The2021 WeatherTech 240 at 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 July 2, 2021. This race was the sixth round of the2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.
The race featured a 46-minute weather-enforcedred flag period, and was won by theWhelen Engineering Racing duo ofPipo Derani andFelipe Nasr.[1]
The race was a late addition to the2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship calendar, after travel restrictions related to theCOVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the round atCanadian Tire Motorsport Park for the second consecutive year.[2] With the round scheduled for the July 4th weekend, the WeatherTech 240 was run less than a week after the2021 6 Hours of The Glen, creating a veritable double header atWatkins Glen.
On June 30, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outliningBalance of Performance for the event.[3] The lone change occurred inDPi, where theCadillac DPi-V.R received a one-liter fuel capacity increase after finishing fourth through seventh in class the previous weekend.
Before the race,Filipe Albuquerque andRicky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 1733 points, ahead ofOliver Jarvis andHarry Tincknell in second with 1701 points, andPipo Derani andFelipe Nasr with 1576 points.[4] In LMP2, Scott Huffaker,Mikkel Jensen, andBen Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 702 points, ahead ofThomas Merrill,Tristan Nunez, andSteven Thomas.[4] With 1090 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 50 points ahead ofJon Bennett andColin Braun.[4]Nicky Catsburg,Antonio García, andJordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 1082 points, 81 points ahead ofJohn Edwards,Augusto Farfus, andJesse Krohn followed byConnor De Phillippi,Philipp Eng, andBruno Spengler in third.[4] With 1296 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led byBill Auberlen andRobby Foley, ahead ofRoman De Angelis andRoss Gunn.[4]Cadillac,Chevrolet, andBMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, whileWTR-Konica Minolta Acura,PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports,Riley Motorsports,Corvette Racing, andTurner Motorsport each led their own Teams' Championships.[4]
A total of 30 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 6 cars were entered inDPi, 3 inLMP2, 6 inLMP3, 3 inGTLM, and 12 inGTD. The pre-event entry list featured 31 cars, but was reduced to the final tally of 30 following the #16 Wright Motorsports entry's withdrawal.[5]
The only change from the previous round in DPi was the absence ofAlly Cadillac Racing, while LMP2 saw a reduced three full-season entries after Era Motorsport announced their intention to scale back their 2021 program.[6] The Michelin Endurance Cup entry fromUnited Autosports was also absent, as was their entry in LMP3.BMW Team RLL's absence saw the return of the three-car GTLM field, while GTD featured a host of changes owing to the round only paying points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Pfaff Motorsports andMagnus Racing withdrew, as they had done at Detroit, while Gradient Racing andCompass Racing replaced them as part of their Sprint Cup-only campaigns.[7] Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports also made theirIMSA SportsCar Championship debut at this event, bringing the GTD class tally to 13.[8]
There was one practice session preceding the start of the race on Friday, taking place on Thursday afternoon.[9]
The first and only practice session took place at 9:20 amET on Thursday and ended withOlivier Pla topping the charts forMeyer Shank Racing withCurb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:48.813, ahead of the No. 01 Cadillac ofRenger van der Zande.[10]Gabriel Aubry set the fastest time in LMP2.[11]Oliver Askew was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:59.440.[12] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4Corvette RacingChevrolet Corvette C8.R ofNick Tandy with a time of 1:59.440, ahead of teammateJordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette.[12]Robby Foley was fastest in GTD.[11] The session wasred flagged three times for on-track incidents.Kevin Magnussen crashed the No. 01 Cadillac at turn five and sustained rear end damage.[11][12]Oliver Jarvis's Mazda came to a stop on an out lap causing the session to be stopped. The final stoppage came whenJarett Andretti spun the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier.[10]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing withCurb-Agajanian | Olivier Pla | 1:48.813 | _ |
| 2 | DPi | 01 | Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing | Renger van der Zande | 1:48.953 | +0.140 |
| 3 | DPi | 10 | WTR-Konica Minolta Acura | Ricky Taylor | 1:49.305 | +0.492 |
| Sources:[13][14] | ||||||
Qualifying was broken into four sessions.[9] The first was for cars in GTD class.Madison Snow qualified on pole driving the No. 1 car for Paul Miller Racing, beatingFrankie Montecalvo in the No. 12Vasser Sullivan Racing by less than five tenths of a second. Richard Heistand was third in the No. 39 Audi followed by the No. 66 Acura of Till Bechtolsheimer, and Jeff Kingsley rounded out the top 5.[15]
The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes.Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car forCorvette Racing, besting teammateNick Tandy in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry.[16]Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.[16]
