Due to a busy summer, its been a few months since I’ve had a chance to post a blog. Thought I would start with a retrospective look at Mazda Team Joest first win (and one, two sweep) for the WeatherTech Championship at Watkins Glen earlier this year. Hope you like the photos.

Friday – Practice session 1

Watkins Glen International is one of my favorite tracks due to its natural terrain design with a lot of interesting locations to shoot at and elevation changes. For the first practice session headed to the top of the “Boot” on drivers right at Turn 9. From this location you can get many different types of angles including front, side and rear shots. Arrived at this location in time to see the end of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo first qualifying session. The Lamborghini’s looked awesome under the morning light.

At 10.25 am the first practice session for the WeatherTech Championship cars started. The #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R with Jan Magnussen or Antonio Garcia.

#57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 with Katherine Legge, Christina Nielsen or Bia Figueiredo.

Over the kerb with the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE with Tom Blomqvist or Connor De Phillippi.

During the second half of the practice session headed up to inside of the Outer Loop for shots of the cars speeding out of this complex. The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with Marc Miller, Marco Seefried or Dirk Werner.

 

Friday – Practice session 2

For the second practice session headed back to the Inner Loop for shots of the cars speeding down the Back Straight. The #55 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi with Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell or Olivier Pla would go on to win the race the next day and be Mazda’s first victory in this series.

The #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R with Renger Van Der Zande or Jordan Taylor entering the Outer Loop.

Colorful livery on the #86 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 with Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman or Justin Marks.

Over the kerb with the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE and Tom Blomqvist or Connor De Phillippi.

Exiting the Outer Loop with the #5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi and Joao Barbosa, Mike Conway or Filipe Albuquerque.

 

Saturday – Practice session 3

Since the morning practice session was going to be under wet conditions, headed over to the top of The Boot (drivers right) for shots of the cars coming up the hill with their headlights blazing in the dark conditions.

As the rain cleared and the conditions got brighter, the cars become more visible with streams of water trailing behind them. the DPi prototypes looked like “spaceships” with their dome-shaped driver cockpits. The #6 Acura Team Penske Acura DPi with Dane Cameron or Juan Pablo Montoya (top photo) and the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi with Misha Goikhberg, Tristan Vautier or Juan Piedrahita (bottom photo).

The fluorescent livery of the #14 AIM Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 with Richard Heistand, Jack Hawksworth or Philipp Frommenwiler really stood out in the overcast conditions.

The red, white, and blue of the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT with Joey Hand or Dirk Mueller. The going away shots of the Lexus RC F GT3 and the Ford GT were taken as the cars were entering Turn 9. This was one of my favorite angles to shoot the cars since it really shows the speed of these sportscars.

From “light to dark” with #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R with Jan Magnussen or Antonio Garcia.

A wider shot of Turn 9 with the #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R and Marc Miller, Marco Seefried or Dirk Werner.

The #1 Lamborghini GTD looked like it was “skating on ice” as it sped around Turn 9.

 

Saturday – Qualifying

Arrived at the Chute (Turn 6) part of The Boot in time to see the end of the second race for the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series.

Qualifying with the #4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R and Oliver Gavin or Tommy Milner.

The red livery of the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi with Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran or Pipo Derani really matched the red and yellow kerbing.

 

Sunday – Paddock

After arriving at the media center, went for a walk around the paddock and pits to watch the teams prepare for the race.

The #10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R Cadillac DPi garage.

The #84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi garage.

The morning light in the Corvette Racing Corvette garage was amazing.

Garage for the #57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3.

Interviews.

Timo Bernhard (#77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi) and Romain Dumas (#54 CORE autosport Nissan DPi).

In the pits with the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT.

One of the drivers for the #84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi.

The beautiful red livery of the #31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi.

Kyle Masson, pilot of the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2.

Andrews Evans, pilot of the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA LMP2.

Katherine Legge (#57 Heinricher Racing w/Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3) talking with her crew.

The Acura Team Penske Acura DPis and all the other cars were lined up ready for the fan pre-race walk.

The yellow livery on the #84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi looked really nice in the morning light.

Sunday – Race

After the National anthem the cars left pit lane for the warm-up lap.

Green flag, with Mazda Team Joest leading the field down the front straight and into the first corner.

Into the downhill first corner with the #77 Mazda Team Joest Mazda DPi and Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez or Timo Bernhard.

The #540 Black Swan Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R with Marc Miller, Marco Seefried or Dirk Werner.

Dark clouds approached the track during the early part of the race with the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 and Bill Auberlen, Robby Foley or Dillon Machavern.

“Blue line” racer with the #67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT and Ryan Briscoe or Richard Westbrook.

The #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT with Joey Hand or Dirk Mueller speeding up the Turn 3 to 4 uphill.

As the clouds moved across the sky, pockets of light would appear on the track, in this case, framing the #912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR with Laurens Vanthoor or Earl Bamber.

Leading the field into Turn 2 with the #29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 and Christopher Mies, Ricky Feller or Daniel Morad.

At Turn 2 with the #3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R and Jan Magnussen or Antonio Garcia.

At Turn 4 with the #911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR and Nick Tandy or Patrick Pilet.

Into the “Bus Stop” complex with the #25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE and Tom Blomqvist or Connor De Phillippi.

Had a lot of fun covering the 6 Hours of the Glen. Many thanks for spending your time reading this blog.