Preview: 6 Hours of the Glen
For Fischer Motorsport, Saturday’s six-hour race represents a tough challenge, just as for any other team. The race will be held at notoriously hot temperatures, demanding everything from man and machine.
Machine, to be exact, will be the organization’s three entries, the No. 14 P2 Prototype Dallara P217 piloted by Jason Birnie and Niclas Pedersen for Fischer Motorsport USA and the two Porsche 911 GT3 R with start numbers 84 and 85 and drivers Manuel Mayer, Jay Van Meppelen, Nelson Eberth, Stephen Nobes and David Leman.
David Leman, a long-time friend of Van Meppelen will make his first start for Fischer Motorsport, after being involved in contract signing negotiations with the team these past two weeks.
“We’re working on a permanent deal and have decided to just focus on Watkins Glen for now. But yeah, the plan is to make David a permanent part of this organization.”, team manager Benjamin Fischer said.
“I’m excited to make my debut with the team at Watkins Glen. This is a good track for me. I’ve got a ton of experience here, so I feel very confident to be able to contribute. I’m very grateful for the opportunity.”, said Leman.
The No. 14 Dallara P217 team sits 11th in the SportsCar Championship standings. A good race result is what the team is looking for, after focusing on damage control in most races so far, finishing in the top ten three out of four races, but failing to crack the top-five yet.
The No. 84 Porsche is the best-positioned team in the series right now, holding fourth place in the GT3 championship standings, albeit with a relatively large 390-point gap to the championship leaders of Torque Freak Racing.
“This will not be an easy race. Handling is going to be an issue with these temperatures being the way they are. I think the team that will manage to stay on course and build a good long run setup, will have the upper hand here.”, Manuel Mayer said.
The sister car No. 85 Porsche sits P16 in the championship standings on account of a disqualification at Laguna Seca last month. But the team is upbeat and with a lineup of three drivers, is prepared for the race.
“The entire team has worked really hard. We have identified what the issues were that gave us trouble at this track and we attacked it really hard. We are in good shape and should be competitive in this one, I feel like.”, Van Meppelen said.
The six-hour endurance classic starts Saturday at 12:00 pm EDT / 18:00 CEST and will be streamed live, flag to flag, on the VSCA YouTube channel.
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