Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura have won the IMSA Six Hours of Watkins Glen, after a messy race featuring ten cautions and a crazy finish featuring a penultimate lap pitstop for the erstwhile leader, handing Blomqvist the win.
The duo started third and dodged the chaos throughout the race to take the chequered flag in the lead. 1.880 seconds behind was Louis Deletraz, in the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
Third was the sister #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor, with the Portuguese veteran behind the wheel at the finish.
Tom Blomqvist finished third in the sister #60 MSR Acura, alongside his teammate Colin Braun.
Van der Zande started the #93 Acura from pole, and initially retained it over Aitken in the #31 Cadillac. However, even before the end of the first lap, the rain started coming down, at first over the back part of the circuit. Soon it enveloped the entire circuit, getting heavier.
Aitken and van der Zande battled for the lead, but Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche fought through the field and was third as the rain increased. Van der Zande, leading, went wide and Aitken took the opportunity to claim the lead, but he didn’t hold it for long. Nasr then found some grip on the damp track and went round the outside of Aitken’s Cadillac.
Nasr held the lead and extended a small gap, but as he hit traffic Aitken found more pace and caught the Dutchman up again. The Briton subsequently retook the lead, with van der Zande also taking second off Nasr as Porsche’s lack of pace became apparent.
Three full course cautions in two hours
The first of 10 full course cautions were then called, with another falling shortly afterwards as LMP2s and GTDs collided. It was now raining much harder, with a short, sharp monsoon-like shower causing chaos on track.
At the second restart, van der Zande led from Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW and Nasr in the #7 Porsche. However, a clash between Ricky Taylor,in the #10 WTR Cadillac and Aitken, who’d had trouble in the pits and been dropped to the back of the GTPs, created on-track debris.
At the third restart, van der Zande still led from Vanthoor and Nasr. The Brazilian soon took second off Vanthoor, before the Belgian reclaimed it, with the two around four seconds off van der Zande in the lead.
The third caution was called with exactly four hours remaining. Romain Grosjean, in the #63 Lamborghini, had pitted moments before the FCY was called and the pit lane closed, in a stroke of luck for the Italian team. This meant when the GTPs pitted en masse under yellow, Grosjean stayed out and assumed the lead.
The Frenchman led from Kaku Ohta, who’d replaced van der Zande in the #93 Acura, and Philipp Eng in the #24 BMW.
A succession of full course yellows were then called for various incidents, one involving the #5 Proton Porsche of Nico Pino, who’d collided with the #80 Lone Star Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Campbell leads at half way point
After the sixth FCY, just after the half way point in the race,Matt Campbell in the #6 Porsche led from Albuquerque, in the #10 Cadillac, and the #60 Acura of Nick Yelloly.
With Porsche’s lack of pace now obvious to everyone, Campbell soon dropped to fourth behind Albuquerque, Yelloly and Jordan Taylor in the #40 WTR Cadillac.
Two FCYs were called, with the first one restarting with an hour and 57 minutes to go. Bamber, in the #31 Cadillac, led from Tandy, in the #7 Porsche, Campbell, and Albuquerque.
Campbell was soon passed by Albuquerque on the way to the bus stop in the lap of the restart. Bamber meanwhile, in the lead, retained the lead from Tandy, who nonetheless looked vulnerable to Albuquerque, now behind him in third.
The eighth FCY meant the race restarted with an hour and 39 minutes to go. Tandy was still second at the restart but was soon demoted to fith by Albuquerque, Deletraz in the #40 WTR Cadillac, and Yelloly.
Bamber, meanwhile, was opening up a gap to Albuquerque in a Cadillac 1-2-3. The Kiwi looked to have the legs on his Portuguese Cadillac stable mate, heading into the closing part of the race.
Tandy bins #7 Porsche while pushing hard
The caution-fest wasn’t done yet, though — not by a long way. Tandy, who had been pushing Porsche hard to make up for the 963’s fundamental lack of pace at Watkins Glen, pushed too hard and spun his car at turn 1. He careered into the barriers on drivers’ right at high speed, before bouncing across the track, hitting the barrier on drivers’ left at turn 1, and coming to rest on the run off to the left of the kerb, near the barrier.
Incredibly — a testament to the safety of modern race cars — Tandy climbed from the destroyed Porsche unaided.
The race went green again with an hour remaining, after the GTPs had pitted under yellow. Bamber retained the lead over Yelloly and Albuquerque, and was extending his gap.
But, of course Watkins Glen had a final twist throw in a crazy, messy race. With under 10 minutes to go, the final caution of the race — the 10th — was called for a GTD car which had stopped at turn 1.
The race went green again for two laps, but Bamber was running out of fuel despite having earlier saved fuel to try and make it to the finish without stopping.
The Kiwi stopped as he was coming onto his final lap, handing Tom Blomqvist the lead in the light blue #60 Acura machine.
Blomqvist was also low on fuel, but somehow made it last to the end, crossing the line almost on fumes. Behind him was the #40 WTR Cadillac of Louis Deletraz, with Filipe Albuquerque a few seconds further back in the sister #10 WTR Cadillac.
Jaminet salvages fourth for Porsche
Mathieu Jaminet finished fourth in the #6 Porsche, salvaging a decent result on a day when the Porsches had no pace around Watkins Glen. Bamber finished fifth after his last gasp pit for a splash of fuel, with Nick Yelloly sixth in the polesitting #93 Acura.
Romain Grosjean finished seventh in the #63 Lamborghini, with Philipp Eng eighth in the #24 BMW. Ninth was the #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Roman de Angelis, while 10th went to Tijmen van der Helm in the #85 JDC Miller Porsche.
Di Resta claims LMP2 victory
In LMP2, Paul di Resta took the win in the #22 United Autosports Oreca, drivin g alongside Daniel Goldburg and Rasmus Lindh.
Goldberg started the car third, with PJ Hyett on pole in the #99 AO Racing Oreca. Steven Thomas, in second, was in the #11 TDS car, but Thomas was taken out of contention in the early hours of the race after colliding head on with the spun #52 PR1 Mathiasen Oreca of Rodrigo Sales.
This accident wrecked the #11 TDS Oreca, tearing the windscreen from the car and severely damaging other front end parts of the car.
From then on, the battle for LMP2 was a straight fight between United Autosports and AO Racing. In the end, United Autosports prevailed, with Dane Cameron, in the #99 AO car for the run to the flag, unable to overhaul di Resta.
Third in class was Malthe Jakobsen, in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca.
Harper wins GTD Pro, Heart of Racing’s Gamble victorious in GTD
In GTD Pro, Dan Harper took the victory in the #48 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3, after starting the race second.
Polesitter Andrea Caldarelli, in the #9 Pfaff Lamborghini, ran well at the start, keeping the lead over Harper and extending a gap when he could. However, when he handed over to IMSA debutant Sandy Mitchell, Pfaff’s race unravelled.
Mitchell crashed the car 2 hours into the race, and although he was able to reverse out, the car was clearly damaged. He’d later pull up at the side of the road, causing two IMSA cautions on his debut in the series.
From then on, Harper and his teammate Max Hesse were able to largely control the race, fending off challengers from Corvette and Ford to take the win. In second was the #3 Corvette of Alex Sims and Antonio Garcia, while third went to Chris Mies and Fred Vervisch in the #65 Ford Mustang GT3.
Finally, Tom Gamble took the win in GTD in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin. His teammate Zach Robichon started the car from pole and the two were able to avoid the chaos to take the flag first in class. Second was Frederik Schandorff in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, while third was Kenton Koch in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes AMG GT3.
I just like the helpful information you provide in your articles