The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship (IWSC) will be back in action next weekend at Watkins Glen, New York in the Six Hours of the Glen race, which is also round three of the Michelin Endurance Cup championship (after Daytona and Sebring).
BMW M Team WRT driver Philipp Eng is anxious to get back behind the wheel of the #25 M Hybrid V8 that he shares with Marco Wittmann. The two have momentum after finishing second in the last race at Detroit in late May and third in the race before that at Laguna Seca. “Yeah, obviously the momentum has been on our side,” said Eng. “I think our car has been performing really well recently. I’m really looking forward to Watkins Glen. I think the last two race events, Laguna Seca, and Detroit have been very good for us. So, yeah, I just hope we can continue our podium streak, but we’re also aware that the competition is extremely strong, especially our friends from Cadillac. I really like Watkins Glen. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the season.”
Eng will be making his fifth appearance at Watkins Glen. Last year, Eng and Dries Vanthoor finished eighth in the GTP class in the #24 M Hybrid V8, but the new “Evo” package on the car for this year has raised its competitiveness. “I think the Evo has done exactly what it needed to do, and what we expected from it,” he says. “I would say Detroit was our first weekend where everything came together with strategy, pace and execution of the team. In general, I would say that the Evo has been very positive as a driver. It’s definitely easier to drive and easier to get through the stint, and that’s exactly what you need from a car like we’re racing. You always want to have consistency, you want to have predictability, and that’s exactly what we achieved. We now have a race car where we can really lap after lap rely on it, and it’s just easier to extract the lap time. So, we’re very happy about that.”
The Watkins Glen race may be half the length of the Sebring race and just a quarter of the length of Daytona, but it’s a demanding track to compete at. “I would say that it’s the most physical track of the year,” says Eng. “We did the tire test last year after the race. It was always long runs; you’re only driving against yourself. There’s no yellow, there is nothing else. It’s just you and the track and the car. And after that test, I was absolutely done! So, I would say that Watkins Glen is the most physical one we have on the calendar. It’s very high g-force overall, in the first chicane, in the corner after and it’s just high speed and full commitment. So, it’s not only physically challenging, but also mentally because you’re always traveling at very high speeds. You know that you’re only spending time in high-speed corners. So, I like the challenge. It’s one of the best tracks on the calendar, but also the most challenging in any aspect.”
Aside from the pair of M Hybrid V8 cars in the GTP class, BMW will be represented by Paul Miller Racing in the GTD Pro class and Turner Motorsport in the GTD class, both with the M4 GT3 EVO. The race weekend will also include a race for the Michelin Pilot Challenge series, which has seven M4 GT4 EVO entries in the GS class.
The Michelin Challenge race will be at 1:00pm on Saturday June 27th, and the IWSC Six Hour is at 12:00pm on Sunday the 28th. Get more information on the IMSA website.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy BMW, LAT Images]
