The #55 Mazda Team Joest crew of Harry Tincknell, Jonathan Bomarito and Olivier Pla stormed to victory at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, fronting a 1-2 finish for the Japanese-German squad.
Over the course of the six-hour affair, Mazda held the upper hand over its rival DPi runners, with the #77 RT24-P of Oliver Jarvis, Tristan Nunez and Timo Bernhard starting from pole position through the efforts of the prior Briton.
The start to the sixth race of the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship was slow, with two yellow flags in quick succession for Tommy Milner, Ben Keating and Felipe Nasr resulting in almost 25-minutes of yellow flag running.
When the race was truly underway, however, it was advantage Mazda, with the #77 and #55 crews swapping first place over the course of the first half of the race, holding a dominant grip over the rest of the field.
After starting from the pit lane as opposed to the front row of the grid, a masterful strategy from Acura Team Penske placed the #6 car of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya into contention for victory, with the ARX-05 holding the lead with just over an hour of running remaining.
With Montoya driving the car up until the chequered flag, and with the sharp end of the DPi field running on the same strategy, it was vital for the Comumbian racer to hold both Mazda vehicles behind.
Closing in, Tincknell in the #55 was able to take the lead from Montoya with 43-minutes of racing remaining before pitting 10-minutes later, again handing the #6 Acura the lead.
Pitting the following lap, however, it was clear that the battle for victory would be decided through strategy, with Acura Team Penske opting for the overcut strategy while the #77 Mazda of Jarvis also took to the pit lane.
Fitting four fresh tyres and topping up on fuel, the #77 of Jarvis secured the jump on Montoya while Tincknell in the #55 rejoined in first place, allowing Mazda to run in first and second place.
In a race that was full of twists and turns, a loose piece of bodywork on the engine cover of Tincknell's Mazda cast doubt over the Briton's position. Avoiding a black flag, however, Tincknell took the chequered flag in first position while Jarvis was second, fronting a 1-2 finish for Mazda while the #6 car of Montoya and Cameron was third.
In LMP2, it was the Oreca 07 PR1/Mathiason Motorsports car of Matt McMurry, Gabriel Aubry and Eric Lux that was victorious, with the #38 car of Cameron Cassels, Kyle Masson and Andrew Evans failing to see the chequered flag after colliding with the #911 Porsche and #25 BMW.
Despite struggling for pace in qualifying, it was Porsche who was victorious in GT Le Mans, with the #911 crew of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet winning over the #3 Corvette C.R.7 of Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen with the pole-sitting #67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe taking third.
After starting from pole position, Meyer Shank Racing's #86 Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Mario Farnbacher, Trent Hindman and Justin Marks was victorious in GT Daytona, with the #95 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 finishing in the runner-up spot while the #63 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Toni Vilander, Cooper MacNeil and Jeff Westphal was third.
Discussion about this post