The2019 Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen was anendurance race sanctioned by theInternational Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held atWatkins Glen International inWatkins Glen, New York, on June 30, 2019. This race was the sixth round of the2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, as well as the third round of the 2019 Michelin Endurance Cup.
International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2018.[1] It was the sixth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2019 6 Hours of The Glen was the sixth of twelve sports car races of 2019 by IMSA, and it was the third of four rounds held as part of the Michelin Endurance Cup.[2] The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi (5.552 km)Watkins Glen International inWatkins Glen, New York on June 30, 2019.[3]
IMSA released two separate technical bulletins regarding the Balance of Performance for the six-hour race. The first one was released on May 23, 2019, for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. This was done to allow IMSA teams who were preparing for the24 Hours of Le Mans in three weeks time, notablyCorvette Racing andChip Ganassi Racing, to have the beforehand knowledge of the Balance of Performance for the race so they could prepare better. In this bulletin, theBMW M8 GTE received a 12 horsepower increase, as well as a six liter increase in fuel capacity and turbo boost increase.[4][5] The second technical bulletin was released on June 19, 2019, which regarded the Balance of Performance for the Daytona Prototype International (DPi) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes. In DPi, after winning the previous two events,Team Penske's Acura ARX-05 was given a 15-kilogram weight increase, giving it the same weight as theNissan DPi. TheCadillac DPi-V.R was given a 1-liter reduction in fuel capacity. In GT Daytona, despite no McLarens participating in the 6 Hour event, the McLaren 720S was given a power increase of 15 horsepower and made 25 kilograms lighter, in addition to a 12-liter fuel capacity increase. These adjustments made the McLaren 720S the lightest car in the class, as well as having the largest fuel capacity.[6][7]
Before the race,Pipo Derani andFelipe Nasr led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 152 points, ahead ofDane Cameron andJuan Pablo Montoya in second with 147 points.[8] In LMP2, Cameron Cassels andKyle Masson led the Drivers' Championship with 99 points; the duo held a four-point advantage overMatt McMurry.[8] The GTLM Drivers' Championship was led byEarl Bamber andLaurens Vanthoor with 126 points, 7 points ahead ofAntonio García andJan Magnussen in second followed byPatrick Pilet andNick Tandy with 117 points in third.[8] With 84 points,Mario Farnbacher andTrent Hindman led the Drivers' Championship, 4 points clear ofFrankie Montecalvo andTownsend Bell.[8]Cadillac,Porsche, andLamborghini were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileWhelen Engineering Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports,Porsche GT Team, andMeyer Shank Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.[8]
A total of 37 cars took part in the event split across four classes.[9] There were 11 entries in Daytona Prototype international, eight cars in GT Le Mans, 16 in GT Daytona, and just two entrants in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP2) class. In GT Daytona, Sprint-race-only entrantsCompass Racing and Lone Star Racing would not be taking part, while endurance-event-only entrants such as Land-Motorsport made their return.Black Swan Racing also returned to the grid after missing the 12 Hours of Sebring due to their team ownerTim Pappas sustaining an injury. As he was still recovering,Marc Miller took his place for The Glen.Joey Hand made a full recovery from suffering symptoms of the flu, and returned to theChip Ganassi Racing team after being replaced bySebastien Bourdais for the previous two rounds.
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session on Friday morning lasted 75 minutes while the second session on Friday afternoon lasted one hour. The third on Saturday morning lasted one hour.[10]
The first practice session took place at 10:25 amET on Friday and ended withHarry Tincknell topping the charts forMazda Team Joest, with a lap time of 1:30.690.Hélio Castroneves was second fastest in the No. 7 Acura followed byDane Cameron in the sister No. 6Acura Team Penske entry.[11]Gabriel Aubry set the fastest time in LMP2.[12] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 67Ford Chip Ganassi RacingFord GT ofRichard Westbrook with a time of 1:42.673.Dirk Müller was second fastest in the No. 66 Ford GT followed byTommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette.[12] The GTD class was topped by the No. 44 Magnus RacingLamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo ofAndy Lally with a time of 1:45.406.Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 BMW was second fastest followed byDirk Werner in the No. 540Black Swan Racing Porsche.[13] The session wasred flagged two times. 20 minutes into the session,Chris Miller's No. 84JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac stopped at the inner loop.[14] The final stoppage came when Will Hardeman crashed the No. 19 Moorespeed Audi at the barrier at turn five and caught fire. Hardeman suffered a concussion and the session ended early.[15] After practice, Moorespeed withdrew the No. 19 Audi due to the extensive damage the car received.[16]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Harry Tincknell | 1:30.690 | _ |
| 2 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:30.802 | +0.112 |
| 3 | DPi | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Dane Cameron | 1:31.224 | +0.534 |
| Sources:[17][18] | ||||||
