It is Independence Day weekend, and records have been shattered as we are ready for the legendary Shalen's Six Hours of The Glen. The greatest of all-time have tested themselves here. The IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, makes a stop in western New York. Many drivers are returning from success at the 24 HYours of Le Mans, as we start this race. This is a crown jewel race of the endurance sports car racing calendar. This is a prestigious event, and the third of four Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup race. Watkins Glen, has been completely repaved. This should make the racing as fast as ever.
Since the late 1940s, Watkins Glen has been a mecca of road racing. First through the streets of downtown. The track has been around since the 1950s and the first 6 Hours of Watkins Glen came in 1968. Pipo Derani, will be one of the drivers at Tequila Patron ESM who has already won with the team at Daytona and Sebring. Ford needs to win. They were good at Laguna Seca (a race that you will hear about, coming soon). The #67 team car has pole in GT Le Mans. Prototype Challenge has had an amazing margin for new track records. We are green! Pipo Derani leads as Ricky Taylor tries to push to the front already.
The field for the GT cars now race. John Edwards in the BMW M6 GT passes Joey Hand for the GTLM lead! Be careful, boys. The Ferrari 488's and Porsche 911's are up there, too. Nick Tandy pilots the factory RSR. Christian Fittipaldi has now moved up to third place. Johannes van Overbeek and Tristan Nunez battle for the lead. Honda vs. Mazda. Climbing through the esses, and into the inner loop again. The curbing in the inner loop was changed. Prototypes have to stay off the curbs. But, there's loads of grip. Patriotic liveries for many cars for Independence Day. Mazda has the Le Mans 1991 win tribute paint scheme. Remember, Toyota almost pulled off the Le Mans win but couldn't quite do it.
Spin for Michael Marsal in turn eight, the heel of The Boot, with Michael Marsal at the controls of the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT. Correction, it's Bret Curtis in car #96. He was battling with Cory Lewis in the Lamborghini. Richard Westbrook continues to maintain momentum for Ford early on here at the Glen. With the success at Le Mans, for Ford, it's going to be a tough challenge for them, to stay on top as BMW, Chevrolet, and Ferrari, want to catch them. BMW who did not go to Le Mans, they tested the new Michelin GTLM spec tire. Oswaldo Negri Jr. in the Ligier Honda for Mike Shank Racing, has run into some issues. Mario Farnbacher in the #23 Alex Job Porsche 911 GT3 is battling the pole winning #6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8.
They had a ride height infraction, that was an error. The car was too low. Robin Liddell is moving up through the field. No action taken on the Bret Curtis/Cory Lewis incident as we have just started here at the Glen. 41 cars starting on this 3.4 mile track, means an average of 12 cars per mile, in traffic, during the six hour race. 3.4 miles with 11 turns. The layout is unchanged, but the new pavement is billiard table smooth. The temperatures are climbing. Low 80s for temperature, and high humidity. Know your limits with the repaving. Keep drivers fresh, with two drivers. Four hours maximum drive time. Get creative with passing, too. The grip loads and G forces are majorly huge.
The DeltaWing has no power steering. So, a third driver, Gabby Chaves was brought in to help Katherine Legge and Sean Rayhall. Driver and car fatigue are key factors. Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas, have Ian James helping them out. The new Mazda has the Renown livery, of orange and green, which was a clothing/sock company. Oswaldo Negri Jr. fights his way through the field. Wayne Taylor Racing was very fast in qualifying, but the Corvette Prototype had a lot of fuel consumption during qualifying. This race won't go green the whole way. Prototypes will run 44 minutes, or 26 laps, on a tank.
Max Angelelli is the third driver along with the Taylor brothers. The new pavement has not slowed Angelelli down. Ryan Dalziel is in the #90 VisitFlorida Racing Corvette Prototype. That team has won the last two 6 Hours of Watkins Glen races in 2014 and 2015. DeltaWing has a telemetry issue. Tom Long makes a pass on Ryan Dalziel and now the Mazda will try to move in on Ricky Taylor. Taylor and Dalziel were scrapping, and Long moves in. The Mazda will be quicker than the Chevrolet Corvette Prototypes. Mazda is going for it early on here at Watkins Glen. Wow! Turn ten is very quick, too.
