Patrón Endurance Cup Heads To Watkins Glen For Round 3

The Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup enters its second half of the 2015 competition with Chevrolet Corvette teams leading both the Prototype (P) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) classes heading to the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 28.

The event at Watkins Glen International is the third round of the Patrón Endurance Cup. The four-race competition features the four classic endurance races on the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship schedule: the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda.

Live television coverage of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen airs on FOX Sports 1 on Sunday, June 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET, with FOX Sports 2 taking over coverage from 2 to 4:30 p.m. ET.

Action Express Racing used its victory by the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Cider Tree Corvette DP in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida to capture the lead in the Prototype class, while Corvette Racing’s No. 3 Corvette C7.R won both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Sebring classic to lead in GTLM.

Action Express led two of the three segments at Sebring – coming up one point shy of a perfect 15 points – and heads into Watkins Glen with a total of 27 points with drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa. Wayne Taylor Racing, with its No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP co-driven by Max Angelelli, Ricky Taylor and Jordan Taylor; and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, with its No. 01 Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP shared by Scott Pruett and Joey Hand, are tied for second with 21 points each.

The No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP team of Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook is fourth with 20 points. Valiante and Westbrook are defending champions of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The No. 3 Corvette Racing team also holds a six-point lead in GTLM. Jan Magnussen, Ryan Briscoe and Antonio Garcia won at both Daytona and Sebring to extend the gap over the team’s No. 4 Corvette C7.R driven by Milner and Gavin in the team and driver standings, 29-23. The No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR team of Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers is tied for third with the No. 911 Porsche North America team, which has not yet announced its Watkins Glen driver lineup.

The No. 3 team is looking to rebound from a crash during qualifying at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which forced them to miss the race. Milner and Gavin, on the other hand, combined with Jordan Taylor to take the GTE Pro victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It was Corvette Racing’s eighth Le Mans win in 16 tries, but first since 2011. The same car that won Le Mans will be competing at Watkins Glen as the No. 4 Corvette C7.R.

In the GT Daytona (GTD) class, the Rolex 24 At Daytona-winning No. 93 Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R comes to The Glen holding three-point lead over the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia, 27-24. Viper drivers Al Carter and Cameron Lawrence lead Ferrari pilots Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Anthony Lazzaro by the same margin.

The closest battle is in Prototype Challenge (PC), where the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09 team with drivers Mike Guasch, Tom Kimber-Smith and Andrew Palmer hold a slim one-point lead over the No. 54 CORE autosport team of Jon Bennett, Colin Braun and James Gue, 30-29.

After taking the lead in the closing half-hour en route to winning the Rolex 24, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ran the table at Sebring, scoring a perfect 15 points. A year ago, CORE autosport won the opening three races and captured the title.

The Patrón Endurance Cup encompasses 52 hours of racing for $300,000 in post-season awards, and closes with the 10-hour Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda at Road Atlanta on Saturday, Oct. 3.

Points in the Patrón Endurance Cup are awarded at specific intervals throughout each race. For the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, those intervals will be at the three-hour mark and the finish. The leader at the end of each segment will score five points, with four points for second, three points for third and fourth place on back receiving two points.

The Patrón Endurance Cup round winners at each endurance event receive a limited edition bottle of Gran Patrón Platinum, numbered and signed by Francisco Alcaraz, the creator of the Gran Patrón Platinum recipe and Tequila Patrón’s master distiller and blender.

Contact:

Nate Siebens

nsiebens@imsa.com

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