The most common question being asked on the grid before the Six Hour Tudor United Sportscar Championship race was “What tires are you starting on?” Variable and wet conditions added an element of uncertainty and excitement for the race and had a direct impact on the results.
In the end, the team of Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante claimed the overall win in their VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP. The Starworks Prototype Challenge repeated with a second win in a row. The Falken Porsche stretched the last drops of fuel mileage for a popular win in GTLM and the Dodge Viper of ViperExpress won a close contest in the GTD class.
The low clouds and mixed conditions at different parts of the track combined with a rural natural terrain road-course feel made many draw analogies to the Nurburgring and Spa. The six hour length also offers a sufficient length to make the event feel like an endurance race. In fact, the Six Hours is one of four endurance races that comprise the Patron North American Endurance Cup (Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Petit LeMans).
Wet conditions in morning warm-up found the GTLM runners amongst the Prototype cars. About two thirds of the field turned some laps in the warm-up, with the only notable issues being the #11 Prototype Challenge car suffering a gearbox leak that sent it to the paddock for repairs and the #0 DeltaWing needing to deal with a minor fuel leak. Both made the fixes and the #11 started the race from pit lane.
Most cars rolled off the grid on slicks, but the rain picked up on the pace laps. The #58 GTD Porsche opted to gamble by switching to wet tires on the pace laps and start from pit lane. That move would pay off in the short term and set the stage for a race with a dry start but a wet finish.
Since qualifying was rained out, the grid was set by championship driver points and was organized by classes. Christian Fittipaldi immediately took the overall lead with Dane Cameron and Richard Westbrook giving chase, the three putting some distance on the rest of the field.
The Porsche #911 went from fifth to first in class on the start before getting to the bus-stop. The white #25 BMW looped it on the opening lap with Bill Auberlen at the helm, making a close call with Earl Bambers’s #912 Porsche. The #17 Falken Porsche pitted after the opening lap to move to wet tires as well but found themselves back into the pits for dry tires after competing 9 laps.
The mix of different cars, drivers, and tires made for a very mixed opening portion of the race. Within five laps, Patrick Pilet in the #911 put a large gap on the #3 Corvette in the hands of Jan Magnussen. Oliver Gavin in the #4 Corvette suffered a spin with a light touch to the guardrails which cost time and distance. Conor Daly in the #38 PC car quickly ran away from the rest of the PC field, adding 8 to 10 seconds to his lead with each lap. He showed very impressive pace in the slippery conditions lapping within seconds of the bigger Prototype cars.
The GTD class was close and frantic in the early laps with the #48 Audi in the hands of Christopher Haase leading the #007 Aston Martin of Kuno Wittmer. The #58 Porsche found major pace early in the race on wet tires when pilot Madison Snow took the class lead within four laps. However, the wet tires were no longer optimal in about four laps and Snow pitted to switch back to dry tires.
Times started to fall 25 minutes into the race as the track dried out, but the action slowed for a full course yellow when the #60 Shank car with Ozz Negri on board unsuccessfully tried to pass Bruno Junquiera in the #11 Prototype Challenge car going down in the boot. Slight contact put Junquiera in the wall causing significant right front damage. Negri’s car was not damaged. Negri said later “I don’t think he saw me. He turned in. I went very hard on the brakes to avoid it, but I just touched him in the back. I’m pretty sure he didn’t see me.” Negri sounded fairly frustrated about the difficulty of traffic and getting around the Daytona Prototype cars in particular.
Under the resulting yellow, most cars pitted for fuel only. The #38 car pitted very late for a driver change from Conor Daly to Jerome Mee which cost the car track position. Daly said later that the late pit visit was intended to try to keep cars down a lap that he had already lapped but it ended up being costly.
Opting to stay out rather than pitting, Richard Westbrook in the #90 led the field to the green over Fittipaldi in the #5 with Dane Cameron in the #31 next in line but Cameron quickly moved to second. Times continued to fall as the track continued to dry.
