June 4, 2020Staff ReportIMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – We’re one step closer to the highly anticipated season finale of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series next Thursday, June 11.The entry list for the sixth and final round of the virtual championship has been released and once again, 50 drivers will vie for the win in one of the four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class cars – the BMW M8 GTE, Ferrari 488 GTE, Ford GT or Porsche 911 RSR. The final 90-minute iRace presented by Konica Minolta will stream live beginning at 6 p.m. ET on the iRacing Facebook and YouTube channels and the voice of IMSA Radio, John Hindhaugh, will once again lead the race commentary. The Torque Show will stream a pre-race showing at 5 p.m. on its Facebook page. With that, here’s a closer look at the Konica Minolta Presents IMSA iRacing at Watkins Glen entry list: The two winners from the IMSA iRacing Challenge Series have been given the bump up to the Pro Series next Thursday. Race 1 winner Michael Cooper will be competing in the No. 30 Ford GT, while Race 2 winner Greg Liefooghe will run the No. 19 BMW M8 GTE. The penultimate round of the IMSA iRacing Pro Series last week at VIRginia International Raceway saw Kenton Koch take a Ford GT to victory for the first time since the championship began. Was it an eye opener for some drivers? Nineteen competitors who are entered for Watkins Glen have opted to race the Ford GT, compared to only 13 who entered for VIR. It looks as if previous race winners Kenton Koch and Nick Tandy – winner of Round 4 at Road America – will be going out on top. Both drivers are not entered for the finale, leaving only Bruno Spengler and Nicky Catsburg as former victors in the field. Forty-eight other drivers will look to join them in that category. It’s hard not to reMINIsce on the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race from Watkins Glen in 2018, when then-16-year-old Colin Mullan scored his first career IMSA victory in just his second start. He and Mat Pombo made it back-to-back wins for the MINI JCW Team at The Glen and next Thursday, Mullan will swap the red and black Street Tuner racecar for the No. 36 Porsche 911 RSR. While the IMSA iRacing Challenge Series entry list will be released next week, competitors will now have an option to race either the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Clubsport or the BMW M4 GT4. In the previous two rounds, only the Porsche was available to select. Now, not only will we see a battle amongst competitors, but also manufacturers. The finale for this championship will stream live Thursday at 3 p.m. ET on the Global SimRacing YouTube Channel. |
