WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr was able to get past Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz on the final restart with 16 minutes to go Sunday (June 23). From there, Nasr was able to hold on to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen with teammate Dane Cameron.
“It was time to go,” Nasr told Frontstretch. “I got my tires [and my brakes] ready and knew that I just needed one chance, one opportunity to make that move stick. I saw the door open, I committed…made sure I stopped the car since the track was still damp, and that was the race.”
The margin of victory was .749 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande. The No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy were third, followed by Deletraz and Jordan Taylor. BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn were fifth.
Deletraz started from pole in his Acura ARX-06. However, he was a little off the pace on the start due to an inability to get enough heat into his hard compound Michelin tires. Van der Zande was able to snatch the lead away on the first lap.
On lap 2, Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman crashed in turn 6 after contact with Richard Mille AF Corse’s Luis Perez Companc. He couldn’t get the car back underway due to a clutch issue, which ultimately put him out.
The midpoint of the race brought some chaos. The rain that had been expected all weekend showed up heavily, but very briefly. Teams were forced to choose whether to pit or press their luck. Some pitted, others did not.
Shortly afterwards, Proton Competition’s Giammarco Levorato spun exiting turn 10 and went hard into the barriers, littering the track with debris and fluids. The Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon got in the fluid and hit the wall in his Aston Martin as well.
Levorato was able to exit his Mustang on his own and was checked and released from the infield care enter. Robichon lost two laps trying to resume, but eventually drove his Aston Martin back to the paddock. Both drivers were out on the spot.
The rain stopped and the track dried. However, the dry weather didn’t last. Another rain shower came through and dumped moisture, leading to another scramble. Iron Dames’ Sarah Bovy was caught out and went hard into the tires where Levorato crashed to bring out another yellow.
Everything dried out again and the field was able to get back onto slicks. The race for the overall lead saw Filipe Albuquerque pull off a pass on the outside of turn 4 to take the lead.
Albuquerque continued to fight for the overall lead with Nick Tandy when the rains returned with a vengeance. The overall leaders were able to get into the pits quickly to change back to rain tires. Others weren’t so lucky.
TDS Racing’s Hunter McAlrea wiped out entering turn 1 and went broadside into the tire curtain in front of the barrier. That brought out the caution, but the trouble wasn’t over.
In turn 8, Action Express Racing’s Jack Aitken spun into the gravel, along with AF Corse’s Miguel Molina and Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Matt Bell. Forte Racing’s Loris Spinelli locked up, slid through the trap and went head-on into the tires. Spinelli was able to walk away, but his Lamborghini was heavily damaged. The others were able to continue.
The rain was falling so hard that drivers could barely run behind the safety car. As a result, the red flag was brought out for 40 minutes.
In the stops before the red flag, Deletraz was able to get out first and take the lead. However, Watkins Glen International dries very quickly. By the time the red flag was withdrawn, a substantial amount of the track was already dry. As a result, everyone came back in for slicks.
The WTRAndretti No. 10 of Ricky Taylor ran into serious trouble here. The right rear wheel came off in turn 4, leaving Ricky stranded under yellow. The caution was extended so that the Konica Minolta Acura could be retrieved.
The green finally came back out with 16 minutes to go. Nasr wasted no time putting the moves on Deletraz in turn 1 to take the lead. Unfortunately for Deletraz, it ended up being a repeat of the start of the race as he dropped back to fourth within a lap.
Van der Zande was able to follow Nasr past Deletraz. Over the final 15 minutes, he tried with all his might to challenge Nasr, but he just didn’t have the straight-line speed to hang with the Porsche. Nasr was able to hold on for the win.
In LMP2, AO Racing’s PJ Hyett led the field to green in “Spike.” He showed early on that his pace from qualifying was still there. After the first yellow, he ran into trouble.
The jump start meant that Hyett had a serve a drive-through penalty, giving the lead away in the process. They would not get back to the lead for the rest of the day.
When the red flag came out, Richard Mille AF Corse’s Nicklas Nielsen ended up with the class lead. Once the race restarted, Riley Motorsports’ Felipe Fraga was hot on his tail and made a move for the lead in turn 7.
