Dramatic Late-Race Overtake Gives Porsche Penske Racing Watkins Glen Win
Words and Images by Matthew Boyce
Mathieu Jaminet executed a late race pass to claim Sunday’s Sahlens Six Hours of The Glen ahead of Connor De Philippi’s BMW. The move came after Jaminet reduced a 10 second advantage held by De Philippi over the course of the final 40 minutes of the race. The win is the second of the season for the No. 6 Penske Porsche team and also extends the Jaminet and Nick Tandy duos IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GTP class points lead.
An incident involving the No. 95 Tuner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 driven by Bill Auberlen with four minutes remaining occurred just moments after Jaminet made the race winning pass for the win. Auberlen’s incident brought out the final yellow flag after the BMW rolled on its roof after he ran wide in turn ten. The car then shot across the track into the tire barriers on the left side of the track resulting in the car rolling over. Auberlen exited his car under his own power.
Behind the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 in the GTP class was the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken rounding out the GTP clad podium. Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 60 Acura ARX-06 fourth in class while JDC Miller Motorsports claimed a top five in their No. 5 Porsche 963.
Porsche Penske Racing held the early lead with both cars running 1-2 through the first third of the race. Their dominance was derailed in the third hour as the No. 7 driven by Felipe Nasr had to pit with hybrid system issues. The car would remain in the garage for repairs for over two hours before the car returned to the race well behind the rest of the GTP runners. The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac ran into trouble early as well including an on track incident with Sebastien Bourdais as well as a mechanical black flag for tire requirements which derailed their race.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura also ran into trouble as well as they were also a victim of black flag for tire requirements. The Acura team also had an on track moment when the car lost a wheel exciting the bus stop resulting in a lengthy pit stop. The car was retired during the last thirty minutes of the race.
The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 Gibson of Ben Hanley, Nolan Siegel and George Kurtz claimed the LMP2 class victory which extends the sports car racing winning streak held by George Kurtz which began at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ben Hanley took the victory in front of the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Christian Rasmussen, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel. The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca rounded out the podium in the LMP2 class driven by Paul-Loup Chatin, Ben Keating and Alex Quinn.
Riley Motorsports continued their undefeated streak in the LMP3 class at Watkins Glen claiming the win. The No. 74 Ligier JS P320 Nissan of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon claimed the win ahead of the No. 30 Jr III Racing entry of Garett Grist, Dakota Dickerson and Dylan Murray who was in the car replacing Ari Balogh after his rain incident on Saturday.
Vasser Sullivan Racing claimed the top spot in both GT classes Sunday with the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 GTD class entry of Aaron Telitz, Frankie Montecalvo and Parker Thompson claiming the overall GT class win. The No. 14 Lexus of Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth finished second behind their teammate but first in the GTD-Pro class. The No. 12 Lexus held control in the GTD class for the final three hours after multiple top runners were taken out of contention to due to tire related penalties.
Jack Hawksworth recovered after the car was handed a pit lane speeding infringement penalty resulting in a drive thru penalty. This handed the lead to the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD of Antonio Garcia, but Hawksworth tracked down and passed the Corvette with less than 25 minutes to go. Hawksworth then had to hold off a hard charging No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Daniel Serra who overtook the Corvette minutes before the final yellow flag flew. The wins for Vasser Sullivan Racing stands as the second time in WeatherTech Championship history that a team has claimed both GTD-Pro and GTD class victories.
A spirited come from behind drive for the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis resulted in a second place finishing position in the GTD class. The team rallied from a two lap deficit after the car experienced an electrical system issue which but then behind. With the recovery, Paul Miller Racing retains their GTD class points lead. The No. 9 Pfaff Racing Porsche of Ryan Hardwick, Jan Heylen and Zach Robichon rounded out the podium.
