Drivers, Teams Pulling Triple Duty At The Glen

Subtitle:Three Rounds Could Shake Up Championship Races

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 23, 2015) – It’s not a stretch to call the next event for the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama series the most vital of the season.

A maximum of 60 points will be available in Rounds 4, 5 and 6 June 26-27 at Watkins Glen International. The schedule is packed with a third 45-minute race because Round 4 was rained out April 12 at NOLA Motorsports Park near New Orleans.

Drivers and teams could get a serious leg up on the season championship in the Platinum Cup, Platinum Masters and Gold Cup classes with a strong performance on the 11-turn, 3.4-mile circuit in the scenic Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.

Round 5 will start at 3 p.m. (ET) Friday, June 26. There will be a double-header Saturday, June 27, with Round 6 at 9:10 a.m. and the makeup of Round 4 at 6:50 p.m. All three rounds are 45 minutes each.

The Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama championship produces intense, exciting racing for semi-professional and aspiring professional drivers in the world’s most produced and iconic race car, the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. The series is in its 11th season in 2015.

Racing is divided into two classes – Platinum Cup, featuring the 2014 and 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car, which is based on the seventh, and current, generation of the street car, and Gold Cup, which is comprised of the previous iteration (model years 2010-2013) of the race car. A Masters Championship also is conducted in Platinum and Gold classes. Each class is awarded with its own podium at the end of every race and individual champion at the end of every season. Points are awarded by finish in class.

The multi-class structure of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned series teaches drivers essential skills for an eventual career in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship or professional GT races worldwide.

A fascinating duel for the Platinum Cup championship between young stars Elliott Skeer and Jesse Lazare will be on center stage in all three rounds at Watkins Glen.

Skeer, a Long Island native who lives in Carlsbad, California, leads the championship with 56 points in a Wright Motorsports entry. He took the top spot with his first series victory in Round 3 in mid-April at NOLA Motorsports Park.

Skeer is a multiple race winner in entry-level single-make North American sports car competition. He finished second in Mazda MX-5 Cup championship in 2013 with five victories and nine podium finishes.

Skeer was one of five talented drivers invited to participate in the third annual Porsche Young Driver Academy last October at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama. He excelled under the eye of Porsche factory drivers and officials from Porsche Motorsport North America (PMNA) and Porsche Cars North America (PCNA).

Lazare, 17, from Montreal swept Rounds 1 and 2 in mid-March at Sebring International Raceway to start his tenure with the powerful Kelly-Moss Motorsports team. He earned one victory last season as a rookie in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama, finishing seventh in points.

Don’t be surprised if a pivotal moment occurs in this title duel at Watkins Glen. Colin Thompson broke free from the field last season with two victories at The Glen, both featuring last-lap passes for the lead. He took the championship lead and never relinquished it for the rest of the season.

One of the main protagonists in the Platinum Cup title race the last two seasons, Angel Benitez Jr., returns to the series for the first time in 2015 at Watkins Glen. Venezuela native Benitez, 26, will drive the No. 05 JDX Racing entry.

Benitez finished second in the 2014 Platinum Cup standings with a series-high five victories and third in 2013 with five victories.

The three races at Watkins Glen also will provide an opportunity for Kasey Kuhlman and Andrew Longe to keep in touch with the leading duo of Skeer and Lazare.

Kuhlman, from Cincinnati, is third in the Platinum Cup standings with 44 points in a Wright Motorsports Porsche. He has produced two third-place overall finishes this season and also is dominating Platinum Masters competition, with two victories and a runner-up finish in that class. Kuhlman is the reigning Platinum Masters champion.

Longe, 20, emerged at NOLA Motorsports Park as another young contender for the Platinum Cup title this season after finishing second behind Skeer in Round 3. Longe, from Naples, Florida, continues to improve in his first season in the series in a Fall-Line Motorsports entry.

The Watkins Glen event also will be a homecoming for father-and-son duo Joe and Lucas Catania, who live in Cazenovia, New York, just east of Syracuse. The Catanias climbed to the championship this season with Florida-based NGT Motorsport.

Lucas Catania, a recent graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the Finger Lakes city of Geneva, New York, is sixth in the Platinum Cup standings with 30 points. Joe Catania is tied for fifth in the Gold Cup Masters class with 28 points, just missing his first podium finish at NOLA Motorsports Park after a spirited duel with veteran Wayne Ducote for the final podium spot.

Michael Schein, from New York, also will race in his home state in a Wright Motorsports entry. Schein is fifth in the Platinum Cup standings with 35 points and a third-place finish in Round 1 in March at Sebring International Raceway.

An intriguing race for the Gold Cup championship will continue at Watkins Glen, as just 20 points separate the top four drivers.

Jeff Mosing, from Austin, Texas, leads with 56 points after earning a victory and two second-place finishes in the first three rounds of the season in a TOPP Racing Porsche. Wayne Ducote is enjoying his strongest career season in Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama competition at age 70, with two third-place finishes helping him climb to second with 44 points in a Kelly Moss Motorsports entry.

Mark Llano, from Wellington, Florida, is third at 39 points in an NGT Motorsport entry. David Ducote, from Houston, is fourth at 36 points in a Kelly-Moss Motorsports Porsche.

Look for Ducote, the son of Wayne Ducote, to continue to gain ground at The Glen. He was eliminated from Rounds 1 and 2 at Sebring after being caught in other drivers’ incidents but rebounded with a victory in Round 3 at NOLA Motorsports Park.

2013 Gold Cup champion Michael Levitas is another driver looking to jump-start his season at Watkins Glen. Levitas, from Baltimore, is tied for fifth with 28 points in a TPC Racing entry, but did not compete at NOLA Motorsports Park.

All drivers in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama compete in a Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car based on the street version of the current Porsche 911. The 3.8-liter power unit featured in the 911 GT3 Cup car produces 460 horsepower and a maximum engine speed of 8,500 rpm. The 911 GT3 Cup also includes a Porsche six-speed sequential gearbox with a mechanical slip differential, with an electropneumatic paddle shift system creating faster, more efficient gear changes.

The engines and transmissions of all the cars in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama are prepared and sealed by Porsche Motorsports North America, creating a level playing field on which driving talent and team setup skill prevail.

IMSA sanctions an eight-venue, 16-round schedule for the 2015 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama. The series will run 12 of its 16 rounds during TUDOR Championship events, including the season opener during the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.

Tight competition on great circuits in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama has launched many drivers and teams to success in higher levels of professional sports car racing over the last decade. Among those talented drivers are 2012 Platinum Cup champion Sean Johnston, a full-time competitor in 2013-14 in the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, 2013 Platinum Cup champion Madison Snow, who completed a successful first GT Daytona season in the TUDOR Championship in 2014, and SportsCar Challenge standout Ashley Freiberg.

Schedule

Practice: 9:30-10 a.m. (ET) and 1:20-2 p.m., Thursday, June 25

Qualifying: 9:35-9:55 a.m. Friday, June 26

Round 5 (45 minutes): 3-3:45 p.m. Friday, June 26

Round 6 (45 minutes): 9:10-9:55 a.m. Saturday, June 27

Round 4 (45 minutes): 6:50-7:35 p.m. Saturday, June 27

Race Coverage

Live streaming: Both races at www.imsa.com

Live timing: All on-track sessions at scoring.imsa.com or on new IMSA mobile app for iOS, Android or Windows

Twitter: Live text commentary from all sessions at @IMSALive