Tujunga, Calif. – After a short one-month break between race weekends, Competition Motorsports is back in racing action this weekend at Watkins Glen International for rounds six and seven of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge presented by Yokohama. The California-based team makes the trip to upstate New York with a familiar cast of drivers and cars.
In Platinum Class competition, David Calvert-Jones will be back in action in the No. 12 Wheels Up-Competition Motorsports Porsche 911 and Michael Lewis will again compete in his No. 98 Competition Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian Porsche 911. Leading the class standings, Fred Poordad will campaign in Gold class competition in the No. 02 Affinity Motorsports/TLI/Competition Motorsport Porsche 911.
Lewis and Poordad arrive fresh in Watkins Glen carrying positive momentum from strong drives in the previous rounds of competition at Lime Rock Park. Although the track time was cut short due to rain, both drivers had one race to make their mark at Lime Rock Park. Despite some trouble and lost positions on the start, Poordad fought back through the rest of the race to bring home a third place Gold Class finish as well as a second place position in the Masters Class.
Lewis also delivered an excellent drive at Lime Rock, maintaining position in the top-five throughout the race to come home fourth at the finish.
They now head to the fabled 3.4-mile road course joined again by Calvert-Jones whose last GT3 outing produced a run to the Masters Class podium at Laguna Seca with Competition Motorsports. This weekend’s race marks the debut for all three drivers at Watkins Glen, but as regulars on the GT3 podium, none can be discounted.
“This will be the first time I will have an opportunity to race at Watkins Glen, and it is pretty special because this circuit has so much history,” said Lewis. “From reading about old Formula 1 races to watching current races at this track, it’s pretty cool to know that the No. 98 Competition Motorsports/Curb-Agajanian Porsche 911 will get to race on the same track surface as some of the greatest drivers and teams within motorsport. Technically speaking, the circuit’s final sector looks quite nice, as it has two quick corners in succession that lead onto the front straight. From what it seems, these final two corners have quite some banking, so you can probably carry some good speed to really feel how quick the Porsche 911 can get in and out of the corner. With that being said, I have never been to this circuit, so the first part of the first practice will be to get the feeling of the track and then take it from there.”
“We had a solid weekend at Lime Rock Park and everyone is excited about being at Watkins Glen this weekend,” offered team manager Bob Faieta. “It’s a first for a lot of the guys so hopefully we can have really productive couple of days of testing and two strong races.”
It will be a busy weekend for the team with two practices prior to qualifications on Friday, June 27th at 9:35 AM (ET) and the first 45-minute race at 3:45 PM (ET). Race 2 is set to go green Saturday at 6:45 PM (ET).