Disaster struck in short order as Cameron had contact with the #38 PC car which gave Cameron a deformed left rear wheel and sent the PC car spinning down the track and making contact with the tire barrier. The incident happened at almost exactly the same spot as the earlier Junquiera crash. Cameron made it back to the pits under yellow where the crew serviced the car and sent it back out with no other apparent damage beyond the wheel, but the incident ultimately cost the car a lap.
The green flag waved again with just over 5 hours to go. Westbrook again led the field away with Pilet in the GTLM Porsche, Daniel Burkett in the #16 Prototype Challenge car, and Madison Snow leading in GTD leading in respective classes. Snow was off-cycle on pit stops after an eventful opening hour.
Fast lap times were in the 1:40+ range which was just off the fastest times in dry Friday practice, so the track gave more speed as it continued to dry.
Earl Bamber in the #912 showed early pace, but contact with the rear of the #3 Corvette appeared to hurt the Porsche more than the Corvette. The Porsche pitted on lap 28 for a nose change and then returned to the fight in eight place with Jorg Bergmeister at the wheel. The #912 lost a lap, but eventually made it back to finish on the podium.
The fight for the GTLM lead involved Pilet in the #912 Porsche RSR and John Edwards in the #24 black BMW Z4. Several laps saw nose-to-tail running with each driver giving the other space to race and Edwards took the lead after 37 laps and built a modest lead. Bill Auberlen hunted down Jan Magnussen to put his BMW in front of the Corvette. Further down, but no less frantic saw Bryan Sellers in the #17 Falken Porsche and Pierre Kaffer in the #62 Risi Ferrari. GTLM really produced some fantastic racing during this event.
Kuno Wittmer in his Aston Martin led a tight fight at the top of GTD in front of Mario Farnbacher in the #23 Alex Job/Team Seattle Porsche and Leh Keen in the sister #22 Alex Job Porsche.
The sole Mazda prototype in the race ground to a halt on course near the pit entrance with an alternator belt issue on lap 43 which brought out the third full course yellow for the race. (The team took the car back to the paddock to change the battery and got back out after losing a few laps.) By either luck or prescience, the #01 Ganassi car made a stop just before the pit lane closed where Joey Hand gave way to Scott Pruett. Many teams opted change both drivers and tires under the yellow. With so many cars on pit lane, it was a bit chaotic. Townsend Bell in the #63 Ferrari and Michael Marsal in the #97 Turner BMW found themselves side by side at pit exit with Bell claiming the position by inches. Every position matters – even if you’re fighting over 7th position.
Once the pits were opened and everyone else made their stops, the #01 was able to re-start the race and built a second lead over Max Angelleli. Richard Westbrook overhauled Joao Barbosa to slot into third place. With clear track, Pruett was the fastest car on the track putting in a succession of laps dipping into the 1:39 range.
The #33 Viper with Ben Keating at the controls brought a front-end full of Watkins Glen dirt and grass back to the pits: “I had a GTLM car and a prototype trying to make if three wide into turn seven or eight. I got out on the rumble strips pretty far. There’s a pretty big divot out there. I caught the grass more than I thought.” The team cleaned out the debris added water that had been lost, changed drivers and sent Bleekemolen back out after losing a lap. Meanwhile, teammate Mark Goossens in the #93 Viper went on a tear setting fastest laps in class and moving to lead the GTD class.
The DeltaWing had been reasonably competitive for the first two hours of the race, putting in laps within 2 seconds or so of the race leaders. However, two and a half hours of running found the Delta Wing sitting stationary in pit lane stuck in first gear. The car had gearbox challenges at the beginning of the year, but expressed confidence on Friday that those challenges were fully solved. With little testing time, the DeltaWing team has less chance to get time on such components. It was rolled back to the paddock and eventually retired.
