IMSA: Teams test at newly repaved Watkins Glen

The newly repaved 3.4-mile track at Watkins Glen International got a first look by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship during a test this week.

Monday's IMSA activity saw Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's GT and BMW Team RLL's GT Le Mans cars and GT Daytona teams Stevenson Motorsports and Turner Motorsport take to the track ahead of July's Six Hours of The Glen, and the drivers were pleased with the new asphalt.

"When it's still rubbering in, you might have two grooves in some corners when you're dogfighting for position and guys will be able to hang on the outside a little bit more," said Joey Hand, who tested with teammates Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook and Dirk Muller. "People are trying to build new racetracks, to this day, that produce racing that a lot of our old racetracks have, like Watkins Glen, and can't get there. ... I was just happy to see that we have the old Watkins Glen racetrack, with a facelift, just new pavement. That was what was important to me."

"It's so fast and rewarding, it's just exhilarating," Briscoe said. "I love the high-speed corners. ... It's so smooth, it's got that new surface all the way around, so you don't have the concrete patches anymore. It's going to be a higher level of grip, and I think you're going to see some new track records, probably."

"It was a very useful day and we made good progress," said Turner's Markus Palttala, who won the six-hour race in 2014 with Dane Cameron in a BMW Z4. "The biggest difference is the added grip of the new tarmac. Our [BMW M6 GT3] liked it and handled better than in the previous rounds. We've had great success at Watkins Glen before. I loved the track to start with – it's a very cool layout and has a great rhythm – but now with the new surface, it's simply awesome."

Richard Westbrook has two straight overall wins at The Glen, the previous two as part of Visit Florida Racing's No. 90 Corvette DP.

"I had a few laps [this week], and it's quick – really quick," he said. "When people get here for the first time on race weekend, it's going to raise some eyebrows when they go out for their first lap. They've done an incredible job."