The picturesque Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, is the setting, the backdrop for today's third of four rounds in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. It is the fabled 6 Hours of The Glen, on a track that came to be in 1957, and since then has been a palace of speed for sports car racing fans. Watkins Glen is one of those classic raceways that can be mentioned as a great one, along with such venues as Daytona, Sebring, Le Mans, and Spa Francorchamps, to name just a few. Who will conquer the 3.4 mile loop today? We're about to find out, with six hours of racing ahead. We are preparing for the start of this motor race.
Don't forget, this is the first of two back-to-back races on the IMSA schedule. Watkins Glen, today, and Mosport Park (Canadian Tire Motorsport Park) in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, next weekend. This is round six of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship, and the third race of the Michelin Endurance Cup. 36 cars will start. We were supposed to have 37, but one car won't start, the #19 MooreSpeed Audi R8 that crashed in practice and driver Will Hardemann had a concussion, but he is OK now. Oliver Jarvis, for Mazda Team Joest, he has the overall pole, sharing with Tristan Nunez and Timo Bernhard.
The weather is lovely. The #911 Porsche and one of the Lexus cars from AIM Vasser Sullivan, will be starting from the rear of the field as the #84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac also had an electrical issue, but that is fixed now. The weather is good. There will be one car starting from pit lane, one of the Lexus cars. You have to start from the pit box. The #6 Acura is being rolled from the starting grid, to the pit lane. Dane Cameron is the starting driver. He has won the two most recent rounds of the championship. The #6 car may need to start from the lane, look. They've changed the left front tire on the car. Was there a tire pressure sensor issue? The sister car moves up to the outside of the front row and this puts the sister Mazda RT24P up a place, behind the team car. That's Jonathan Bomarito, sharing with Harry Tincknell, and Olivier Pla.
You have to get to the end of this six hour race. It is very different, too from the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring. It isn't short, but it isn't a majorly long race. Run a sustained pace. The engines have fired up, and we're set to race. Pit stop strategy, is something we'll find out about. The pit lane slopes downhill. We are looking at a short stint length as far as the fuel. This is a high speed course, and will burn off fuel for the DPi and LMP2 cars every 35-40 minutes. Ttaffic will be an issue. There are areas like the esses, where the walls are close, even with just 36 cars out on the track and the Armco barrier is right there.
Porsche #911 is back on track. The pit crew will stand by to see if the car is working. The Lexus and the Acura are still starting from the lane. Jan Magnussen is racing his 150th event with Corvette, after 15 years now with Corvette. He is watching his son Kevin compete in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, in Formula 1. The Acura will be the first car on track, after the entire field has taken the green flag, or perhaps, the Stars & Stripes flag with Independence Day coming up. Acura and MSR have locked out the front row of GT Daytona. There are points from the Michelin Endurance Cup at 3 hours into this race, and I think, at the end, at the six hour mark.
The DPi cars won't be under pressure from the LMP2 machines like we saw here last year. It's time now, to race. Here we go. The green flag is waving and we're underway! The two Mazda's lead the race but Tincknell can't get through and he's being harried by Renger van der Zande. Ford and Richard Westbrook go into the lead, and there's a big accident between the #33 Keating Motorsports Mercedes AMG GT3 and then, the #4 factory Corvette! The #4 car is knackered once again, after having argy bargy with Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche! Recall that the #4 Corvette was also destroyed at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, two weeks ago. Connor De Philippi avoids this shemozzle. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini clipped one of the cars that spun, Ryan Hardwick at the wheel of it, in that Army green livery for Independence Day this week.
Poor old Ben Keating has had a lot of woe this week after losing his Am class win at Le Mans, and says he has moved on from that, but, he will still have some worries with getting this Mercedes fixed. The rear wheel was ripped off the car, completely. The #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche also had a left front tire puncture on the car shared by Scott Hargrove, Zachary Robichon, and Lars Kern. The two Canadian drivers, and the German Porsche test driver. Zachary Robichon is back on track now. Emergency service dictates damage repair, and also, a splash of fuel for five seconds if it is absolutely needed. This will pay major dividends for the #6 Acura as the DPi cars are going to be pointed back to the front.
