After sitting out the race at Long Beach, the GT Daytona (GTD) class returns to action with seven manufacturers and a 17-car entry competing in today’s Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Defending Mazda Raceway class winner Patrick Lindsey has a new teammate and a new car for Park Place Motorsports.
Veteran factory driver Joerg Bergmeister now co-drives the No. 73 Park Place Porsche/Justice Brothers Inc. Porsche 911 GT3 R.
“I always enjoy spending time in Monterey and relaxing, but since we are in the most competitive class in the WeatherTech Series – with superb driver lineups and machinery to match – we will have to be 100-percent focused on the task at hand in order to successfully defend our win from last year,” Lindsey said. “Qualifying will be a bigger factor with the shortened race length and the fact that passing at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca isn’t an easy task. The circuit requires a lot of momentum to get around and that means the traditional passing opportunities are few and far between. It is somewhat of a home track for us since we live a few hours down the road in Santa Barbara and there’s nothing like putting up a big result in front of your family and friends.”
Joining Park Place in the Porsche camp are Alex Job Racing’s two-car team, the No. 22 WeatherTech entry for Cooper MacNeil and Leh Keen joined by Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche.
Rolex 24 runner-up Black Swan Racing fields the No. 540 Papent.com/Fire Arts Enterprises/Boston Athletic Club Porsche 911 GT3 R for Nicky Catsburg and Timothy Pappas.
Spencer Pumpelly, who co-drove with Lindsey in last year’s victory, has a new ride for 2016. Pumpelly now shares the No. 16 Change Racing Pertamina/Monster Energy Lamborghini Huracán GT3, one of four of the new Lamborghinis in the field.
Others include the No. 48 Castrol/Universal Industrial Sales Huracán for Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow, the No. 27 Dream Racing machine for Lawrence DeGeorge and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli and the No. 11 Change Racing entry with drivers to be announced.
Scuderia Corsa, winners of the most recent GTD race at Sebring, will have the No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3 for Christina Nielsen and Alessandro Balzan. TRG-AMR returns to GTD competition with the No. 007 LaSalle Solutions Aston Martin GT3 for James Davison and Brandon Davis.
Stevenson Motorsport won the 2015 Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge race at Mazda Raceway with Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis.
Both drivers return to head the team’s two-car GTD entry in the No. 6 Stevenson Auto Group Audi R8 LMS GT3. The team also fields the No. 9 Audi for Lawson Aschenbach and Matt Bell. Magnus Racing has the No. 44 Audi Tire Center/Auric Solar Audi R8 LMS GT3 for Rolex 24 class winners and current point leaders John Potter and Andy Lally.
The field will feature two entries for both BMW and Dodge. Turner Motorsport fields two cars, the No, 96 aFe Power BMW M6 GT3 for Bret Curtis and Jens Klingmann, plus the No. 97 Alvarez & Marsal/IHG Rewards Club entry for Michael Marsal and Markus Palttala.
Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper GT3-R will be joined by Dan Knox in Long Star Racing’s No. 80 ACS Manufacturing Dodge Viper.
