Presented by Tarett Engineering
Team Sahlen, presented by honeybeeBase.com, entered the ChampCar Endurance Series’ Siliconsky Memorial Weekend Classic at Watkins Glen International as returning victor. The team had secured OVERALL Victory in both Saturday and Sunday’s 2025 event.
The Team arrived at Watkins Glen on Thursday to beautiful blue sunny skies. The team was able to unload and begin set up for the weekend in this evening sunset. Friday dawned with continued sunny skies. The team entered all 3 Porsche Boxsters to gain maximum set up time and well as track time for the drivers. The crew did a fantastic job working through several braking and electronic issues on both the #942 “Ketchup” and #943 “Mustard. And the #941 “Chili” performed all day, giving each of the drivers maximum seat time on the challenging circuit.
The sunny skies of Thursday and Friday faded away into Saturday morning. And the team faced a monsoon like condition of weather. The temperatures dipped down to the 40s, winds reached upwards of 30 mph, and the rain came down in buckets, sometimes in the form of sleet and most definitely in sheer side gusts of wet blasts.
The team was set though to take on the challenges of the rain, with a great set of rain tires for each Boxster. And the rains gave the drivers an extra bit of grip that made all the difference on track. Starting around 50th in the random draw, the team soon went to work moving towards the front of the pack. The team timed their 1st stop perfectly for a code 35 full course caution. Then at the halfway point, a full red flag came out. Then at the 5 hour mark another full red flag / black flag came out. Unfortunately for Team Sahlen, the cautions were not matched up with their pit strategy. This saw the team constantly fighting back from mid pack. In the end of the race, the team valiantly survived the day and secured 4th and 7th OVERALL.
Will Nonnamaker shared his thoughts on the day – “The team has been through a lot of bad weather races. And this one has to be up there in the Top 10 all time. It was just difficult to drive. Visibility was near zero at times. The cars where hydroplaning on the straightaways. And traction for everyone was difficult to find. I am glad we ended the day with a solid finish and most importantly with out a scratch on either Porsche.”
Sunday dawned with the storm passing by. Although no rain fell the entire race, the 1st 2 hours of the race saw the track still be wet. The team chose to start on their rain tires, ensuring that maximum grip would be available in the trick conditions.
The team ran a very solid pace all day. With well timed pit stops under caution kept the Boxster in contention all day. Near the end of the race, a full course caution came out with 110 minutes to go. The team had to make a choice, pit then and go into fuel conservation mode, hoping for lots of yellows. Or the team could stay out and hope another yellow would come out in 20 minutes. The team took option 1. This proved to make for a difficult challenge for the drivers to run a solid pac while still saving fuel. In the end, the plan worked out as the Team Sahlen Porsches crossed the line in 2nd & 5th Place OVERALL.
Wayne Nonnamaker shared his thoughts after the race – “Sometimes in endurance racing you have to make compromises to have the best strategy to make it to the finish. That last stint was an exercise in control to ensure that we could eek out every last drop of fuel to make it to the finish. The 2 late race cautions is what got us to the end thankfully.”
This next event for Team Sahlen will be at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the Tire Rack – ChampCar Endurance Series on September 4-6. Saturday will be an 8 hour race, Then Sunday will be a 7 hour race.
2026 Team Sahlen Campaign Partners:
honeybeeBase.com, Malco Products, Porsche Beachwood, Discovery Parts, Valco Cincinnati with Big Wrench Racing, ECS Tuning, Tarett Engineering, Guard Transmission, HubstandsPRO, Maxima Racing Oil, Pagid Racing, Frozen Rotors, NGK Spark Plugs, CM Racing Products, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine, Design Engineering Inc., OMP Racing, Bell Racing, Forgeline Wheels, Optima Batteries, All-Fit Automotive, Capri Tools, Fabspeed Motorsport, Rennline, & Eibach
