WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Felipe Nasr was able to get past Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global’s Louis Deletraz on the final restart with 16 minutes to go Sunday (June 23). From there, Nasr was able to hold on to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen with teammate Dane Cameron.
The margin of victory was .749 seconds over Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande. The No. 6 Porsche of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy were third, followed by Deletraz and Jordan Taylor. BMW M Team RLL’s Philipp Eng and Jesse Krohn were fifth.
Deletraz started from pole in his Acura ARX-06. However, he was a little off the pace on the start due to an inability to get enough heat into his hard compound Michelin tires. Van der Zande was able to snatch the lead away on the first lap.
On lap 2, Era Motorsport’s Dwight Merriman crashed in turn 6 after contact with Richard Mille AF Corse’s Luis Perez Companc. He couldn’t get the car back underway due to a clutch issue, which ultimately put him out.
The midpoint of the race brought some chaos. The rain that had been expected all weekend showed up heavily, but very briefly. Teams were forced to choose whether to pit or press their luck. Some pitted, others did not.
Shortly afterwards, Proton Competition’s Giammarco Levorato spun exiting turn 10 and went hard into the barriers, littering the track with debris and fluids. The Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon got in the fluid and hit the wall in his Aston Martin as well.
Levorato was able to exit his Mustang on his own and was checked and released from the infield care enter. Robichon lost two laps trying to resume, but eventually drove his Aston Martin back to the paddock. Both drivers were out on the spot.
The rain stopped and the track dried. However, the dry weather didn’t last. Another rain shower came through and dumped moisture, leading to another scramble. Iron Dames’ Sarah Bovy was caught out and went hard into the tires where Levorato crashed to bring out another yellow.
Everything dried out again and the field was able to get back onto slicks. The race for the overall lead saw Filipe Albuquerque pull off a pass on the outside of turn 4 to take the lead.
Albuquerque continued to fight for the overall lead with Nick Tandy when the rains returned with a vengeance. The overall leaders were able to get into the pits quickly…
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