Today’s Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge race was briefly red-flagged for wet conditions. How wet was it? Here’s a tractor attempting in vain to fling water over the barrier.
One frustrated racer yelled out “I can’t see!” over the radio right before the track was red-flagged to try and clear water off the surface. Another tried in vain to squeegee a visible hole inside his fogged windshield.
Many of the cars don’t even have functional headlights or taillights, so the red flag call was wise.
CTSCC wasn’t the only race affected by today’s miserable conditions. The Porsche GT3 Cup race was punctuated by lengthy yellow flags caused by spin-outs and collisions.
Not shown: the 42 times each cameraman has wiped off their lens in one race. We have an unedited feed out of one camera in the media center, and I think the poor guy on top of the pit straight grandstands has spent more time searching for dry towels than he has filming the races.
As for the CTSCC race, it looks as if Robin Liddell’s occasional dabbling in road rally paid off, as he made a pass for the lead before the track went under yellow flag conditions. Liddell and Andrew Davis’ number 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro will take the win in GS, handing them a third win in a row. There was no win for Ford after all—their highest Shelby, #158, finished 4th. Liddell credited a risky early pit stop with their car’s ability to jump ahead and maintain their lead. It was a risky move because of fuel, but the team was expecting another yellow to save them from blowing through their fuel. (Given the splishy-splashy conditions, expecting another yellow was a safer bet than Liddell let on in the post-race press conference.)
CJ Wilson Racing’s #5 Mazda MX-5 of Stevan McAleer and Chad McCumbee will take the ST win. The Jalopnik bump was only good for fifth place this time for the #56 Porsche Cayman, but that’s pretty impressive considering that the Murillo Racing car had been struggling all weekend. McCumbee explained that he isn’t used to driving in the rain, having come from stock cars. “We just wait for the jet dryer to take care of it,” said McCumbee. He’s used to dirt and loose surfaces, but credited the car’s setup with helping him become comfortable with the rain. He continued, “Today was a huge confidence booster for me.”
I feel soggy. Very soggy.
We’ll see if qualifying is still on and/or on time for the feature United SportsCar race. The standing water across the track in some places has only gotten worse with the miserable drizzle all day.
[Update 3:29 PM:] Tudor United SportsCar has cancelled their qualifying session for the day. Starting position for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of The Glen will be determined by championship points.
[Update 7:00 PM:] The two support races have also been cancelled for the evening.
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.