Monday, July 3, 2017 – Fresno, CA – After a tough start to the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports finished P4 at the Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen. Olivier Pla qualified P2 for Sunday’s enduro and set the fastest lap of the race with a blistering 1:33.314.

“The pace from the car was unbelievable the entire weekend, and the team did an amazing job throughout the weekend,” stated Pla.

“It’s a little bit sad with the refueling problem we had because we lost so much time in the pits. We had so much pace, so I hoped we would be able to finish a little higher in class, but I am confident we will be able to make that happen in the future.”

The top five-finish was a huge accomplishment for the California-based team, but an issue that prevented the car from receiving a full load of fuel ultimately cost them a podium finish.

At the first pit stop, the team noticed that when they fueled the car, it took far longer than it should have normally taken. A refuel that should have lasted slightly over 30 seconds took 52 seconds, which accumulated to over two minutes that was lost in the pits due to the fueling issue.

Despite the fueling problem, both Pla and co-driver José Gutierrez completed a near flawless race and showed just how much potential the Ligier has.

“It was a very long day with only two drivers in the car. It was physically very demanding on myself and Olivier, but it was such a great day in the Ligier,” explained Gutierrez.

“I had a lot of battles in class and completed a lot of overtaking of the GT cars, so it was very busy on track. This is our first top five-finish for the team, so it was a very positive day. We were hoping to finish on the podium, but we’re very happy with P4. I’m looking forward to our next race, and hope that we can build on the progress we’ve made here and continue to get better each weekend.”