Just shy of the midway point, the GTLM class had a major change when Dirk Werner went off in the boot on his own, backing the black BMW into the barriers and doing major damage. He walked away and the car needed a flatbed to return it to the paddock to retirement. The crash was disappointing after seeing the earlier class leading form.
Werner’s BMW crash brought out the fourth full course caution. The #8 Starworks PC car pitted to make some adjustments on the rear wing that they later credited as being a key part of their victory. The #60 Shank prototype pitted with nose damage near the left front wheel. It later suffered a broken bolt in the left front suspension and was retired.
The #007 Aston Martin also made an emergency fuel stop under the yellow, they were so low on fuel that another lap wasn’t possible. A shortage of fuel wasn’t the only problem. The #007 dropped a cylinder a bit later that team owner Kevin Buckler estimated was costing 50 horsepower. The car continued to circulate for the last half of the race in an effort to preserve as many points as possible. Kuno Wittmer put in a stellar drive in the wet but ended his day crashing near start/finish in the wet.
After running under green for some time, the yellow flag erased many of the gaps that had developed and created some very close racing at the mid-point of the race. Rain slowed the pace by four or five seconds per lap but it wasn’t wet enough to justify pitting for wet tires.
In the slippery conditions, Joao Barbosa took over the lead just before the official halfway point from Jordan Taylor. There were a few cars that struggled to make the chicane under braking, opting to go straight, stop and resume. One victim was Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette who lost the class lead to Nick Tandy in the #911 Porsche due to his detour, but then reclaimed the position after another few circuits.
While the field had only 34 starters, there were close battles in all classes. Prototype Challenge produced a very close race. Conor Daly shot out to an early lead in the #38 and then co-driver Mee encountered difficulties. After that, the #16 BAR1 Motorsports and #8 Starworks Motorsport cars owned the top places on the leaderboard in class. The #85 JDC/MillerMotorsports car in the hands of Rusty Mitchell, the #52 PR1 in the hands Andrew Palmer and the #54 in the hands of Colin Braun put on a show as they sought to close the gap. Braun in particular was consistently a second a lap faster than the leaders, but several spins lost much of the time he had gained.
The #17 Falken Porsche quietly stalked the GTLM class and Bryan Sellers swept by Nick Tandy who peeled away for a pit stop. That left Sellers to chase Tommy Milner who was 5 seconds up the road.
Just shy of two hours before the end, the rain re-appeared to scramble the race. The back straight and boot were wet, but the front straight and pit lane were dry. Most cars like the #01, #5 and #90 Prototypes pitted for full wet tires while Jordan Taylor in the #10 continued to circulate with slicks. The question was whether it made more sense to stay out to keep temperature in the slick tires or pit for rain tires. Jordan Taylor stayed out longer than any other prototype which raised the question of how long was too long. Brother Ricky Taylor took the wheel with full rain tires when the stop was made.
Leh Keen got out of the #22 Porsche and confirmed that conditions were “wild” and “slippery” and said the team tried to stay out as long as possible to see what the weather would do. Scott Pruett commented about the varying surfaces between asphalt and concrete and noted to Jim Roller on IMSA Radio that the “cement was more slippery than snot” (must be a technical term).
The drizzle gave way to a more intense deluge. After the field adjusted to the full wet conditions, it was clear the earlier Taylor gamble to stay out longer on slicks had paid off. Ricky Taylor enjoyed a lead of over 20 seconds to Christian Fittipaldi and another 3 seconds to Joey Hand. Michael Valiante in the #90 was the last car on the lead lap as times dropped to over two minutes.
The battle in GTLM featured the #4 Corvette and the #17 Porsche with Tommy Milner trading fastest lap times with Wolf Henzler in the wettest conditions. The #911 which showed earlier strength was shuffled down to sixth in class and started the climb back to the front. GTD was very close between Andy Lally in the #44 Magnus Porsche and Andrew Davis in the #22 Alex Job Porsche, both of whom won earlier in the weekend (Lally in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo race and Davis in the Continental Sportscar challenge race).
