WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – It was all Acura, all the time Sunday (June 26) at Watkins Glen International. Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque was able to slip past Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist with just over 20 minutes remaining and held on to win the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen. It is the third win of 2022 for Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor.
Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian’s Tom Blomqvist led the field from pole, but Wayne Taylor Racing’s Filipe Albuquerque wasn’t just about to settle in. He made a move for the lead on the first lap under braking for the Inner Loop and made it work to take the advantage.
The first third of the race was run in a start-and-stop fashion. The adverse action started 14 minutes in when Riley Motorsports’ Gar Robinson spun exiting turn 1 on his own. Forty7 Motorsports’ Anthony Mantella spun on the curbs while trying to avoid Robinson and hit the tire barrier. Blomqvist just barely avoided the incident in his Acura.
Later on, Sean Creech Motorsports’ Dr. Lance Willsey collided with Andretti Autosport’s Jarett Andretti entering turn 1, spinning both cars out. Andretti was able to drive away with a slight tire rub, but Willsey was unable to get going, bringing out another caution. At the same time, DragonSpeed’s Henrik Hedman lost his left front wheel exiting the Boot. The wheel shot off and hit the tire barrier in turn 9, bouncing high into the air before coming down safely.
On the restart from that caution, Andrew Wojteczko Autosport’s Orey Fidani spun under braking for the Inner Loop and hit the Armco barrier to bring out another yellow. The team was able to make repairs, but ended up five laps down.
After a short 15-minute run, the engine expired in the Muehlner Motorsports America No. 6 driven by Dillon Machavern in the Esses. This wasn’t one of those times where it simply died. The engine went up in a large plume of smoke, fluids and some fire as well.
An incident that didn’t cause a caution saw Andretti have contact with Riley Motorsports’ Kay van Berlo exiting the Esses, shoving van Berlo onto the grass in the process. This resulted in a drive-through penalty for Andretti.
A few minutes later, AWA’s terrible day was sealed when Lars Kern spun the No. 13 exiting turn 1 and went hard into the tire barrier. Kern was ok, but his day was over.
The stricken AWA Duquesne being loaded back into the paddock. It is a mess.
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