There will be some disagreement between Tommy Milner and Laurens Vanthoor. They will have to resolve their differences after their driving stints. A very lucky break, for the #6 Acura. The Porsche was alongside the Corvette coming through the esses. Jeroen Bleekemolen won the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race, last weekend. Look for the full highlights of that event, later on this week. There will be concern for the #4 Corvette. Oliver Jarvis is still leading this race. Everyone has to do it again, as we form up for the restart. Richard Westbrook, he has the lead in GTLM at the moment. Oliver Jarvis leads the race as the green flag is up and waving again. Felipe Nasr tries making a pass, but can't quite make it work.
Both of the Lexus cars are out on track now. Frankie Montecalvo is moving up in the #12 AIM Vasser Sullivan car he shares with Townsend Bell and Aaron Telitz. Now, another car has gone off and Felipe Nasr is in the gravel! Did they make contact with the sister car? Filipe Albuquerque kept the #5 Cadillac out of the gravel. This is bad news for AXR. Pipo Derani is the championship leader over Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya! Derani will drive for Bentley at the 24 Hours of Spa, coming up at the end of the month for the Blancpain GT Endurance Cup and Intercontinental GT Challenge. Acura #6 and Lexus #12 still need to serve their penalties but they can't yet. The pit lane is open, and the #6 Acura is in, and so is the #5 AXR Cadillac, the #50 Juncos Racing Cadillac, and the #54 CORE Autosport Nissan.
AXR wants to be faster on pit stops, as Jon Bennett is released, and deary me, there's a stack up at the end of the pit lane. Filipe Albuquerque will be right on Dane Cameron's gearbox when we go back to green. The wing is crunched on the Whelen car, and they will have to do an engine cover change. We need a new engine cover! They can take a little time to get some work done under yellow, and they might lose one more. Damage limitation mode. Eric Curran is signaling where the tail and the engine bonnet don't fit together. They've lost a lap, and may lose two, but they can make up a lap later on. They've got time.
Aerodynamic efficiency is quite important here at Watkins Glen, because it is so fast. They are going to lose another lap behind the safety car crocodile. Pits now open for the GTLM and GTD cars as the engine cover does fit the #31 Cadillac. Now, the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche, the #29 Land Motorsport Audi, the #44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini, the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and a couple more have pitted. Cadillac #31 is two laps down, as a new nose goes onto the #9 Porsche, Zachary Robichon still at the wheel of it. The #96 Turner Motorsports BMW M6 GT3 was also in this scrum earlier. That's Bill Auberlen, sharing with Robby Foley and Dillon Machavern.
The green flag is back in the air. Now, we see Harry Tincknell pushing hard with the Mazda. An English built chassis, with a Japanese manufacturer, with a German team, being run in America. Paul Miller Racing, the Army colored Lamborghini, may have taken emergency service as well. The Pfaff Porsche served it's drive through penalty handed down by the marshals as Felipe Nasr is two laps down, 34th in the overall. He is caboose on the DPi field at the moment. Oliver Jarvis is gapping Ricky Taylor as Harry Tincknell is pressing hard. In GTLM, Richard Westbrook with the Ford GT is leading John Edwards, Antonio Garcia, and Connor De Philippi. 1:32.624 for Oliver Jarvis is a new lap record. The race lap record was a 1:33.3 set by an LMP2 car of Olivier Pla. Still five and a half hours to go yet.
#54 and #50 have been dinged for running the stoplight at the end of pit lane, by the marshals. Jon Bennett and Rene Binder, both get something like a two minute penalty. Ouch! Jon Bennett is going to hand to Romain Dumas next up, and Dumas will share with Colin Braun until the end of the motor race. This could be a gift for Felipe Nasr. He could move up. 1:31.1 for Oliver Jarvis. The best lap in GTLM is Connor De Philippi in the BMW M8 GT at 1:42.8. Trent Hindman has run a 1:48.9 as best lap in GT Daytona. Five and a half hours exactly, left to go. 1:32.7 for Felipe Nasr, going through traffic. He is clawing his way back to the sharp end. 1:30.697 for Ricky Taylor, fastest lap of the race so far. Harry Tincknell slides the Mazda through turn nine. Ford, BMW, Corvette, the top three in GTLM as they come to the toe of The Boot, and back up onto the main section of the circuit.
Kyle Masson now leads LMP2 over Gabriel Aubry, both running ahead of the Acura with Dane Cameron at the wheel. Parker Chase in the Starworks Audi R8 goes a lap down to Oliver Jarvis in the overall lead of the motor race, and so does Ryan Hardwick in the #48 car. The Cadillac's are not in the same motor race as the Acura's and Mazda's at the moment. Renger van der Zande is slower than the two Japanese cars as are the rest of the Cadillac's. There's a big headwind into turn one and dark clouds are looming. We'll be headed for rain here in the not too distant future. Be patient. Get things right, and execute on green flag pit stops. Ford, BMW, Corvette, BMW, Porsche, the top five in GT Le Mans at the moment. Joey Hand is back at the track in IMSA after overcoming a virus. He returned, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and ran well there.