The rain increased until finally a yellow was thrown a bit more than four and half hours into the event. After circulating under yellow, the red flag halted proceedings with just under 90 minutes to go given the quantities of water flowing around and across the track. The clock continued to run under the red flag. Ironically enough, the rain seemed to materially subside before the cars came to a halt at pit lane exit under the red flag.
Fourteen minutes later, the red was withdrawn and the field was released under yellow behind the safety car. With an hour to go, the field was released. Green flag running didn’t last long as Ollie Gavin in the #4 Corvette got sideways coming out of turn 1 and ended up alongside the tires to driver’s right after bumping into the #912 Porsche and causing it to spin as well. Gavin walked away from the accident and the car was recovered with a flatbed which ended the day for both.
When racing resumed with 52 minutes to go, Ricky Taylor led the field to green and promptly disappeared. Spray filled the air which challenged visibility and grip which was evident when Taylor spun wildly just before the last turn. He hit the wall to drivers left doing major damage to the front and rear and scattering bodywork and dirt across the track. In trying to evade, Joey Hand in the Ganassi car spun and continued (Danny Sullivan style) but still ended up with a damaged nose.
Christian Fittipaldi in the #5 briefly went from third to first before pitting in anticipation of a yellow for accident debris. Barbosa got in the car, but any advantage was lost with a drive through penalty for speeding on pit lane. The penalty put Joey Hand back in the lead, though with insufficient fuel to make the finish. The Taylor crew swarmed his car and ended up taking it back to the paddock and into retirement with significant damage.
With the debris near pit entrance from Taylor’s crash and rain getting heavier, another full course caution was thrown with 45 minutes to go. Visibility was as bad as it was at any point during the day.
With only 16 minutes to go and the rain receding a bit, the green flag kicked off the final sprint. Only three prototypes remained to decide the overall result. Hand led Westbrook with a 6 second lead, but finally had no more fuel and needed to pit for a splash with 10 minutes to go. Hand returned behind Westbrook, but ahead of Barbosa in third.
One lap later, Kuno Wittmer crashed his Aston Martin on the front stretch with 8 minutes to go. Hand confirmed later that they ran it dry and he wouldn’t have been able to stay out another lap and take advantage of the yellow. Wittmer’s misfortune was Henzler’s salvation as the Porsche was very close on fuel and the better mileage under yellow provided a safety margin to work with.
The safety team scrambled to remove the stricken Aston Martin but a finish under green was not to be. Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante were happy to take the overall win under the yellow in their VisitFlorida.com Chevrolet DP followed by Joey Hand and Scott Pruett in their Ganassi Ford and the trio of Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Max Papis in the Mustang Sampling Action Express Chevrolet DP.
Westbrook and Valiante took the win despite not even being in the top three on the leaderboard at any point during the race until the last hour. When the Ganassi car stopped for a last fuel fill and the Action Express car had its pit speed violation, the team was in a much better position on fuel and was able to step forward.
Michael Valiante wasn’t feeling well which made the task more difficult, saying “I wasn’t feeling great over the last 3 days, but Rich and I were talking before the trace just to stay safe during these conditions. We didn’t have the pace, but we tried to keep our head down and keep out of trouble.” He also noted that the car lost a windshield wiper and traction control, both of which makes surviving the wet race even more impressive.
Richard Westbrook thought the drive was fun. “It was super fun out there, especially when it was raining and we were on slicks.” Joey Hand echoed the fun of driving in the first stint, but clearly the Ganassi team was relieved to have a strong finish after struggles in Detroit and Laguna Seca. Hand said “When I woke up this morning, I thought today’s the day. And Scott was in the same mood. We struggled at Detroit, and the Ganassi guys and Ford worked really hard after to bring a strong car right off the trailer. The car was the best I’ve had since I’ve joined the Ganassi team.”
