Watkins Glen: LG Motorsports preview

Lou Gigliotti returning home to Upstate New York for World Challenge GT race at Watkins Glen

Dallas Texas (June 5, 2007): Lou Gigliotti, of Dallas Texas, will be returning home to the Finger Lakes Region of New York as he and LG Motorsports teammate Doug Peterson prepare to challenge the tough SPEED World Challenge GT competition in Round 5 of SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Series at Watkins Glen on Sunday June 10th.

Lou Gigliotti, who stands 8th in the GT Driver's Championship, will be racing his familiar black and yellow #28 LG Pro Long Tube Headers Chevy Corvette C6 at Watkins Glen while Doug Peterson, who is also in 8th with 70 points, will be in his yellow #87 3 Dimensional Services Chevy Corvette.

"I love the place and I think that I have led every race I have ever run on that track and won almost every time," Gigliotti said of his great success on a track where he grew up watching the worlds greatest drivers compete in his younger days.

"I was raised at the other end of Seneca Lake in Geneva New York," Gigliotti said of that area. "I used to hitch-hike down to Watkins Glen to watch Formula 1. Of course by saying that I am really showing my age!"

Of course Lou Gigliotti loves the Watkins Glen track because based on his results there in World Challenge and other racing the track loves him back as he has won in all three of his appearances winning the B Class in 1992 driving a Chevrolet Camaro and the T1 class in 1996 and 1997 in a Saleen Mustang.

In 1976 Gigliotti sat on the front row of the Super-Vee race during the Formula-1 weekend as he rubbed shoulders with racing's elite. Lou Gigliotti's last race at Watkins Glen was in a 2002 in an AGT Corvette where he finished 2nd after leading much of the race.

This will be the 5th visit for World Challenge Series at the Watkins Glen International track in the 18 year history of SCCA Pro Racing's top level road racing series which features 50 minute sprint races for Grand Touring and Touring Cars.

"Watkins Glen is a great race course and from a driver's stand point the long track is the best, but from the spectator's stand point it is unnecessary," Gigliotti said of the racing facility.

"We definitely need to redeem ourselves after Charlotte," said Gigliotti of the upcoming WCGT race at Watkins Glen fast forwarding to 2007. "The problem is that if Archer and the Porsche's don't break I don't think we have much of a chance at the win. We are just field fillers."

Doug Peterson, of Bonita Springs Florida, is looking for a certain amount of redemption at Watkins Glen.

"Charlotte was a missed opportunity for me," Doug said. "We came off a good run in Utah and we should have been good for the race at Charlotte but I had a flat tire right off the bat and when I got back out of pits I had no brakes. It was pretty exciting because that isn't a place to be racing without good brakes!

"I need a good finish at Watkins Glen to get back on track and in a way I am hoping it rains for the race because I think that with the power of the Vipers down those long straights and the agility of the Porsches the thing that would equalize the field would be a rain race and I think we would do well in a rain race. Fifty minutes at Watkins Glen in the rain will definitely separate the men from the boys."

"I hope it doesn't rain, and it rains a lot up there, but if it does I am very familiar with the rain line," Gigliotti said of the possibility of rain being a factor in an area which gets plenty of it this time of year. "In fact in a way I hope it does rain for both practices and we go right into qualifying because I expect that we will be fast right off the truck there."

Unfortunately Tomy Drissi will not be racing the #15 LG Motorsports Corvette at Watkins Glen due to business conflicts.

Round 5 of SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Series will begin on Sunday June 10th at 10:45 a.m. Eastern Time and will be broadcast on SPEED TV on Saturday June 30th at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Qualifying for the race will be on Saturday June 9th at 7:55 AM Eastern Time.

-credit: www.LGMotorsports.com .