really good pace and was making up time through the field, but we had a turbo issue that manifested itself just a couple hours into the race. Our day was done.
Fortunately, though, our teammates in the No. 55 Mazda kept pushing through the drizzle and the typical challenges that a six-hour race throws at you. The pit crew did an incredible job for every stop, and the 55 managed to take home another podium result. This is our team’s first time to get back-to-back podiums, and we’re hoping we can continue that streak heading into Canadian Tire Motorsport Park this weekend.
At Watkins Glen, our average lap speed was round 130mph, and it’s similar at CTMP. It’s a high-speed track, which requires a lot of concentration and really beats both the body and the car! It’s a short turnaround this week for the team to re-prep after the six-hour race, but the Mazda guys are up for the task, and we know that all the challenges that CTMP presents should be fun in our RT24-P Mazda.
