August 7th the Grand Am series visited historic Watkins Glen for a second time this season, though it was the first time this season for Jeff Westphal and team PR1 motorsports. ”We had originally set out to do the first race at the glen, but the car was in the beginning stages of it’s transformation.” Jeff was speaking about the former Pontiac GXP-R that he ran this season at the 24 Hours of Daytona with team Pr1. Midway through the year, the team took the chassis and stripped it down in preparation for the BMW drivetrain and body work to ultimately create the BMW M6 that Westphal raced at the Glen in early August. ”The car was fantastic right from the get go, obviously it’s got it’s quirks that need to be worked out like any race car, but we were quick right away which is very encouraging about this new package.”
The race was off to a great start, when Max Hyatt started the debut M6 in 6th place on the grid, and had moved up 2 spots by the 3rd lap. Unfortunately as the race continued, the tides took a turn for the worst. Max spun coming on to the front straightaway which ultimately put the car 3 laps down when it was handed over to Jeff. However, the driving duo and the team kept their heads high, and Jeff was able to hoist the M6 from 16th to 12th in the remaining 1 hour and 28 minutes of the race. ”The race was broken up by quite a few yellows, it seemed as though every handful of laps you were dodging body work here, or a Porsche there, plus i was told to switch the car onto fuel map 3 to try and save gas, as well as loosing 2nd gear with 45 mintues to go. So needless to say it was pretty eventful for us” explained Westphal. ”Having said that, i really want to thank the team for burning the candle on both ends for roughly 50 days transforming this car and making such a great package, my hat’s off to them!”
You can catch the prodigious talent and PR1 motorsports racing in Montreal with the BMW M6 this August 29th. Coverage will be on speed channel (see previous post for times.)
