Riberas makes a pass in the pit lane on exit but the stewards will make a call and he'll have to give it up. He was ahead of a second car. Oh boy. Trouble for Vasser Sullivan #14. Pit lane speed violation! Oh my! They will have to serve a drive through penalty and are doing so now. Antonio Garcia goes by and I think Daniel Serra in the Ferrari will do likewise. Corvette now lead GTD Pro in the final hour of the race. 58 minutes to go. Time to fight. It's within the final hour of the motor race. All three and a half miles of Watkins Glen, as Connor De Philippi has only 5.9 seconds over Nick Tandy. Great battle in LMP3 between Garrett Grist and Felipe Fraga playing a game of chicken on the brake pedal into the inner loop.
Hard to see if Fraga gave the place up or if Grist made the pass. Irishman Wayne Boyd from Belfast is leading LMP3 and was a winner at the 2015 Formula Ford Festival and an 2020 European Le Mans LMP3 champion. Corvette Racing now lead in GTD Pro with Jack Hawksworth now having to do the chasing after the pit lane speeding penalty. Fraga pressing Grist, rattling his cage, using him up. Oh my! Fraga off the road into the grass! Grist wants more of this. The gloves are off. It is go time. Garrett Grist passes by Sebastien Bourdais in the other GTP Cadillac! Oh my! The other great comeback is with the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3. Bryan Sellers has handed the car off to Madison Snow for the finish of the motor race.
50 minutes now remaining in the race. Time is of the essence. Snow is going to do all he can to reel in Jan Heylen and Aaron Telitz in GTD as well. Very reminiscent of their efforts of a win at the 12 Hours of Sebring. Jack Hawksworth is monstering Antonio Garcia in GTD Pro. Reminiscent of the Fraga and Grist fight in LMP3. BMW and Connor De Philippi in the lead of the motor race. BMW #25 in the pit lane from the overall and GTP lead. Connor De Philippi to the pit lane. Pipo Derani being harried by Tom Blomqvist for third place.
Nick Tandy is in hot pursuit of course of the BMW of De Philippi. Derani clearing slower traffic. De Philippi on cold tires. Now, Pipo Derani can go on the attack. BMW Technical Director Brandon Fry working with BMW Motorsport, a global program coming from the headquarters in Munich, Germany. BMW's last prototype overall victory was in 2000 at Silverstone with the Schnitzer program with J.J. Lehto and Jorg Muller. That was with the V12 LMR. Pipo Derani 11 seconds behind Connor De Philippi. He has to make up ten seconds in 42 minutes.
Tandy in the Penske Porsche still leads and has yet to make his final pit stop as now, Jan Heylen also being chased down by the BMW M4 GT3 of Madison Snow against the Porsche 911 GT3R. Snow covers him and moves to second in GT Daytona leading the championship. They were on the back foot with a steering wheel issue earlier on. They are chasing down or trying to chase down Aaron Telitz in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 leading by 33 seconds. In GTD Pro, the battle goes on between Antonio Garcia in the factory Covette C8.R and Jack Hawksworth in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus followed by Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.
Nick Tandy makes his final stop at Porsche. Matthieu Jaminet will take the #6 Porsche 963 home to the end of the race. Pipo Derani into turn one and Jaminet is not nbottled up bejind an LMP3 car. Derani makes his way past a GTD car. De Philippi has passed the Porsche ahd so now, Derani is going to catch De Philippi and Tom Blomqvist is still in the fight too. We could see a fifth different winner in five races. De Philippi is matching Jaminet. 34 minutes to go yet. BMW's only GTP win was right here at the Glen with Davy Jones and the late, great John Andretti in 1986 with the March BMW chassis.
Pipo Derani tagged the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. In GTD Pro, Hawksworth is catching Antonio Garcia hand over fist and now, Daniel Serra is pushing hard. Pipo Derani scything past the GTD Pro cars. Traffic will play a factor. Jack Hawksworth reeling in Antonio Garcia in GTD Pro. Watkins Glen was designed by engineering professors from Cornell University. Located on the southern tip of Seneca Lake at 3.4 miles with the inner loop added in 1992 after Tommy Kendall's massive crash in the Chevrolet Intrepid GTP.
The Boot extended the length of the course from 2.35 miles to 3.37 miles. Of course they raced through the village of Watkins Glen, New York with the sports cars in the very early days in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Corvette, Lexus., Ferrari in GTD Pro, the top three. Corvette disputed their tire penalty from earlier but the marshals did not buy it. Jack Hawksworth continues to have his hands full with Daniel Serra. Daniel Serra is really motoring currently. All three of these cars though are definitely in fuel management mode.