The GTLM boys are running nose to tail at this point. Ford, BMW, Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, once again, as Oliver Jarvis is threading the needle through the GTLM cars as Oliver Jarvis has opened as lead of 4.2 seconds on the Ricky Taylor driven Acura. Jarvis resets fast lap at 1:30.652. Tincknell goes inside of Taylor and makes his move. Ricky Taylor was a sitting duck there, look. The Mazda has the smallest motor, a 2.0 liter turbocharged 4 cylinder compared to the V6's and V8's they compete against. Ricky Taylor has moved his way to third overall as Dane Cameron is on the tail end of the lead lap by the skin of his teeth.
Jarvis and Tincknell lead this motor race. The same margin of 4.6 seconds is between Harry Tincknell and Ricky Taylor, as Oliver Jarvis leads. The Mazda blokes have pulled the pin so far. Richard Westbrook has enough space where he does not have to defend from the BMW or the Corvette. Antonio Garcia wants by John Edwards as one of the JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac's, the #84, Simon Trummer at the wheel of it, is being harried by Filipe Albuquerque. Felipe Nasr has gone past Antonio Garcia and has his sights set on Richard Westbrook. Ricky Taylor and Renger van der Zande are having to play catch up.
Trent Hindman in the #86 MSR Acura NSX GT3 leads GT Dayton as Harry Tincknell cuts a 1:30.310 and Oliver Jarvis, a 1:30.350. Filipe Albuquerque is working on both JDC-Miller "Banana Boat" Cadillac's. He's gone by Misha Goikhberg, but not by Simon Trummer yet, as the Porsche #912, Laurens Vanthoor wants by the #47 PPM Lamborghini with Don Yount at the wheel of it, sharing the Precision Performance Motorsports car with Brandon Gdovic and Jacob Eidsen. Nick Tandy hands the #911 Porsche to Patrick Pilet. That was a super fast stop for the Porsche boys! We await to hear what happened to Felipe Nasr. Was it indeed a puncture?
The #4 Corvette and the #33 Mercedes, are both out of the race, dropping like stones through the order. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R hits the pit lane and so does the Mazda, from the lead. Full service, new Michelin tires. Harry Tincknell still leads, and he is actually in the pit lane. 23 laps, 78 miles into the race. Ricky Taylor pits and so does Cadillac #10. Very close, look, between the Mazda and the LMP2 #52 PR1/Mathiasen Oreca. The #38 car is in the lane and so is Misha Goikhberg in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac. The PR1 car is shared by Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry, and Eric Lux. Drive through penalty for speeding in the lane for Simon Trummer. Cadillac #5 did make a pit stop under the first yellow, and they are staying out, to lead on lap 25. Harry Tincknell will retake the lead in another lap or two when Filipe Albuquerque hits the lane for service.
Harry Tincknell ran a 1:30.390, 1:42.4 for Connor De Philippi, and 1:48 and change for Acura and Trent Hindman in GTD. Antonio Garcia has gone through on the BMW of John Edwards and Garcia is beginning to harry the Ford. Filipe Albuquerque will hit the pit lane next time around, running in the 1:32 range as the Mazda's are a second quicker than the Cadillac's at 1:31 and change on new tires. Ricky Taylor is losing ground to the sister Acura and the two Mazda's as well as the #10 Cadillac for Wayne Taylor Racing, Renger van der Zande at the controls presently. Filipe Albuquerque has made a pit stop for AXR. Fuel and tires, as well as a new drinks bottle. Joao Barbosa is his team mate, and the third driver, is Mike Conway, Toyota FIA WEC driver. Albuquerque screams out of the pit lane and back on track.
Dane Cameron will continue for another stint in the #6 Acura. Harry Tincknell now leads Oliver Jarvis. No one is really running quicker than 1:33. One of the AIM Vasser Sullivan cars is used as a pick. That's Frankie Montecalvo at the wheel of the #12 Lexus RC F GT3 for AIM Vasser Sullivan. Felipe Nasr, finally pits the #31 Cadillac, and will hand the car over to Eric Curran. No new engine cover needed. Driver change, fuel, and tires. Pit stop done for #31.
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