6 Hours of Watkins Glen: Hour 1

We are set for the third of four endurance races in IMSA 2018.  This is the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York.Trying to do two stints in the heat at Watkins Glen is going to be tough.  Some teams are going to double stint, but others will do single stints.  Minimum drive time is an hour and 45 minutes.  Correction, it’s an hour and a half, very much like a World Cup soccer game.  We have 42 cars starting this motor race.  We’re ready to go, live from Watkins Glen!  This race, is a classic.  The #54 CORE Autosport ORECA is on pole, with Jon Bennett at the wheel, who has to go to the back of the grid, putting the #23 United Autosports Ligier of Paul di Resta, on pole, sharing with Bruno Senna and Phil Hanson. 

Ligier and then Acura, start in the front of this race. Watch for Simon Trummer in the #85 JDC-Miller ORECA, “the banana boat”.  Ford has looked imperious, and Richard Westbrook has been brilliant in the middle sector of the lap. We need to watch the temperatures for ambient temperature today.  Mario Farnbacher is an addition to the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth and David Heinemeier Hanson.  The stars and stripes start the race!  Go!  Paul di Resta is falling down the order, and Cadillac #90, Tristan Vautier at the wheel, has spun!  Pippo Derani has also spun in turn three on cold tires.

Both Pippo Derani and team mate Scott Sharp both spun, and Sharp hit the #48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 for Paul Miller Racing.  Madison Snow at the wheel.  Now, Vautier was caught, and Scott Sharp was as well.  The sister ESM car had hit the wall.  #22 heads behind the wall.  The ESM machine spun inside, went back across the road, and was clobbered by the #90 Cadillac DPi-V.R of Tristan Vautier, sharing with Matt McMurry in a two driver lineup. Jon Bennett made it through this wreck, unscathed.  The CORE Autosport boys have dodged a bullet early in this motor race. Anyone who hits the lane, will do so for emergency service only.

ESM will have Scott Sharp stay out until green waves again, and will pit.  You cannot enter a closed pit lane.  Vautier and Sharp are aiming to get back on the lead lap.  If you cannot watch the race on TV, download the IMSA App.  Yours truly, highly suggests it.  We will go back to green, now.  We're back underway at Watkins Glen.  Gustavo Yacaman defends from Stephen Simpson.  It's the #99 Gainsco "Red Dragon", and Renger van der Zande is coming in the #10 Cadillac DPi-V.R.  van der Zande shares with Jordan Taylor.  Dane Cameron has run a 1:34.6 in the #6 Acura.  Paul di Resta and Ricky Taylor are coming as well.  Ricky Taylor in the second Acura.  Gustavo Yacaman is next in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport car.

#90 gets a stop and hold plus 60 seconds penalty.  Scott Sharp is back on track, but #22 is in the garage.  Jack Hawksworth, Christopher Mies, and Jens Klingman are the top three in GT Daytona right now.  Paul di Resta has fastest lap at 1:34.4, but Dane Cameron steals it with a 1:34.1.  #90 serves it's penalty.  Poor old Spirit of Daytona just doesn't have any luck.  Connor de Philippi is chasing his team mate Tom Blomqvist, who is the son of World Rally champion, Stig Blomqvist.  Meanwhile, the #73 Park Place Porsche 911 RSR has electrical trouble.  Mike Johnson is the crew chief on the car, a veteran in IMSA.  Dane Cameron made the move early and is leading.  Traffic is starting to play a factor.

A penalty for the #2 ESM Nissan DPi.  The penalty is non compliance of emergency service procedures.  They put too much fuel in the tank.  It's a stop and ten second penalty.  Paul di Resta is catching Ricky Taylor, as there's some smoke from the #32 Ligier.  DPi reflects the styling cues of the makes that supply the motors, such as Mazda, Acura, and Cadillac.  The spec LMP2 cars of course, have 4.2 liter Gibson Technologies V8 engines.  Nissan #22 rejoins the race, ten laps down, as Earl Bamber is harrying Antonio Garcia, in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- he shares with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia.  

