Welcome, everybody, to the picturesque Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York, and Seneca Lake. Home of the fabled Watkins Glen International Raceway. In 1948, 75 years ago, sports car road racing in North America, began, on the streets of the town. In 1957, the original track itself, opened, and that original 3.4-mile layout, with modifications over the years, is still used today. Watkins Glen is synonymous with speed. 6 hours of sports car racing on Seneca Lake, it is time for a classic. The fastest road course in North America. Turn up the heat. Road racing's most hallowed ground. It is time to go racing. Let's do this!
This is race five of the championship. Weather has impacted the weekend. Will it influence the race today? We'll find out. The stars are here. Meyer Shank Racing, Wayne Taylor Racing, Action Express, Ganassi Racing, and so many more. The IMSA GTP class of the '80s and '90s were a golden era and now, GTP is back at Watkins Glen for the first time in 30 years. Sports car racing is hot, and the buzz is intoxicating. The golden era was not just back then. It is right here, right now. Qualifying for GTP was rained out. Meyer Shank Racing will have to start from the back with Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun. BMW M RLL have also been quick. BMW want to do it on pace.
BMW the only brand that has not won in GTP yet. 29 of 57 cars are GT3 cars for GTD Pro and GTD. Vasser Sullivan and Pfaff Motorsports scrapping it out in the points championship fight. In GTD, it is the sister Vasser Sullivan Lexus at the top of the shop. LMP2 and LMP3 qualifying, the skies opened like crazy and it was chaos in LMP2 and LMP3. The Jr. III team of Ari Balogh had a big wreck. Dylan Murry will sub for Ari Balogh who was not feeling well after the wreck yesterday, sharing with Dakota Dickerson and Garrett Grist. 57 cars, the biggest field seen at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen since the original GTP ran here in 1984, almost 40 years ago.
Five classes, 57 cars. 40 NASCAR cars, 21 IndyCars. The weather could play a factor too and we could see a wild, chaotic race too, with the weather in the area. Qualifying did not occur for the prototypes because of the horrid weather from yesterday but points were allocated for GTD Pro and GTD. Keys to victory include playing through the traffic. No three point turns. Pit boxes are smaller. Five feet smaller. Be committed for the out lap. The GTP cars on cold tires are going to be hard to control. Stay alert. Be careful.
We are 270 miles northwest of New York City. Braking zone in turn one. This is tricky. Thread the needle in The Inner Loop. No place to hide in the Inner Loop. Turn eight thropugh The Boot and into The Heel of the The Boot. Great circuit. We are going racing this time by. This is the shortest of the endurance races but it will be a challenge. Trouble, a slight hiccup for the #77 Volt Lightning Porsche 911 GT3R in the hands of Alan Brynjolfsson. He is fine. He is sharing with Trent Hindman and Max Root.
Penske Porsche and Action Express Cadillac on the front row. Watch for the brake lockup on the GTP cars on cold tires. Here we go. The BMW M Hybrid could be a spoiler today. OK. Let's do this! Green flag! Away we go! Nick Tandy leads over Pipo Derani and now, Sebastien Bourdais is moving and Augusto Farfus has already wrecked the #24 BMW! Holy smokes! Here comes the GTD Pro and GTD field but they have to wave this off. What? Green for GTD Pro and GTD! Unreal! Be careful. This is bananas. The BMW is dead in the water! That is so dangerous!
Shades of Bob Tulius' Jaguar wrecking here in 1984. Augusto Farfus trundling around and now we have Full Course Yellow on the speedway. IMSA... what were you blokes thinking?! Such a shocking turn of events early doors! Criminy! Well, now we can catch our breath. But what a shame for the #24 team. The GTD Pro and GTD spotters telling their drivers that it is good to go and then you see a prototype crunched into the barriers! By criminy! It was just a quick spin for Farfus. The sister car on cold tires had a similar incident in Free Practice 1. Farfus loses traction on acceleration, and... bang, into the Armco.
The start with the GTP cars on cold tires is so unbelievably tricky! You hear a massive zing of RPM. That was just a slight rise in RPM. You don't often hear the motor zing up like that. Vroom, vroom, vrooom, vroom.... crunch! BMW were the darkhorses but now they are down to a single bullet in the gun. Phillip Eng in the sister car had a similar issue in FP1. So, it is game over, day done for Augusto Farfus, and Philipp Eng. A seemingly harmless spin until the contact with the Armco barrier. The GTP teams have had issues with optimizing braking and drivability.
He is sitting there trying to restart the car with the GTD cars screaming past him when they were at the start of their own race. My gosh! Egad! That could have been much worse than it was. The corner worker made a mistake with the yellow flag vs. the green flag seeing Farfus move forward. But the positive is that a terrible situation was averted. The corner worker waves the green and then the yellow and then the green. My gosh! Just like the driver, your brain is going a million miles a minute. The field stacks up behind the safety car again. BMW #24 has had a best result of fourth and of course at Sebring in the most recent enduro they had a DNF with one car and a second place finish with the other.
