Toronto, Ontario - Mantella Autosport is focusing harder than ever on engineering a good setup for its two chevrolet camaro z/28.R race cars entering Round 4 of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge June 27 at Watkins Glen International.

The 11-turn, 3.4-mile circuit in the rolling hills of the scenic Finger Lakes area of upstate New York poses a variety of car setup dilemmas for every team. And Mantella Autosport's task became even more complicated due to recent performance adjustments mandated by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) for all Chevrolet Camaros competing in the series.

Toronto-based Mantella Autosport will face this challenge from a unique perspective: It's putting an engineer in the car as a driver.

Sasha Anis, engineer of the No. 80 MBRP Inc. Camaro Z/28.R, will fill in for Pro driver Mark Wilkins in the No. 8 Gulf Oil Camaro competing in the Grand Sport (GS) class.

This will be Anis' first race at Watkins Glen and his second race in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series. His first race was with Mantella Autosport last year at VIRginia International Raceway, where he set a race lap record of 1 minute 59.396 seconds.

"Testing at Watkins Glen went very well," Anis said. "I haven't raced at Watkins Glen before, but I consider it a brother to our home track of Mosport. I've been racing with these guys for some time now. It's fun to go against some of the best drivers in North America. They could be racing anywhere in the world, but they're here.

"I'll probably be overstepping my role as a driver. I'll still be able to help out with the cars some. I also need to thank Mantella Autosport and Anthony Mantella for this opportunity. Not every team would give someone this opportunity. It means a lot that he has this type of faith in me."

Mantella Autosport will bring in engineer Andrew Hall to help Lead Engineer Andrew Wojteczko with the workload at Watkins Glen.

"It'll be a big change to work without Sasha," Wojteczko said. "It's also a great opportunity. We've had Sasha in the car before. He ran with us at VIR last year, and he ran the fastest lap of the race. He had time during testing at Watkins Glen to get to know the car and track more intimately.

"Andrew has worked in high-level series like the ELMS and the WEC. I think we will gain a lot of insight by working with him. I see this as an opportunity to learn and develop."

There will be plenty of work at Watkins Glen. The team recently tested for four days at the track, but that was before the Balance of Performance (BoP) changes IMSA mandated for the Camaro.

Beginning at Watkins Glen, the minimum ride height for every Camaro Z/28.R must be raised from 3.5 inches to 4 inches. The engine restrictor size also has been reduced from 65 millimeters to 60 millimeters.

The changes will offer a sterner test to the team, which will have just 90 minutes of practice during the race weekend to adjust its setup.

Team Owner Anthony Mantella hopes his team can adapt to the BoP change for a solid race weekend.

"I was really looking forward to competing at Watkins Glen," Mantella said. "We tested there twice to be ready. We felt great about what we accomplished. Unfortunately, IMSA has changed the performance package and hit us with two more performance restrictions on top of the two we received at Laguna Seca.

"It seems to me to be a bit heavy-handed. Given the changes, I feel as though our testing time was pointless. I'll be competing at the next two events and re-evaluating IMSA's decision. Unfortunately, if we are no longer competitive, my plans for the remainder of the season may have to change. However, I remain positive and thank the team for working so hard and to all the fans who have supported us."

The strong capabilities of the Mantella Autosport team should help ease the transition to the new regulations.

"This presents many challenges for the team," Wojteckzo said. "It will slow down the car. We don't know what the change will do to the aerodynamics, the downforce or the lift. It's unfortunate that we completed testing and had such useful data taken away by these changes. We'll have a lot of work to do when we get to Watkins Glen."

Round 4 of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge, a two-hour, 30-minute race, starts at 12:25 p.m. (ET) Saturday, June 27. The race will be streamed live on imsa.com, with live timing at scoring.imsa.com and live updates on Twitter @IMSALive. The race will be broadcast at 10 a.m. (ET) Sunday, July 5 on FOX Sports 1.

For updates, follow the team on Facebook and Twitter. To keep up with Team Chevy, follow the hashtag #TeamChevy AND @TeamChevy.

ABOUT MANTELLA AUTOSPORT: Driver Anthony Mantella founded Mantella Autosport in 2013 because of his intense passion for high-performance speed racing. His business model was designed with the goal of inspiring companies to use racing for client entertainment, building corporate culture and generating business.

Mantella Autosport offers world-class hospitality for companies looking for ways to reward corporate partners, conduct team-building exercises and benefit from unusual meeting spaces within the exciting, unique environment of elite sports car racing. The two-car team represents Team Chevy in the new Camaro Z28.R during 2015 in the ultra-competitive International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge at prestigious venues across North America.

ABOUT GULF OIL: Gulf Oil is one of the most famous oil brands in the world, with a long heritage in motorsport, and in particular the Le Mans 24Hrs, the world's oldest sports car endurance race.

Gulf lubricated race cars have competed in the famous blue and orange livery and won many great races. Today, Gulf has a partnership with Aston Martin Racing in the World Endurance Championship and, through Teklub Canada Ltd with Mantella Autosport in the Continental Tire Sportscar Challenge.