Contact was made exiting the turn, resulting in Fraga spinning out. CrowdStrike Racing by APR’s Colin Braun ran in the back of United Autosports’ Ben Hanley while trying to avoid the incident, resulting in Hanley spinning into Fraga.
Everyone was able to continue, but Braun ended up with nose damage. Hanley was forced to pit for repairs, while Fraga lost a bunch of time.
The incident was all Nielsen needed to pull away and take the class win with Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux. The margin of victory was 38.453 seconds on the road over Braun, Kurtz and Toby Sowery after Braun had to limp the car home. However, the team was moved to the rear of the class due to Braun being six and a half minutes short of the revised 69-minute minimum drive- time.
As a result, Fraga, Josh Burdon and Gar Robinson inherited second, 41.073 seconds back. Inter Europol Competition with PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports’ Nick Boulle, Tom Dillmann and Jakub Smiechowski were third, then MDK by High Class Racing’s Dennis Andersen, Scott Huffaker and Seth Lucas. United Autosports’ No. 22 for Paul di Resta, Bijoy Garg and Dan Goldburg were fifth.
In GTD Pro, Risi Competizione’s Daniel Serra led early from pole in his Ferrari without any real issues. Unfortunately, the first pit stop hurt the team and dropped them to fourth. In the rain, the team suffered a broken toe link that put them out.
The race came down to a duel between Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Tommy Milner and The Heart of Racing’s Ross Gunn. The two ran nose-to-tail after the final restart and ran each other hard. That allowed Pfaff Motorsports’ Marvin Kirchhoefer to enter the conversation.
Coming to the white flag, Milner ran short of fuel and was forced to pit. Gunn inherited the lead and put just enough of a margin between himself and Kirchhoefer to comfortably run to the win.
Gunn and Alex Riberas’ margin of victory was 1.340 seconds over Kirchhoefer and Oliver Jarvis. Corvette Racing with Pratt Miller Motorsports’ Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims were third, then Vasser Sullivan’s Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat. Ford Multimatic Motorsports’ Mike Rockenfeller and Harry Tincknell were fifth.
In GTD, Parker Thompson started from pole in his Lexus and managed to put a couple of the GTD Pro teams between himself and second-place Onofrio Triarsi. That gave the team a big margin over the rest of the class when they made their first stops.
A great stop for the No. 12 team, much like with the No. 14 in GTD Pro, put Montecalvo up to third of all GT cars with six GTD Pro cars between himself and the Forte Racing Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg.
The rains rapidly shifted the order. Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis failed to get into the pits to switch to rain tires before the red flag. As a result, he chose to stay out when everyone else pitted after the race resumed.
The race came down to a battle between Ellis and Thompson. The two were side-by-side with eight minutes to go when slight contact was made. That forced Thompson to go straight at the Inner Loop and take the self-penalty.
That dropped Thompson down the order and was more than enough for Ellis to hold on for the class win with Indy Dontje and Russell Ward. It is Winward Racing’s fourth win of the year and their third straight endurance victory.
Winward Racing’s margin of victory was .884 seconds over Wright Motorsports’ Adam Adelson, Jan Heylen and Elliott Skeer. However, they were moved to the rear of the class due to Heylen being short of minimum drive-time by six minutes and 40 seconds.
As a result, second went to Conquest Racing’s Albert Costa, Manny Franco and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. Magnus Racing’s Andy Lally, John Potter and Spencer Pumpelly were third, then Thompson, Frankie Montecalvo and Aaron Telitz. Turner Motorsport’s Robby Foley, Patrick Gallagher and Jake Walker were fifth.
In addition to CrowdStrike Racing by APR and Wright Motorsports, Inception Racing (due to Frederic Schandorff being short of minimum drive-time by nearly 37 minutes) and Lone Star Racing (due to Scott Andrews missing drive-time by six minutes and 40 seconds).
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen Provisional Results
WeatherTech teams will take the next couple of weeks off. Next up is the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, where the LMP2 class will be the top class. That race will air live on USA Network on July 14 at 11 a.m. ET.
The GTP teams will take CTMP off and are scheduled to race next at Road America as part of the IMSA Sportscar Weekend. Their next race will be Aug. 4.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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