Grand-Am

Watkins Glen: Ryan Hunter-Reay preview

HUNTER-REAY COMPLETES NASCAR COT TEST AND REJOINS RILEY-MATTHEWS FOR 'SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN' DANA POINT, Calif. (June 8, 2007) -- After completing a test in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Car of Tomorrow, Ryan Hunter-Reay reunites with the Riley-Mathews ...

Published: Jun 9, 2007, 4:16 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

HUNTER-REAY COMPLETES NASCAR COT TEST AND REJOINS RILEY-MATTHEWS FOR 'SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN'

DANA POINT, Calif. (June 8, 2007) -- After completing a test in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Car of Tomorrow, Ryan Hunter-Reay reunites with the Riley-Mathews Motorsports Rolex Daytona Prototype team this Saturday, June 9, for the Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen in Watkins Glen, New York. Hunter-Reay will team up with Marc Goosens and Jim Matthews in the #91 Riley-Matthews Pontiac.

"I can't wait to get back in the Riley-Mathews DP," said Hunter-Reay. "Since running up front in the Daytona 24 Hour race I feel our team has unfinished business to tend to. As this is the first endurance race since the season opener our focus is going to be to run a smart, fast, consistent race with the goal of being in the mix at the end to be able to challenge for the win. I can't say enough about this group of guys, this team. I'm certainly going to do my best to give them what they deserve."

Recently Hunter-Reay has demonstrated his ability to be competitive in diverse formulas of motorsport. The last few weeks have been busy for Hunter-Reay as he performed a two-day NASCAR Busch Series test at Lowe's Motor Speedway then tested a NASCAR Nextel Cup Car of Tomorrow (COT) at Nashville Super Speedway and will compete in a Riley Daytona Prototype at Watkins Glen International this weekend.

On May 14 and 15, Hunter-Reay completed his first official NASCAR Busch Series test at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the Robby Gordon Motorsports Verizon Wireless car #55. Hunter-Reay shared testing duties with NASCAR Nextel Cup series regular Robby Gordon. This was the first chance for Hunter-Reay to drive a stock car around the 1.5-mile, 24 degree banked quad-oval.

"Lowe's Motor Speedway in a Busch car is quite a feeling, I had so much fun." said Hunter-Reay. "The sensation of speed is unreal; I can see why they call this place 'The Beast.' These were my first laps in a Busch car at a NASCAR open test and everything went very smooth, which was my goal", continued Hunter-Reay. "I was happy to turn competitive lap times but even happier with how comfortable I was out there".

Hunter-Reay's speed, feedback, and consistency in the Busch car was rewarded with an unexpected invitation from Robby Gordon Motorsports to test the NASCAR Car of Tomorrow (COT) at Nashville Super Speedway on May 23. Hunter-Reay had previously tested the 1.3 Mile D-shaped oval in a Richard Childress prepared NASCAR Busch Series car for the GM Racing Development Driver Evaluation Program Finals where Hunter-Reay was consistently at the top of the time sheets. However, this was the first time he had even sat in a Nextel Cup car.

"I thought the Car of Tomorrow had a very distinct feel compared to the Busch car. With 800HP these Nextel Cup cars are not lacking on power. After testing the Childress Busch car at Nashville I was familiar with the concrete track's line, and was able to post competitive times within a few laps," Hunter-Reay commented. "I thank all the guys at Robby Gordon Motorsports for giving me the opportunity. I can't wait to get behind the wheel again soon."

Hunter-Reay concludes, "These tests are very important and much needed for my development and experience in stockcars, but racing is what I love and live for. A weekend like this is what it's all about, racing in the ultra-competitive Grand-Am Rolex Series with Riley-Matthews. We have a shot to win this thing and we'll all be digging deep to bring this team back to victory lane.

The Rolex Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen practice and qualifying is on Friday, June 8th. The race will start on Saturday, June 9th, at 11:00 AM E.S.T. and will be broadcast live on SPEED.

-credit: ryanracing.com

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Watkins Glen: Practice 1 times

Next article Watkins Glen: Burt, Brian Frisselle preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Dodge announces return to NASCAR Cup Series in 2027

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 3 h

Dodge announces return to NASCAR Cup Series in 2027

Justin Allgaier confirms he will return for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Martinsville II

3 h

Justin Allgaier confirms he will return for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season

NASCAR Cup Homestead finale to feature full field of 40 cars

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

6 h

NASCAR Cup Homestead finale to feature full field of 40 cars

Data reveals severity of Carson Hocevar's brake-check: "There's no denying it"

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Martinsville II

7 h

Data reveals severity of Carson Hocevar's brake-check: "There's no denying it"

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts