2016 News

Defending Winners Visit Florida Racing Look to go 3-for-3 at The Glen

GlenTesting

DRIVING AT THE GLEN: Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens will drive the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype. Visit Florida Racing is just one of three prototype teams utilizing a two-driver line-up.

SAHLEN’S 6 HOURS OF THE GLEN: Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship held at Watkins Glen International, a 3.4-mile permanent road course with 11 turns.

2016 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS – VISIT FLORIDA RACING: 4th with 142 points after 5 of 10 rounds now complete.

3 FOR 3?: Visit Florida Racing has won the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen with its No. 90 Daytona Prototype the past two years. The team will look to go three in a row with another victory this year with drivers Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens.

 Visit Florida Racing has led 118 laps en route to the two consecutive victories with drivers Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante in the previous two Glen 6 Hour events. The only other team to win the race three times in a row was Chip Ganassi Racing in 2008, 2009, & 2010.

HISTORY AT THE GLEN: Visit Florida Racing has been competing at Watkins Glen since 2004 and will make its 19th IMSA start at Watkins Glen, and 12th Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen campaign this weekend.

MARC GOOSSENS LOOKING FOR THE DOUBLE: Last year, Marc Goossens competed in the six-hour event for Riley Motorsports in the GTD category driving a Dodge Viper SRT. He won the event and would like nothing more than to add another victory to his tally, this time in a Daytona Prototype.

TESTING: Visit Florida Racing visited Watkins Glen International along with several other IMSA teams to test out the road course’s new pavement. The track was re-surfaced over the off season for the first time in nearly 20 years. Both Marc Goossens and Ryan Dalziel tested the No. 90 Visit Florida Racing Corvette Daytona Prototype and gave the new pavement high marks as the entire team looks forward to its return to the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen.

VISIT FLORIDA FRESH OFF GOODWOOD VISIT: Visit Florida Racing returned to the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend. Visit Florida had a large display on hand to promote Florida’s global excellence in equestrian events, golfing, and of course motorsports. The race team also brought the No. 90 Visit Florida Corvette Daytona Prototype two-seater to the event, and Marc Goossens was behind the wheel as he took various Visit Florida VIPs along for the iconic hill-climb.

LE MANS VISIT: Following the Detroit IMSA event, Team Owner Troy Flis traveled to Le Mans and conducted several meetings ahead of finalizing the team's 2017 plans, while members of the Visit Florida Racing marketing department were on hand to consider options and plans for a possible presence in the event in 2017. There were some friendly faces “over there” as both Ryan Dalziel and Marc Goossens competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans event in the LMP2 class.

DISAPPOINTMENT IN DETROIT: Visit Florida Racing had high hopes of a strong finish in the previous IMSA round at Detroit after several good runs at the track in previous years. Unfortunately, contact at the concrete-lined circuit took the team out of the running early on.

#SUMMERSTARTSNOW:
Visit Florida has been utilizing the hashtag #SummerStartsNow to kick off the summer season. Be sure to include the hashtag in all your social media posts about YOUR summer fun!

DRIVER QUOTEBOARD:
Ryan Dalziel:
“Watkins Glen is one of the most physically demanding tracks on the schedule and extremely hard on the car and especially the Continental Tires,” said Dalziel, who claimed a podium finish of third in the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen in 2012 while driving a Daytona Prototype for Starworks Motorsport. “We have had some great podiums in 2016 and we will be very focused on defending Visit Florida Racing’s winning record at the Glen. The new track surface will be an unknown for all the teams but we will be working hard in advance of the race weekend to make sure we learn as much as we can before getting on track. Racing at Watkins Glen is something I look forward to every season and with the new track improvements I'm sure 2016 will be the best yet.”

Marc Goossens:
“Through the start of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar season in each of our races and in the testing that we’ve done, we continue to learn more about our Corvette DP that translates into the different tracks we visit,” said Goossens, who returned to prototype competition in 2016 following several years racing in GT. “We actually tested at the Glen, and hopefully we can take a lot out of what we learned and apply it for the race. The Visit Florida Racing team as a group does a great job and never gives up. It would be nice for the team to have three in a row at the Glen, but since I won there last year too, I am surely looking forward to the double as well!”

WEEKEND SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, JULY 1
 11:25 AM – 12:25 PM Practice 1
 3:20 PM – 4:20 PM Practice 2

SATURDAY, JULY 2
 10:15 AM – 11:15 AM Practice 3
 1:00 PM – 1:45 PM Autograph Session at Team Transporter
 4:55 PM – 5:10 PM Prototype Qualifying

SUNDAY, JULY 3
 8:00 AM – 8:20 AM Warm Up
 9:00 AM – 9:40 AM Grid Walk
 10:10 AM – 4:10 AM Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen

Visit Florida.com Racing 2016 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Drivers:
Ryan Dalziel
 Birth Date: 12th April 1982
 Birthplace: Glasgow, Scotland UK
 Residence: Windermere, Florida USA
 Website: www.ryandalziel.com
 Twitter: @ryan_dalziel
 
Marc Goossens
 Birth Date: 30 November 1969
 Birthplace: Geel, Belgium
 Residence: Westerlo, Belgium
 Website: www.marcgoossens.com
 Twitter: @marcthegoose

Ryan Hunter-Reay
Birth Date: 17 December 1980
Birthplace: Dallas, Texas
Residence: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Website: www.ryanracing.com
Twitter: @RyanHunterReay