In an impressive repeat from Detroit, the Starworks Prototype Challenge trio took the win in class with Renger van der Zande, Mike Hedlund and late addition Alex Popov. Tom Kimber-Smith, Andrew Palmer and Mike Gausch took the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsport car with Martin Plowman, Daniel Burkett and Matt McMurry in the BAR Motorsports car routing out the top three. Prototype challenge cars made up fourth, fifth and sixth places overall. Hedlund doesn’t run a full schedule, so race wins are important to him. He was also happy to finally claim the top step of the podium. “It was pretty crazy. I finished fourth 3 years in a row which was kind of painful, so it was nice to win one. The team did a very good job. Both Alex and Renger did amazing for their stints during the race. I did the best I could during my stint to try and stay on the track. It was pretty treacherous out there.”
The story of the race may be the Falken Tires Porsche winning in GTLM, likely on fumes. Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers lurked amidst the class for most of the race and put themselves in a position to take advantage of the wet conditions. As Michelin tires outfit all the other GTLM entries, it is a mighty win for the smaller Falken team. The win is particularly poignant as the IMSA Falken program is closing at the end of the season.
Sellers did not find the first part of the race to be particularly fun, saying that “In the beginning, we put ourselves in a bit of a whole. We had trouble getting tire temperatures up all day. We had to come back in and put wets on and then claw our way back up on to the lead lap after about an hour and forty five minutes.” He also noted how meaningful the win was in light of his long partnership with Henzler that might be coming to an end and as a thank you to the team and crew who also face an uncertain future. “The joy of winning is to show your team and crew how good of a job they do and how important they are. They need to be shown how good they are and how they can move forward.”
Le Mans winner Earl Bamber and Jorg Bergmeister claimed second in GTLM the Porsche #912 with Bill Auberlen and Dirk Werner finishing third in their BMW Z4. Auberlen later explained that a motor hiccup allowed enough of a pause to let Bamber get past and it sounded like he was struggling with the car in the mixed conditions. The Porsche factory team was very confident that they’d do very well in the wet. The #911 and #912 cars were clearly very competitive in the race and Porsche will likely be disappointed that the #911 in the hands of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet weren’t able to finish higher. The borrowed Larbe Corvette finished fourth in class.
The fan favorite Viper with Mark Goossens, Al Carter, and Cameron Lawrence won in GTD with an impressive drive spearheaded by Goossens who set fast lap of the race in class. The GTD battle was close all day with 8 cars finishing on the lead lap in class. Andy Lally, John Potter and Marco Seedfried in the Magnus Porsche claimed second place with Christopher Haase, Dion von Moltke and Bryce Miller in the Paul Miller Racing Audi R8.
The winning Viper team is only running the endurance schedule, so they’re very happy to have claimed the win at Daytona and Watkins Glen. Given the format of the Patron North America Endurance Cup, Al Carter noted that they had two races, one at the 3 hour and one at the finish. “It was very exciting. It was like having the half-time of a basketball game matter.”
From the first session of the event, the story line for the 6 Hours of the Glen was rain. The rain came, it came in quantity, and it had an impact on the result. There were incidents but the relative lack of carnage in such frightful conditions is noteworthy.
Next up for the Tudor United Sportscar Championship is a visit to Mosport on July 12th and Lime Rock on July 25th. As the series moves into the second half of the season, thoughts are turning to next season as well. The presence of a Riley-built Dodge Viper GT3 car in bare-carbon in the paddock for sale (still in plastic wrapping with a window sticker sporting a $476,050), the BMW M6 GT3 in testing camouflage colors, and the Ginetta P3 car are tangible signals of the changes that are to come. A test day at Watkins Glen on Monday will allow IMSA and other interested parties to have a look at the Ginetta P3 at speed as an option for the future. The Paul Miller Audi R8 (converted overnight from GTD to GT3 spec) is also expected to run.
Kevin Ehrlich
On his debut with DSC
