Priaulx anticipates struggles at the Glen with Porsche lacking ‘grunt’

AO Racing’s Sebastian Priaulx anticipates a challenging Six Hours of the Glen for their #77 Porsche 911 GT3.R despite taking two consecutive victories in the past two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.

“I think last year, we weren’t that strong there either,” he replied when Motorsport Week asked about his expectations going into the weekend.

“It’s just one of those tracks which doesn’t suit our car the best.

“I mean, we have a long straight and we’re a little bit down, I would say, on power maybe a little bit.

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“… because our car works better in other corners and you’ve got to weigh it out.

“Some cars are worse in some corners and that’s why we’re strong… But Watkins is all about that grunt up the hill, and we sometimes seem to just lack a little bit of that, maybe.

“But we’re going to go out there and push as much as we can, and whatever it is, we’ll do our best.

“And it’s been a good season so far and you don’t always need to have the fastest car to win.

“So it’s just about just staying calm and cool and collected really, and just giving our best shot.

“But I’m sure it’ll be a close race. We’ll just wait and see when we’re out there.

“We don’t know, so we’re just gonna keep our heads clean and go for it.”

This race will be the first at Watkins Glen for AO Racing in the GTD Pro category, after fielding the number #80 last year in GTD. Last year, team owner Hyett qualified 12th out of 20, but in the race dropped to 14th amid uncompetitive pace.

This year, however, the Porsche has showcased more success after winning the previous two IMSA sprint races at Laguna Seca and Detroit, thus Priaulx and co-driver Lauren Heinrich are situated at the top of the GTD Pro standings on 1359 points.

At the third IMSA WeatherTech endurance race this year, the duo will need to defend their 84-point lead on #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus duo Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth, who competed in last week’s rain-soaked 24 Hours of Le Mans.

As ‘Rexy’ fights at Watkins Glen, they may be able to capitalise on other competitor’s mistakes with the predicted weather forecast set to be wet across the whole weekend, as Vasser Sullivan won last year in both GTD and GTD Pro.