Still 25 minutes left on the board. The Ferrari is a second quicker than the Corvette and half a second quicker than the Lexus. Corvette Racing has not won since Sebring 2022. Ferrari would love to back up their overall Le Mans win with a GTD Pro victory. The lead gap has stabilized at 6.3 seconds between Connor De Philippi and Matthieu Jaminet. Pipo Derani in third and Tom Blomqvist in fourth spot. BMW, Porsche, Cadillac, Acura. Sometimes the LMP2 and LMP3 cars do not see the GTP cars. In GTD Pro the battle is on once more. Jack Hawksworth has taken the lead and Daniel Serra has also passed Antonio Garcia.
I think Garcia was taken by surprise by both of them. Daniel Serra is faster than is Jack Hawksworth. Front engine 5 liter V8 naturally aspirated Lexus vs. the turbocharged mid engine 3-liter V6 Ferrari. Vasser Sullivan and Lexus are the GTD Pro championship leaders as we start the second half of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech Championship season. De Philippi five seconds to the good over Jaminet. Jaminet is closing up. Pipo Derani in the Cadillac, the sole remaining Cadillac, in third spot. 17 minutes to go with 50+ cars on the road still. The BMW factory came with more than 100 people, the CEO of BMW globally came there.
They knew they had to build and they have been building. They could very well win today still. Connor De Philippi and John Edwards nearly won in GTD Pro last year. This could be medicine for their camp. Matty Jaminet is now coming in a hurry! De Philippi has lost time! De Philippi balked by Rexy, the dinosaur Porsche 911 GT3R! Yikes! Connor De Philippi is putting in the drive of his life to hold off Porsche's Matthieu Jaminet. He is a mega star. He has been sensational in the prototype ranks in 2023 so far.
Jaminet is like Pac Man, eating the gap up. There is nothing in it and nearly gets balked by the BMW M4 GT3 from Turner Motorsports. Six hours of racing will come down to the last handful of moments. It appears my pals at Action Express will end up on the podium after leading a good chunk of the first half of the motor race today. Racing to the end in the 6 Hours of the Glen with only ten minutes to go now. Hawksworth has a slight break but here comes Serra in GTD Pro just behind LMP3 traffic. The Ferrari has come alive. Hawksworth will force Serra to take the long way.
De Philippi negotiating the GTD traffic. Jaminet has to crack the throttle. Turbo V8's in both these cars. 4 liters for BMW and 4.6 liters for the Porsche. The #13 AWA LMP3 car of Matt Bell spins in turn one and continues. Just over eight minutes to go and a big lockup for Connor De Philippi. He is under pressure. He is feeling the heat from Matthieu Jaminet in the Porsche. Pipo Derani remains in third place. Oh my! There has been a pass for the lead as Matthieu Jaminet has passed Connor De Philippi.
Through to the toe of The Boot. De Phillippi got balked behind the GTD leading Lexus. De Philippi went off into the marbles. Jaminet has taken off. Less than five minutes of racing to go. Jack Hawksworth could win GTD Pro, and Bill Auberlen has clobbered the wall! He might have flipped that car! Three minutes and 40 seconds to go. Full Course Yellow! Wow! This is it. The race is going to be over. That was a massive accident. Bill Auberlen getting out of the car under his own steam. Auberlen flips onto his roof in turn ten! He is definitely shaken up, favoring his shoulder.
The most successful driver in IMSA in the wins category and that is a horrible accident. Up, over, and out. Wow. The right rear suspension fully collapsed on that race car. Holy smokes! Fit as a fiddle nearly 55 years old. The field cruising behind the safety car. Porsche are going to earn their second win of the season, in the hands of last year's GTD Pro co-champion. So this will be victory number two for the Porsche Penske team while the sister #7 had a hybrid issue. They did not have a good week at Le Mans but now they are going back to victory lane.
George Kurtz and company are going to win in LMP2 competition with Ben Hanley and with Nolan Siegel. In the LMP3 class it will be a victory for Felipe Fraga and Riley Motorsports with four straight victories. In GTD Pro and GTD Lexus are going to sweep both classes. #14 in GTD Pro and #12 in GTD. Vasser Sullivan have won both classes on the same day for the first time ever.
It is Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat winning in GT Daytona Pro while in GT Daytona it is the trio of Frankie Montecalvo, Aaron Telitz, and Parker Thompson.
Overall/GTP: #6 Tandy/Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963
LMP2: #04 Kurtz/Hanley/Siegel Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07
LMP3: #74 Robinson/Fraga/Burdon Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 Nissan
GT Daytona Pro: #14 Hawksworth/Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
GT Daytona: #12 Montecalvo/Telitz/Thompson Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
Next up for the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship is a return to sprint racing mode north of the border as the series goes to Canada, to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (Mosport Park), for the Chevrolet Grand Prix coming up in two weeks. We'll see you north of the border in Canada, eh, for the next event on the calendar. Bye for now.
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