Renger van der Zande leads for #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing after the first hour in the IMSA Six Hours of the Glen, but it’s been a chaotic first hour amid a short, sharp rain shower.
Van der Zande lead from pole and retained the lead on the first lap, from Jack Aitken in the #31 Action Express Cadillac, who started second.
However, it began raining on the opening lap, with the ‘boot’ section of the historic circuit most badly affected. The two leading drivers battled for the lead, with van der Zande able to initially retain the lead.
However, soon the Dutchman succumbed to the pressure amid increasing slippery-ness, going wide and letting Aitken through.
The Briton didn’t lead for long, though. Felipe Nasr had worked his way forwards in the #7 Porsche, and duly took the lead of Aitken by going around the outside of the Cadillac.
The Brazilian quickly extended a lead of around three seconds as the rain gradually made the track surface wetter and wetter.
Aitken was able to close up the lead in traffic, though, and he soon re-took first off Nasr. Van der Zande then followed Aitken through, demoting Nasr to third.
However, the first full course yellow of the race was then called, as the #45 Wayne Taylor Lamborghini GTD car crashed at turn 1.
Under yellow, the prototypes pitted en masse. Action Express, running Aitken’s #31 Cadillac, had issues in the pits and dropped to the back of the field. He then pitted again, but would lose no time due to IMSA’s safety car rules meaning everyone gets bunched up before green.
Van der Zande led the field away at the restart, then, in the #93 Acura MSR car. Dries Vanthoor sat second in the #25 BMW, with Nasr third in the #7 Porsche.
The race soon went yellow again, with a multi car crash towards the end of the lap involving the #11 TDS Racing Oreca, the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca of Rodrigo Sales, and the #57 Winward Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward. Sales spun the #52 on the wet kerb, leaving Thomas and Ward nowhere to go.
Companc, Catsburg, Robichon lead LMP2, GTD Pro, GTD
In LMP2, Luis Perez Companc leads after the restart in the #88 AF Corse Oreca. Daniel Goldburg sits second in the #22 United Autosports Oreca, with polesitter PJ Hyett third onboard the #99 AO Racing Oreca.
Nicky Catsburg leads GTD Pro in the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, from Laurin Heinrich, driving #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3.R. Dan Harper is third in the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.
Finally, in GTD, polesitter Zacharie Robichon leads behind the wheel of the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3. Second is Pat Gallagher in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, with Salih Yoluc third in the #36 DXDT Racing Corvette.
