Watkins Glen: Ian Baas Friday report

Baas to Drive in Three Races This Weekend at the Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., June 8 - Ian Baas will drive in three different races at Watkins Glen International this weekend, and he'll start 14th in two of them following qualifying sessions Friday at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course. He'll qualify for the third race tomorrow morning.

Baas, 24, of Noblesville, Ind., began one of his busiest racing weekends of the year by qualifying 14th in the GT class on Friday for Saturday's 26th running of the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen Rolex Series race. His qualifying time was a 1:56.925 with Bob Miller's At Speed Motorsports Porsche GT3 Cup car. His co-drivers in the blue No. 28, which advertises Celette and Duraform, will be Mark White of Waunakee, Wis., and Miller, who lives in Sykesville, Md.

The Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen will be broadcast live on SPEED Saturday in two parts starting at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. ET. There are 25 GT cars and 20 Daytona Prototypes entered for a field of 45. Baas will start 31st overall.

Baas will also drive in two SPEED World Challenge Touring Car races here at the Glen this weekend. Friday evening he put his STaSIS Motorsport Audi A4 No. 18 in 14th place on the grid for the first race with a lap in 2:07.632. His teammates, Adam Pecorari and Chip Herr, qualified 13th and 16th, respectively, in similar Audi A4s. Qualifying for the second Touring Car race is slated for 8:45 a.m. tomorrow.

Both of the SPEED World Challenge Touring Car races will be 50 minutes long. The first is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. Saturday after the Six Hours of the Glen, with the second starting at 11:45 a.m. Sunday. Both will be broadcast on SPEED on Saturday, June 30 beginning at 2 p.m. ET.

"The car feels really good," Baas said of the Audi after Friday's qualifying session. "We went out near the end of the session in hopes of a clear track, but we got tangled up with some traffic. I think the Audi is going to be good in the races though.

"As for the Porsche, we just didn't have enough time to test it," he said. "We spent all day going one direction and then we went another way in qualifying. We'll have to see; it's a long race."

It was hot and humid at the Glen on Friday, with temperatures in the low nineties. The weather forecast for the rest of the weekend calls for almost a 20-degree change, with temperatures in the mid-seventies.

Baas hopes the weatherman is right. "With all these races, anything that makes it more comfortable will be great," he noted.

Following this weekend, Baas' next Rolex Series race is at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio June 21-24. His next SPEED World Challenge Touring Car event is July 7-8 at Exhibition Place in Toronto, but there's another Rolex Series race before that on July 5 at Daytona Beach, Fla.

Fans can keep up with Baas throughout the year on his Web site at ianbaasracing.com. The Rolex Series' Web site is at grand-am.com, while the SPEED World Challenge Web site is at world-challenge.com.

-credit: restart communications