The second practice session took place at 3:05 PMET on Friday and ended withDane Cameron topping the charts forAcura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:30.014.Jonathan Bomarito was second fastest in the No. 55Mazda Team Joest entry followed byHélio Castroneves in the No. 7 Acura.[19]Matt McMurry set the fastest in LMP2.[20] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 67Ford Chip Ganassi RacingFord GT ofRichard Westbrook with a time of 1:42.321.Antonio García was second fastest in the No. 3 Corvette followed byJoey Hand in the No. 66 Ford GT.[21] The GTD class was topped by the No. 44 Magnus RacingLamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo ofSpencer Pumpelly with a time of 1:45.835.Scott Hargrove was second fastest in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche followed byJack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Lexus.[20] The session saw one stoppage when Simon Trummer's No. 84JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac suffered a loss of power and stopped at turn ten.[20][15]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 6 | Acura Team Penske | Dane Cameron | 1:30.014 | _ |
| 2 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Team Joest | Jonathan Bomarito | 1:30.842 | +0.828 |
| 3 | DPi | 7 | Acura Team Penske | Hélio Castroneves | 1:30.901 | +0.887 |
| Sources:[22][23] | ||||||
The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 amET and ended withOliver Jarvis topping the charts forMazda Team Joest, with a lap time of 1:43.279.Will Owen was second fastest in the No. 50Juncos Racing Cadillac followed byRenger van der Zande in the No. 10Konica Minolta Cadillac entry.[24] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 912Porsche GT TeamPorsche 911 RSR ofLaurens Vanthoor with a time of 1:54.280.John Edwards was second fastest in the No. 24 BMW followed byPatrick Pilet in the No. 911 Porsche.[24] The GTD class was topped by the No. 14AIM Vasser SullivanLexus RC F GT3 ofJack Hawksworth with a time of 1:57.445.Parker Chase was second fastest in the No. 8Starworks Motorsport Audi followed byAaron Telitz in the No. 12 Lexus.[25] Neither of the LMP2 entries set a lap time.[26]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 77 | Mazda Team Joest | Oliver Jarvis | 1:43.279 | _ |
| 2 | DPi | 50 | Juncos Racing | Will Owen | 1:46.738 | +3.459 |
| 3 | DPi | 10 | Konica Minolta Cadillac | Renger van der Zande | 1:46.909 | +3.630 |
| Sources:[27][28] | ||||||
Saturday's late morning qualification session was broken into three sessions that lasted 15 minutes each.[10] Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM and DPi/LMP2 had two separate identically timed sessions. All cars were required to be driven by one participant and the starting order was determined by the competitor's fastest lap.[29] IMSA then arranged the grid so that the DPi, LMP2, and GTLM cars started in front of the GTD field.
The first was for cars in the GTD class.Trent Hindman qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 86 car forMeyer Shank Racing, beatingChristina Nielsen in the No. 57 Acura by more than three-tenths of a second. Following in third was Dillon Machavern's No. 96 BMW with the No. 63 Ferrari of Jeff Westphal in fourth.[30]Ricardo Feller completed the top five in the No. 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi followed by The No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche ofZacharie Robichon in sixth position.[31] The No. 12AIM Vasser Sullivan entry did not participate in the session due to the team changing the engine.[32]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM class.Antonio García qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 3 car forCorvette Racing, beatingRichard Westbrook in the No. 67Ford Chip Ganassi Racing by 0.317 seconds.Joey Hand was third fastest, but lost his fastest lap for violating track limits. As a result, Hand would start from fifth position whileTommy Milner's No. 4 Corvette was promoted to third position followed byJohn Edwards in the No. 24 BMW in fourth.[32]Connor De Phillippi in the No. 25BMW Team RLL started from sixth place.[30] ThePorsche GT Team entries rounded out the GTLM qualifiers.[30]
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the LMP2 and DPi classes.Oliver Jarvis qualified on pole overall driving the No. 77 car forMazda Team Joest, beatingDane Cameron in the No. 6 Acura by more than two-tenths of a second.[32]Ricky Taylor qualified the No. 7Acura Team Penske entry in third position followed byHarry Tincknell's No. 55 Mazda in fourth.[33]Renger van der Zande in the No. 10Konica Minolta Cadillac entry started from fifth place.[33] Following in sixth wasFilipe Albuquerque's No. 5Mustang Sampling Racing followed byFelipe Nasr in the No. 31Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac.[31]Gabriel Aubry qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the No. 52 carPR1/ Mathiasen Motorsports, bestingKyle Masson in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports car.[34]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold and by ‡.
With a total of 177 points, Cameron and Montoya's third place finish allowed them to take the lead of the DPi Drivers' Championship while Derani and Nasr dropped to second. Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande advanced from fourth to third.[37] The final results of LMP2 kept Cassels and Masson atop the Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to one point by race winner McMurry. Lux advanced from sixth to fourth.[37] Pilet and Tandy took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship while Bamber and Vanthoor dropped to second. Müller jumped to fourth and being fifth coming into Watkins Glen.[37] With a total of 119 points, Farnbacher and Hindman's victory allowed them to extend their advantage to 16 points while Heistand and Hawksworth took over second position in the GTD Drivers' Championship.[37] Porsche and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Acura took the lead of the DPi Manufactures' Championship.[37] Performance Tech Motorsports, Porsche GT Team, and Meyer Shank Racing kept their respective advantages in their Teams' Championships, while Acura Team Penske took the lead of the DPi Teams Championship with six rounds left in the season.[37]
Class winners are denoted inbold and ‡.
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