IMSA: Plowman, Cosmo, Hedlund among those added to WGI entry - MotorSportsTalk

A few late adds have come into the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen entry list for this weekend’s TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. Here’s a quick recap:

Martin Plowman and David Cheng join Doug Bielefeld in the No. 88 BAR1 Motorsports entry in PC. Plowman makes his second start for the team (Sebring), Cheng his first. “Martin Plowman leads our team as our pro driver for this event,” said team owner Brian Alder. “Martin did a great job at Sebring, as lead driver in our primary car, and was running some of the fastest lap times of all the PC cars toward the end of the race. We are anxious to show what we can do here at the Glen.”
Guy Cosmo is back on board with Marsh Racing’s No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette DP, alongside Boris Said and Eric Curran. “I’ve raced anything with wheels there and I can’t wait to get back. It’s always a great weekend and I’m lucky to have a lot of family and friends who always come out for the six-hour,” said New York native Cosmo, who is also working on the new First Gear Project crowd funded motorsports projects initiative.
Mike Hedlund joins Performance Tech Motorsports’ No. 38 PC entry with David Ostella. “He did a great job at COTA (in testing),” said team manager Brent O’Neill. “He’s a solid guy who drives a clean race. He’s driven in Ferrari, GRAND-AM and has done some Porsche GTD. He’s got a lot of experience and is just a good guy. We circled back around with him this season and were able to put something together. It’ll be great to have him, and I think he’ll get along well with David (Ostella).”
Marco Bonanomi, one of the factory drivers who raced an Audi R18 e-tron quattros in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be with Fall-Line Motorsports’ No. 46 Audi R8 Ultra in GTD with Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman.
Brett Sandberg saddles up with Flying Lizard Motorsports in the team’s No. 45 Audi R8 Ultra in GTD, alongside Spencer Pumpelly and Nelson Canache. “I am so excited and thankful for this opportunity to drive alongside Spencer and Nelson in this historic 6-hour race. Watkins Glen has always been one of my favorite tracks, almost a home track for me,” said Sandberg.
Brandon Davis joins Scuderia Corsa’s lineup in the No. 63 Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 in GTD, alongside Alessandro Balzan and Jeff Westphal.

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A late race caution set up a 14-lap shootout at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Illinois with Kyle Larson winning his second consecutive High Limit Sprint Car Series race over Rico Abreu.

Starting eight on the grid after a disappointing pole dash, Larson missed several major incidents as he worked his way to the front. On Lap 1 of 35, a five-car accident claimed Tyler Courtney and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, who both took a tumble and before collecting three other cars. Once that red flag was lifted, it didn’t take long for drivers to get tangled again as the leader Danny Dietrich experienced engine trouble on Lap 8. When he slowed rapidly, second-place Brent Marks collided with his back tire, ending the day for both.

Larson moved up to fourth with this incident.

Another red flag on Lap 21 for a flip involving Parker Price-Miller set up the dash for the win.

“My car felt really good and then we got that red,” Larson said from victory lane. “I was kind of running through the crumbs before that in 3 and 4; I could tell the top was getting really sketchy. Parker was making mistakes up there.

“When the red came out, I could see there was a clean lane of grip – not just marbles. It’s hard to see when you’re at speed. I figured Rico was going to run the top and he did. I got to his inside a couple of times and I was like ‘please don’t go to the bottom,’ and I threw a slider on him. Then he went to the bottom and I thought I was screwed until he spun his tires really bad off the corner and I was able to hit the top okay and get another run and slide him. I got good grip off the cushion.”

The victory makes Larson the first repeat winner in the series’ five-race history. He beat Justin Sanders earlier this month at Wayne County Speedway in Orrville, Ohio.

With 10 laps remaining, Larson caught and pressured Abreu. The two threw a series of sliders at one another until Abreu bobbled on the cushion and lost momentum.

“Anytime you race Rico and he’s on the wall like that, you have to get aggressive,” Larson said. “He’s pushing so hard that just to stay in the striking zone if he makes a mistake, you have to push hard too.”

For Abreu, it was his second near-miss this season. He was leading at Lakeside in the 2023 opener until a tire went flat in the closing laps.

“I felt like I made a lot of mistakes at the end,” Abreu said. “It’s just hard to judge race pace. You’ve got Kyle behind you and [Anthony] Macri and these guys that have had speed all year long. I was racing as hard as I could and the mistake factor is more and more critical.”

Cory Eliason earned his career-best High Limit finish of third after starting deep in the field in 13th.

Macri lost one position during the race to finish fourth with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. rounding out the top five.

Visiting from the NASCAR Cup series, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. finished 19th in the 25-car field after advancing from the B-Main.

2023 High Limit Sprint Car Series

Race 1: Giovanni Scelzi wins at Lakeside Speedway
Race2: Anthony Macri wins at 34 Raceway
Race 3: Kyle Larson wins at Wayne County Speedway

Hitting the road. 👋🏼

Safe travels to all the racers this weekend — we’ve got teams heading for Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and all over.

The High Limit Sprint Car Series will be back in 6️⃣ days for a $28,023/Win, $1,500/Start show at Nebraska’s @EagleRaceway on Tues, June 6. pic.twitter.com/YhBa3vGoMD

— High Limit Racing (@HighLimitRacing) June 1, 2023

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