ROCK HILL, S.C. (June 23, 2021) – CORE autosport will spend back-to-back weekends in upstate New York; first for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, June 25 – 27, then for the WeatherTech 240, July 1 – 2.
The Six Hours of the Glen is a return to WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s endurance format, thus Jon Bennett and Colin Braun welcome back George Kurtz as a co-driver. The trio last piloted the No. 54 Composite Resources/CrowdStrike Ligier JS P320 together in March at the 12 Hours of Sebring, where they came away victorious in the LMP3 category.
All three drivers had the opportunity to test No. 54 at Watkins Glen earlier in the month to get a feel for how the LMP3 machine handles around the historic road course.
The WeatherTech 240 goes back to the two hour and 40-minute sprint format with only Bennett and Braun driving. The race is a replacement for the SportsCar Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, which was cancelled in April due to continuing COVID travel restrictions. To accommodate the late change, IMSA will be on track Thursday, July 1 and Friday July 2 only.
CORE has finished on the podium at Watkins Glen twice; the first was a victory in 2014 in the Prototype Challenge category, the second came in 2018 with a runner-up in the Prototype category.
Noteworthy
- CORE autosport is now offering high-precision fabrication for motorsport application and more – click here for more information.
- Colin Braun has won the pole position at Watkins Glen twice, 2014 in PC and 2018 in Prototype
- The Six Hours of the Glen is part of the Michelin Endurance Cup, CORE is currently fourth in that championship
- CORE is currently second in the WeatherTech LMP3 championship
Jon Bennett
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“We had a productive test a few weeks ago. The whole team pulled together and we made excellent progress on our set-up. Our race engineer Tyler Neff cleverly unlocked some speed we had been looking for.
“One of the challenges in any long race is to pace yourself and manage risk carefully. A clean run in the opening 4-5 hours will give us the best chance to leverage our stored potential and attack for the win in the closing stages.
“I know Colin and I both really like Mosport and hope that Canada and its citizens are back on their feet soon after this terrible global crisis. Watkins Glen shares some of Mosport’s flowing speed and fast corners. It the end, this is a good solution this season and we all look forward to visiting Mosport and Canada’s racing fans next year.
“I like a couple places at Watkins Glen: while a mostly non-threatening section, I like threading through the Armco guardrails of the Esses. You get an incredible sensation of speed. I really enjoy Turn 10 as well. It’s banked and a quick flick at nearly full throttle, awesome.”
Colin Braun
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“We had a great test at Watkins Glen. Jon and George both got a bunch of laps and we got a lot of time to test changes to the car and work through things. It was quite a good test for us.
“The six-hour race length is a unique format and Watkins Glen is a good place for it. The Glen is a good mix of fast and flowing corners; you have places to get by the slower GT traffic and also let the DPi cars by, but with it being the six-hour format it’s in-between a flat-out sprint race and an endurance, get to the end, mentality. I think that fits everything CORE is about and our driver lineup and our engineering prospective of putting ourselves in a position at the end and then having the speed to get it done.
“The back-to-back thing is cool. I’m really happy with what IMSA did given the circumstances. I think they came up with a great solution.”
George Kurtz
Driver: No. 54 Composite Resources / CrowdStrike Ligier LM P320
“We had a great test at Watkins Glen. Jon and George both got a bunch of laps and we got a lot of time to test changes to the car and work through things. It was quite a good test for us.
“The six-hour race length is a unique format and Watkins Glen is a good place for it. The Glen is a good mix of fast and flowing corners; you have places to get by the slower GT traffic and also let the DPi cars by, but with it being the six-hour format it’s in-between a flat-out sprint race and an endurance, get to the end, mentality. I think that fits everything CORE is about and our driver lineup and our engineering prospective of putting ourselves in a position at the end and then having the speed to get it done.
“The back-to-back thing is cool. I’m really happy with what IMSA did given the circumstances. I think they came up with a great solution.”