That day of course, most of the GTP field was decimated in a late race wreck and my pals at Action Express were the winners. So it appears the nine-car GTP field is now down to eight. Racing here at The Glen for decades and decades whether it was through the village streets or the track itself. Track President Michael Printup is retiring after this year. We wish you will in your semi-retirement, mate. Enjoy the golf course, mate. Next time we are going to Mosport Park in Canada, and have more great tracks coming up. OK. Back to green. Nick Tandy heating the tires but we see Pipo Derani and Sebastien Bourdais chasing in the two Cadillac's.
Pipo Derani is extremely quick and so is Bourdais. These two Cadillac's are in the fight, the V Series R's, but for two different teams. We have had a break in the calendar, but all three of the top three drivers raced at the 24 Hours of Le Mans with their respective teams of course. In LMP2, Ben Keating is in the lead over Salih Yloluc. Tonis Kasemets leads LMP3 over Orey Fidani. Jordan Pepper for Lamborghini leads GTD Pro and Loris Spinelli also in a Lamborghini leads GTD. Take it easy over the curbs with the tire pressures coming up, in the Inner Loop.
The GTD boys and girls are gobbling up the curbs. Good battle here, look, between Madison Snow in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 and the #79 Mercedes AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon. The spec is identical. The driver ratings are the only difference in the two GTD classes. Bill Auberlen passes Jordan Taylor. BMW vs. Corvette. Corvette with their GT3 program have made the official announcement. Turner Motorsports finished 1-2 in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race yesterday. Three wheels on me wagon for the #51 Rick Ware Racing Oreca LMP2 car! Eric Lux at the wheel of it. He might be able to trundle back to the pit lane.
Lux sharing with Devlin DeFrancesco and Pietro Fittipaldi. The whole wheel came off the car. The #023 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 is serving a penalty for changing tires on the grid too late. Onofrio Triarsi, Charlie Scardina, and Alessio Rovera. Unscheduled stop for the #10 Acura ARX-06 receiving a mechanical black flag for minimum tire pressures with Ricky Taylor, Louis Deletraz, and Filipe Albuquerque. The #61 Ferrari 296 GT3 is in trouble. Simon Mann screaming on the radio "I have no power!" This is the #61 AF Corse car. Mann sharing with Lilou Wadoux and with Ulysse de Pauw.
Meanwhile, Connor De Philippi is reeling in Sebastien Bourdais hand over fist. Colin Braun wants a bite of the cherry as well, look. Mercifully, the #51 has gone behind the wall and I wonder if that car has suspension damage. All four GTP brands have the pace and run within a few tenths of a second of one another. Just amazing. LMP2 and LMP3 fighting into the toe of The Boot. We have seen three lead changes. Glen van Berlo leads Dylan Murry and Orey Fidani. Murry was drafted into the #30 JR III entry. Gar Robinson in the #74 LMP3 car and they are going to step up to LMP2 next year as LMP3 goes away. GTP will increase in size with more customer Porsche's and Lamborghini.
A lot of the LMP3 teams are looking at LMP2 and GTD. Bourdais fending off De Philippi and opening a gap on the BMW driver. Traffic playing a part and now, Pipo Derani is right on Nick Tandy's six. It is a Porsche vs. Cadillac wrestling match. Salih Yoluc, drafted into the #8 Tower LMP2 car is going for it but now, Derani can get a run on the Porsche for the lead of the motor race overall. In the case of the Rick Ware LMP2 car, Eric Lux took the car to the paddock. The tire did not cause too much damage. It was a sheared axle stub. Holy cow! Again, game over for Augusto Farfus. He admits he made a mistake on cold tires.
He just lost the rear end of the car. Oh no! AO Racing and "Rexy" has taken a chomp out of the fence! Right rear bodywork damage for P.J. Hyett who will stay out for the time being. Slow down there, dinosaur. He is going to leave debris wand there's smoke billowing from a split oil cooler. Pipo Derani clears Loris Spinelli. The GTP cars are dealing with traffic all day long. There is no such thing as a clean lap with 57 cars over 3.4 miles. On the brake by wire system, be careful. The #20 High Class Racing LMP2 car of Mark Kvamme gets tagged by Pipo Derani or, Kvamme turned in too soon.
Kvamme drafted in after one of the other drivers, Dennis Andersen, the Dane, felt sick and said "I need to rest and get well." Kvamme sharing with Ed Jones and Anders Fjordbch. Kvamme was anxious and had to wait. The #17 LMP3 car also spins off the road, the AWA Duqueine being driven by Anthony Mantella, Wayne Boyd, and Nico Varrone. Into the pit lane, the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R 992 model. Klaus Bachler sharing the car with Patrick Pilet in a two-driver team. Half an hour in and we are seeing a bunch of action. Just imagine the intensity of hour six!