There is much more grip with the new asphalt. The GTLM and GTD cars will have grip, even off line. But, there will be tire marbles later on as the tires wear off. This track, other than Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, has the most European like surface of any track, and is billiard table smooth. The cars are on their optimum setups. You are re-learning the course. The radius of the corners has not changed, but the pavement hjas new grip. Richard Westbrook takes the GTLM lead from BMW. Ryan Briscoe had the birth of his second daughter, and he is here, to drive in the second half of the race.
Overall, Johannes van Overbeek still leads Tristan Nunez. The #70 Mazda is reeling in Christian Fittipaldi, with Tom Long at the controls. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan of Madison Snow is in pit lane. He had a delaminated tire. He almost crashed! He was going through the inner loop. The DeltaWing pits. They are struggling and are two laps down, as they develop this car with crew chief Tim Keane. This was a drive through penalty for car #0. Renger van der Zande qualified on pole in Prototype Challenge. But, their rival, with the #52 PR1/Matthiasen car, of Robert Alon, has trouble on a pit stop, for changing a battery, dropping the car too early, and spinning the tires, incurring a penalty.
The #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 4888 GTE is also in the lane with Daniel Serra at the wheel, while we've had a huge crash in the Inner Loop. One car has crashed, hard. It's the #20 BAR1 Prototype CHallenge car of Johnny Mowlem, who thankfully, is OK. Mowlem defended to the right hand side of the road, and he touched James French in another PC car and got spun, smashing the barrier. The damage is extensive and Mowlem's car is used up. We will wait for the pits to open, for pit stops, and get the track cleaned up so there are no cut tires as Michael Marsal, takes his #97 BMW M6 GT to the garage.
Marsal shares with Finn Markus Palttala. Johnny Mowlem, shares his crashed PC car #20 with Don Yount and Matthew McMurry. The #66 Ford GT is not running the way they want to at the moment, with Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller, sharing the car. One of the Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT's goes really wide through turn 11 and couldn't get the car turned. Pits will open for Prototypes and their first pit stops. One lane of the track has to be clear of debris as the marshals clean up under this yellow flag.
Andy Lally, Leh Keen, and Robin Liddell have lots of wins here. Scott Pruett has six wins here. Jim Clark and Graham Hill, have the most Formula 1 wins here. Pits are open for the Prototypes. Who executes the best? Everyone will take four tires. Johannes van Overbeek gets new tires and has had a sterling drive so far. #5 and #31 for Action Express have great stops. But #2 stalled the motor in the lane and Mazda also got hung up. One of the Prototype Challenge cars pitted, and came into the pit lane. In IMSA, you keep the engine running, unlike at Le Mans and in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Ozz Negri Jr. had a good pit stop, and Olivier Pla is the endurance driver for the team, along with John Pew as we watch Cooper MacNeil takingh the #22 WeatherTech Racing Porsche. There is an hour and 45 minute drive time for silver rated amateur drivers in Prototype Challenge and GT Daytona. #67 is in the lane along with the Corvette's and the GT Daytona Porsche's. The #67 Ford beats it's team car out as Mario Farnbacher stays in the #23 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup in GT Daytona. Huge swings in the GT classes after pit stops.
Ricky Taylor is second overall and in Prototype. We are back to green as Daniel Serra leads overall in GT Le Mans. Christian Fittipaldi is the new leader. The Mazda was applying the pressure into the braking zone. Ricky Taylor couldn't quite make the pass. There are points on the line for the overall places and also, for the endurance championship at the three hour mark. The Mazda is really coming alive on cold tires because Nunez's car is lighter. But, Ricky Taylor didn't want to give up his line and Tristan Nunez, spins, and loses track position. He wasn't quite far enough on the inside. Yikes! The apex speed through the corner with the new pavement is very high.
It was Ricky Taylor's corner. How are the Continental tires on the Mazda? Are they flat spotted? There's a discussion at Ford between the two teams on how to work together in pit lane. Richard Westbrook and Joey Hand, are both going for it. John Edwards in the BMW has lost loads of positions. The Mazda's tires are going to be OK after that lurid slide. Nick Tandy holds seventh in GT Le Mans, while Giancarlo Fisichella in the Ferrari, wants it. What an amazing battle between Ford and the Risi Ferrari, at Le Mans two weeks ago.
Oliver Gavin sets GTLM fast lap at 1:43.646 on the previous lap. 1:42.256 is fastest from Westbrook.
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