The2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was asports car race sanctioned by theInternational Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held atWatkins Glen International inWatkins Glen, New York on the July 3, 2016. This race was the sixth round of the2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.
International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015.[1] It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup.[1] The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi (5.552 km)Watkins Glen International circuit on July 3, 2016.[1]
IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the GTD category. The Audi R8 LMS and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 received a 2 mm (0.079 in) larger air restrictor while the Dodge Viper GT3-R had a 1 mm (0.039 in) air restrictor reduction. The Ferrari 488 GT3 received a reduction in turbo boost pressure while BMW M6 GT3 received an increase in turbo boost pressure. The Porsche 911 GT3 R had its weight increased by 15 kg (33 lb).[2]
Before the race,Jordan Taylor andRicky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 151 points, ahead ofJoão Barbosa andChristian Fittipaldi on countback with 151 points, andEric Curran andDane Cameron in third 147 points.[3] With 162 points, PC was led byAlex Popow andRenger van der Zande overRobert Alon andTom Kimber-Smith by 3 points.[3] In GTLM,Oliver Gavin andTommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 130 points, 12 points ahead ofEarl Bamber andFrédéric Makowiecki in second.[3] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led byAlessandro Balzan andChristina Nielsen with 126 points; the duo held an eight-point advantage overMario Farnbacher andAlex Riberas.[3]Chevrolet andPorsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileWayne Taylor Racing,Starworks Motorsport,Corvette Racing, andScuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.[3]
Forty-one cars were officially entered for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, with most of the entries in the Prototype, Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM), and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories.Action Express Racing (AER) fielded twoChevrolet Corvette DP cars whileVisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) fielded one. Highway to Help entered one BMW-poweredRiley MkXXVI. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars, and theExtreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) andMichael Shank Racing (MSR) entered oneLigier JS P2 chasis withHonda HR35TTtwin-turbocharged 3.5-literV6 engines.Panoz brought the DeltaWing car after skipping the previous round at Belle Isle.[4] ThePrototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of seven Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsports. BAR1 Motorsports,CORE Autosport,JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech andPR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each.[4] GTLM was represented by ten entries from five different brands.[4] In the list of GTD entrants, fourteenGT3-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers.[4]
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.[5]
In the first session, Negri set the fastest time in the No. 60 MSR Ligier with a time of 1 minute, 36.705 seconds, 0.387 seconds faster than Angelelli's No. 10 car. Dane Cameron was third fastest in the No. 31 AXR vehicle.[6] The fastest PC class car wasColin Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car with 1 minute, 38.701 seconds, followed byTom Kimber-Smith in the No. 52 PR/1 entry.[7] BMW paced GTLM with BMW Team RLL's No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Dirk Werner lapping 1:43.574, ahead of the two Ford GTs.[7][6] Robin Liddell in the No. 6 Steven Audi R8 was fastest in GTD with a time of 1 minute, 46.147 seconds.[7]
In the second practice session, Pla led with a lap of 1 minute, 36.155 seconds, ahead of Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda.[8] The seven-vehicle PC class was led by Starworks Motorsports No. 8 car, driven byRenger van der Zande with a time of 1 minute, 38.582 seconds.[9] Ford occupied first and second in GTLM with Hand faster than his teammate Westbrook by less than one-tenth of a second.[10] Aschenbach's No. 9 Steven Audi R8 led GTD, and Jens Klingmann in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, was second in class.[9]
Derani led the final practice session in the No. 2 ESM car with a lap of 1 minute, 35.484 seconds. Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda was second-fastest.[11] A 1:37.666 lap saw Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car lead PC.[12] With a 1:42.129 lap, Westbrook led the GTLM class in the No. 67 CGR Ford GT, followed by Werner's No. 25 RLL BMW M6.[11] Aschenbach led GTD with a time of 1:45.124.[12]
Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM, PC, and Prototype had three separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM, and GTD cars.[13][5]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold and by ‡.
With a total of 187 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's victory allowed them to retake the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship.[3] The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith.[3] Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 8 points as race winners Briscoe and Westbrook jumped to second place.[3] Balzan and Nielsen's victory allowed them to extend their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Keen and MacNeil advanced from sixth to fifth.[3] Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Ferrari became the leader of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships while Action Express Racing retook the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship with six rounds left in the season.[3]
Class winners are denoted inbold and ‡. P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMSA SportsCar Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous race: Chevrolet Sports Car Classic | 2016 season | Next race: SportsCar Grand Prix |