The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Mateo Llarena qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 38 car for Performance Tech Motorsports. Llarena was more than seven-tenths clear ofJon Bennett in the No. 54CORE Autosport entry followed byJarett Andretti in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport car in third.[17]
The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes.Ricky Taylor took overall pole for the event driving the No. 10 car forWTR-Konica Minolta Acura, bestingOliver Pla in the No. 60Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian. Following in third was the No. 01 Cadillac ofKevin Magnussen, with the No. 31 Cadillac ofPipo Derani in fourth. TheMazda Motorsports entry andJDC-Mustang Sampling Racing entries rounded out the DPi field.[16]Ben Keating qualified on pole in LMP2 driving thePR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. Keating was 0.423 seconds clear ofSteven Thomas in the WIN Autosport entry followed by John Farano in the No. 8Tower Motorsport By Starworks car.[18]
Pole positions in each class are indicated inbold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 10 |  WTR-Konica Minolta Acura | Ricky Taylor | 1:30.058 | _ | 1‡ |
| 2 | DPi | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian |  Olivier Pla | 1:30.404 | +0.346 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 01 | Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing |  Kevin Magnussen | 1:30.545 | +0.487 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing |  Pipo Derani | 1:30.684 | +0.626 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 55 |  Mazda Motorsports |  Harry Tincknell | 1:30.947 | +0.889 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 5 | JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing | Loïc Duval | 1:31.094 | +1.036 | 6 |
| 7 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Ben Keating | 1:34.969 | +4.911 | 7‡ |
| 8 | LMP2 | 11 | WIN Autosport | Steven Thomas | 1:35.392 | +5.334 | 8 |
| 9 | LMP2 | 8 | Tower Motorsport By Starworks | John Farano | 1:39.644 | +9.586 | 9 |
| 10 | LMP3 | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports |  Mateo Llarena | 1:42.633 | +12.575 | 10‡ |
| 11 | LMP3 | 54 | CORE Autosport | Jon Bennett | 1:43.368 | +13.310 | 11 |
| 12 | LMP3 | 36 | Andretti Autosport | Jarett Andretti | 1:43.608 | +13.550 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Jordan Taylor | 1:43.821 | +13.763 | 16‡ |
| 14 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Nick Tandy | 1:44.045 | +13.987 | 17 |
| 15 | LMP3 | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:44.650 | +14.592 | 13 |
| 16 | LMP3 | 84 | D3+ Transformers-Dawson Racing |  Theodor Olsen | 1:49.677 | +19.619 | 151 |
| 17 | LMP3 | 91 | Riley Motorsports | Jim Cox | 1:50.230 | +20.172 | 142 |
| 18 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Cooper MacNeil | 1:57.420 | +27.362 | 18 |
| 19 | GTD | 1 | Paul Miller Racing | Madison Snow | 1:59.380 | +29.322 | 19‡ |
| 20 | GTD | 12 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:59.820 | +29.762 | 20 |
| 21 | GTD | 39 | CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing | Richard Heistand | 2:00.946 | +30.888 | 21 |
| 22 | GTD | 66 | Gradient Racing | Till Bechtolsheimer | 2:01.146 | +31.088 | 22 |
| 23 | GTD | 76 | Compass Racing | Jeff Kingsley | 2:01.146 | +31.088 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD | 23 | Heart Of Racing Team | Roman De Angelis | 2:01.198 | +31.140 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 28 | Alegra Motorsports | Michael de Quesada | 2:01.201 | +31.143 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 14 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Aaron Telitz | 2:01.396 | +31.338 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 2:01.894 | +31.836 | 27 |
| 28 | GTD | 88 | Team HardpointEBM | Rob Ferriol | 2:02.907 | +32.849 | 28 |
| 29 | GTD | 32 | Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports | Shane Lewis | 2:04.610 | +34.552 | 29 |
| — | GTD | 19 |  GRT Grasser Racing Team | Time Disallowed | — | ||
| Sources:[19][20][21][22][23] | |||||||
The result kept Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor atop the DPi Drivers' Championship with 2068 points. Magnussen and van der Zande advanced from fifth to fourth while Cameron and Pla dropped from fourth to fifth.[25] With a total of 1087 points, Jensen and Keating's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Nunez and Thomas in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship to 35 points.[25] With a total of 1468 points, Robinson's victory allowed him to increase his advantage over Bennett and Braun in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship to 96 points.[25] By finishing second place Milner and Tandy advanced from fourth to second in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. MacNeil jumped from fifth to third while the absent Edwards, Farfus, and Krohn dropped from second to fourth.[25] GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Cadillac and Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective Teams' Championships with six rounds remaining in the season.[25]
Class winners are denoted inbold and ‡.
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| Previous race: 2021 6 Hours of The Glen | 2021 season | Next race: 2021 Northeast Grand Prix |