This is unfolding a lot like what we see in a typical FIA World Endurance Championship race. So, Nick Tandy for Porsche continues in the lead of the motor race. Good scrap in LMP2. Ben Keating being chased by Steven Thomas and Salih Yoluc and George Kurtz has passed. These two both won in their classes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Over 1/3rd of the field in this race ran at the 24 Hours of Le Mans including Action Express of course. Ben Keating and George Kurtz, two businessmen are also successful on the track. Wayne Taylor says IMSA black flagged them to repair a tire on the left rear.
Now, the #11 TDS Racing LMP2 Oreca has spun! He goe tipped by Salih Yoluc in the #8 Tower Motorsports car! Thomas sharing with Mikkel Jensen lead the LMP2 points and the third driver is Scott Huffaker. Now, the #8 is also in trouble after this and we are going to see cars pitting before we go Full Course Yellow. Thomas backs up and he has cars flying all over him! This is a blind turn! IMSA Marshals, guys, make sure these drivers are safe. Drivers, please use your heads! Yoluc was making a move on Keating, could not do it, and Thomas also had a head of steam. Yoluc was way too cavalier on that move and he'll cop a penalty for that for sure.
He copped a whack and will cop a penalty as well. #11 will head back to the paddock to get the car fixed and then come back in and keep on trucking. The whole left front corner is gone. Again, Full Course Yellow. Does Ben Kearing have damage? There is a little bit. He probably felt like getting hit by a meteor and he was off the road in the wet qualifying yesterday too Side by side through turn ten and Yoluc divebombed him. Thomas was only trying to avoid the other two blokes, he had no place to go, and... ker-runch!
What was, is now, GTP is back at the Glen! This is wonderful! Our friends Mike Joy, Bob Varsha, and Dorsey Schroeder, called those races back in the day as we join Leigh Diffey, Calvin Fish, and Townsend Bell in the booth today. The GTP teams will do energy replenishment with full fuel loads and some tire adjustments. We are also going to hear from our mate Brian Till in a wee while. So, the GTP cars have now pitted. #60 has leapfrogged the #31. Maybe MSR elected not to take tires and AXR did. Seven sets of tires and are now using two optional softer compounds if they choose.
New nose for the Tower Motorsports LMP2 #8. Yoluc may cop a penalty as we told you. Anthony Mantella was an innocent victim in the deluge yesterday. What a bear. They were also involved in the incident with the #20. AWA move to GTD next year. We will see how that works out. Many of the GTP cars are going to struggle for temperature and pressure on new tires, on stone cold tires. Colin Braun raced the Rolex 24 for the first time at age 16. He has won titles and the big races, originally from Texas. Braun has a golden opportunity with Meyer Shank Racing. He is a quiet achiever. He is able to excel in these high downforce prototypes.
The GTD Pro and GTD field en masse hits the lane. Risi Competizione, the #62 Ferrari 296 GT3 and Daniel Serra will stay in the car. The Inception Racing #70 McLaren 720S GT3 leads GTD. Loose tire bouncing down the pit lane! Oh dear! It was clonked by a car coming out of the box. I don't know who's tire that is. It was the Corvette Racing pit! Oh my! The marshal has to retrieve it. Jordan Taylor started the race. The Corvette is released and then, boom, the #23 of Alex Riberas, he did not see the tire. Any damage? It hit the splitter at the very least on the Aston Martin and not a scratch.
Welcome Brian Till to the booth. We have seen some craziness so far with the speed and the traffic of this 57-car field. Drivers are not patient enough right now. Cool it. Get it together out there boys and girls. We could see rain later on. We are ready to go back to green. Matty Campbell assumes the lead over Nick Tandy. Porsche Penske 1-2. Colin Braun is pressing Nick Tandy and the same is true between Pipo Derani and Renger van der Zande. Campbell has more tire temperature currently. In LMP2 both #8 of Yoluc and #11 of Thomas penalized.
Bryan Sellers in the lane with the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. #60 has a pit lane speeding penalty and the same for tire rotation elevated for the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports LMP3 car. #1 is Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and Corey Lewis. 1/3rd of the field have come back from Le Mans and are surely frazzled. #61 and #47 also cop pit lane speeding penalties, look. #61 is the Mann/Molina/de Pauw entry. #60 to the lane for their drive through penalty. #47 is one of the other Ferrari's, the Cetilar Racing 296 GT3 with an all-Italian driver lineup. George Kurtz has fallen down a bit and is second in LMP2 right now behind Luis Perez Companc.
The speed at which this game plays is really different. It is like having three baseball games going on at once. Major Leagues, Minor Lagues, and collegiate. BMW #1 in the lane. They are coming back out. The power cord for the steering wheel was disconnected from the dashboard! Oh my! Go through the gears in the pit lane. Everything seems OK. But the championship leader in GT Daytona goes a lap down. Pipo Derani to the outside of two of the Ferrari's and now, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Louis Deletraz alongside Sebasiten Bourdais and here comes the sole remaining #25 BMW of Connor De Philippi.
Deletraz goes straight through and now De Philippi is pressing hard on the Cadillac.
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