Cadillac #90 is being lapped, and he chopped across Dane Cameron in the toe of The Boot.  There's damage to the #90 Cadillac and the bodywork has come off the car.  There is damage to the left front of Dane Cameron's Acura, in the toe of The Boot.  There is suspension damage as well.  Use all the road.  25 minutes down.  Five and a halfhours to go.  Stephen Simpson and Dane Cameron are on the same bit of road.  Felipe Nasr locks the brakes on the #31 Cadillac he shares with Eric Curran and Mike Conway.  Stephen Simpson closes on Paul di Resta.  Wishing a Happy Canada Day to everyone from our neighbor to the north.

Shade is the topic of the day.  Penske does not have spare bodywork ready, and they feel they don't need it for Dane Cameron in the Acura.  No further action for the contretemps between the Cadillac and the Acura.  We are half an hour in.  Now, Jack Hawksworth is leading in GT Daytona in the Lexus.  It's a Lexus 1-2, with Christopher Mies third.  Jeff Segal and Alvaro Parente are in a good battle.  Ford leads Chevrolet and Porsche, before the BMW M8's come up.  Connor De Philippi is going well, just ahead of Tom Blomqvist.  Connor De Philippi is going for it, and is enjoying racing in North America.  De Philippi is a Nurburgring 24 Hours winner, and he's been successful here in the states so far.

The gap has shrunk.  Dane Cameron is giving it some welly, but it's not all about traffic at this time.  Pit stop time is coming soon.  When Paul di Resta gets a clear lap, watch out for him.  But, Stephen Simpson, he's pushing, and the poor chap doesn't have a drink bottle right now.  He needs some ice water or electrolyte drink or something.  A gaggle of red cars in the lane.  Two Mazda's, #77 pits.  Oliver Jarvis, out, and Tristan Nunez in.  Jonathan Bomarito replaces Harry Tincknell in Mazda #55.  Cadillac #31 also pits and no real changes in those stops.  Stephen Simpson now leads.  Fuel and tires for the #6 Acura.  The car will not get a new nose on this stop.  They take a windshield tear off, off, and blow compressed air into the radiators.

Filipe Albuquerque pits the #5 Cadillac.  Christian Fittipaldi takes over the car.  Paul di Resta leads.  Simpson pits, and there are no changes.  Just fuel.  The "banana boat" is in the lane, and so is the #10 Cadillac.  Simon Trummer and Renger van der Zande both stay in their cars, and Ricky Taylor does likewise in the sister Penske Acura, car #7.  The two Ligier Gibson's are better on fuel, and also on tires.  One less potential mistake to make in the lane.  Gustavo Yacaman pits for tires.  Di Resta leads by 53 seconds.  They have patriotic livery on the car, but it is the Union Jack, from Britain, as it's a British team.  Phil Hanson is ready to get into the car, replacing Paul di Resta.  

The driver change took too long.  Debris at the exit of turn one.  One of the Prototype cars has lot an end plate.  Antonio Garcia is being hounded by Earl Bamber and Patrick Pilet.  Jon Bennett is the only Prototype who has not stopped yet, and he will get a free stop, a lucky dog, if you will.  Bennett gets new tires, and will do a double stint.  We are now under full course yellow.  Cars get pointed by the safety car, to not be trapped between the safety car and their class leader.  Pits are open, and the pit opportunities are split between Pro and Pro Am classes, Prototype and GTLM, and then, GTD.  The #54 ORECA should head for the lane.  Pit lane is now open, and the two Ford GT's are in first.  They were further up in line, in the safety car crocodile.

Ford, in, Corvette, in.  Porsche pits, too, for both cars.  Laurens Vanthoor is in the #912 Porsche.  Both Ford's beat everyone else, with Porsche, Corvette, and BMW's, next.  Jan Magnussen, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor, are the three drivers in the top three places in GTLM.  Oliver Gavin avoided a penalty in the sister #4 Corvette.  You can't afford pit penalties.  GT Daytona also has their leaders pit.  It's busy down there right now, boys and girls.  The GTD cars pit.  Both Lexus RC F's pit.  Mario Farnbacher takes over for Jack Hawksworth.  Cooper MacNeil takes over from Jeff Segal in the #63.  Dominik Baumann replaces Kyle Marcelli in #14.  Dominik Farnbacher replaces Jack Hawksworth in #15.