| June 10, 2020 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service |
 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s championship week for the IMSA iRacing Pro Series. It all comes down to the 90-minute Konica Minolta Presents IMSA iRacing at Watkins Glen International on Thursday, June 11 at 6 p.m. ET to wrap up the six-race virtual championship that began back in March. And while the only two drivers mathematically in contention for the title – Bruno Spengler and Nicky Catsburg – have yet to score an IMSA win in real life at Watkins Glen, there are several others in the field who have. Here’s a final look at which IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge drivers are hoping to translate real life success into virtual success, this time at the 3.4-mile circuit located in New York’s Finger Lakes region. The only two drivers in the field with multiple victories at The Glen are Richard Westbrook with three and John Edwards with two. Westbrook’s wins were all consecutive, albeit not in the same class (Prototype 2014 and 2015; GT Le Mans 2016). On the other hand, both of Edwards victories came in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series GT classes in 2012 and 2013. The Glen treated Mazda well last year when the team earned its first WeatherTech Championship win, but as Tristan Nunez can attest, there’s another instance as well. With Joel Miller and Yojiro Terada, Nunez scored the final GX class victory at The Glen in 2013 driving a Mazda 6 GX for SpeedSource and will look to pull off another victory on Thursday. Misha Goikhberg was part of a memorable win at The Glen in 2018, one year after the DPi and LMP2 classes merged into the top Prototype category. An ORECA LMP2 had yet to score a victory in the class until Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson and Chris Miller crossed the stripe first in the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports race car. it would be the first of three consecutive wins for the marque that year. Meanwhile, James French and Kyle Masson co-drove to victory at The Glen in the 2017 Prototype Challenge class. It was one of seven dominant wins that season for French, full-season co-driver Patricio O’Ward and the Performance Tech Motorsports team en route to the class’ final championship. French and Masson find themselves as rivals, rather than teammates on Thursday. Filipe Albuquerque’s first WeatherTech Championship win came at The Glen in 2017, co-driving the No. 5 Action Express Cadillac DPi with Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi. The victory extended Cadillac’s winning streak in the series to six out of what would be seven straight wins that season. Only one driver in the field has claimed a win at The Glen in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Colin Mullan, 16 years old at the time, took home the checkered flag in 2018 alongside Mat Pombo in just his second series start. In the No. 52 MINI JCW, it was one of three podium finishes in four races for the rookie. Konica Minolta Presents IMSA iRacing at Watkins Glen 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. |
