Just one week after the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the endurance sports car racing hype train is rolling on – this time, the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship returns for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen, at Watkins Glen International on Sunday 23 June.
It’s the third stop on the Michelin Endurance Cup and sixth round of the WeatherTech series at large, and 56 cars are entered for this historic event.
Lamborghini Iron Lynx’s #63 SC63 is back for its second American race, with Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli driving – Romain Grosjean is one of a number of IndyCar Series drivers who will be absent as they race on the opposite coast in Laguna Seca.
That means only a few GTP teams plan to enter three drivers. Tom Blomqvist, who unfortunately was relieved of his IndyCar duties in recent weeks, is back in the #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R. Philip Hanson returns to the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963.
And Proton Competition, once again, only has its stalwart Gianmaria Bruni confirmed for the #5 Mustang Sampling Porsche so far, with up to two drivers to be confirmed later.
After five rounds, the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr leads the GTP Championship by 70 points over the #3 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande. The #31 Whelen Cadillac of Blomqvist, Pipo Derani, and Jack Aitken has a one-point lead over Cameron & Nasr in the MEC standings.
LMP2 is back in action in the series for the first time since the Sebring 12 Hours – with a strong 13-car field, featuring one-third of this year’s Le Mans-winning trio.
Danish hero Nicklas Nielsen, who brought the winning #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P to the chequered flag in brilliant style this past Sunday in Le Mans, will return to America to drive the #88 AF Corse ORECA LMP2 07 with Luis Perez Companc and Lilou Wadoux – for the team that also won LMP2 Pro/Am at Le Mans.
United Autosports USA will also be riding the high of winning LMP2 outright: American Bijoy Garg, a class winner on his first attempt, will be in action aboard the blue and red #22 ORECA.
LMP2 also features Nico Varrone in his first IMSA start in the category, in a retooled DragonSpeed #81 crew. Varrone won LMP2 Pro/Am with AF Corse at Le Mans.
They’ll all be trying to knock off Tower Motorsports’ trio of Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, and American prodigy Connor Zilisch who did the Daytona/Sebring double and aim for more.
Risi Competizione and Iron Lynx return to GTD Pro action as part of the category’s 11-car field.
Oliver Jarvis, another LMP2 class winner, will be in action aboard the #9 Pfaff Motorsport McLaren GT3 EVO; and Ben Barnicoat, the LMP2 Pro/Am winner, returns to his stead in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.
Coming off of back-to-back class wins, the #77 AO Racing “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R of Laurin Heinrich and Seb Priaulx leads the GTD Pro standings. The trio of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, and Neil Verhagen lead the MEC standings in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, by two points.
GTD is where you’ll find the other two-thirds of Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning trio.
Back in his usual stead at Cetilar Racing in the #47 Ferrari 296 GT3 is Antonio Fuoco, opposite Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto.
Miguel Molina, meanwhile, accompanies Simon Mann and François Heriau in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari.
21 cars are entered in GTD, where Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, and Indy Dontje lead both the GTD Championship and MEC standings in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 – after three wins in the first four rounds, including Daytona and Sebring.
The Six Hours of Watkins Glen starts Sunday at 11:10 AM EDT (local time) and will stream live for viewers outside the United States on IMSA.TV and the official IMSA YouTube channel.
Images © IMSA
