Acura MSR win fuel saving thriller in incident filled Watkins Glen

Written by Aaron Carroll

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

The No.60 Meyer Shank Acura has won the IMSA 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, after some excellent fuel saving from Tom Blomqvist in an incident filled race.

The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar grid took the start of the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen under overcast skies on Sunday afternoon. The No.93 Acura led from the pole, fending off the No.31 Cadillac on the opening lap.

As the cars circulated on the first handful of laps, spits of rain began to fall on parts of the track. This made parts of the tarmac very tricky on slicks, but not wet enough for the full wet tyres.

Rodrigo Sales in the No.52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport LMP2 found this out the hard way, spinning around early on. He soon got going again, relatively unscathed.

Back at the front in GTP, the No.93 of Renger Van Der Zande was trying to fend off Jack Aitken in the No.31 Cadillac. Aitken got the place, but Felipe Nasr in the No.7 came from behind both and went around the outside, from third to first.

As the rain got slightly heavier Aitken came back at the Porsche, retaking the lead, before Van Der Zande too got through on the Porsche.

The first Full-Course Yellow (FCY) came out for the No.45 Lamborghini GTD, who found the wall after spinning on the exit of turn one. About 20 seconds after the FCY was called, it began pouring with rain.

The absolutely torrential rain caused cars to spin all over the place, despite being under FCY conditions. The pit lane opened as the rain eased slightly, but the track was soaked, full wet tyres were the only choice for the teams and drivers.

The No.31 Whelen Cadillac that previously led had issues with their pit stop, meaning Aitken had to pit again, dropping to the back of the GTP field. We soon went back to green flag conditions, but not for long.

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

There was a big incident involving the No.52 and No.11 LMP2 cars. The No.52 was spun around by the No.1 BMW GTD, and then collected by the No.11 who came around the corner blinded by a Ford Mustang in front.

This left extensive damage on both cars, with debris strewn across the track. The No.11 TDS car even lost its entire windshield, which was fully intact lying on the side of the track.

At the green flag the No.93 led again, as the track had already begun to dry after the somewhat lengthy FCY. Soon after though, there would be another stoppage to the action, this time for some stray carbon fibre on the track.

During this yellow, all of the field took the opportunity to pit and put the slick tyres back on, as the track was almost completely dry.

On the next green flag there was a close call between Nasr and Dries Vanthoor. The Brazilian tried to put his Porsche down the inside, but locked up and almost found the side of the BMW. Nasr eventually made the move a couple of laps later.

After the No.99 AO Racing car took the lead in LMP2, the GTD PRO No.9 Lamborghini went off and into the wall. The race direction team brought out another FCY. The Pfaff car managed to rejoin, but went straight into the garage. They would get back out again however.

After a good stop from the Riley crew, the Lamborghini SC63 lead the field away at the green flag. Romain Grosjean in that car managed to hold onto the lead as the sun began to shine over the Glen.

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

He led until there was a collision between the No.80 GTD Mercedes and the No.5 Proton GTP Porsche, which once again caused a FCY. The Mercedes later got a drive-through penalty for causing the incident.

There would be more disaster for the No.9, as the car ground to a halt at the halfway mark. This caused the sixth FCY of the race.

On the green flag, the No.10 Cadillac took the lead from the No.93 Acura, as the two battled on the restart lap.

The green flags couldn't wave for long, as soon after the No.25 GTP BMW spun and hit the barriers with the rear of the car. The rear wing was hanging off the back of the M Hybrid V8, with Sheldon Van Der Linde having to limp it back to the pits.

When the green flags waved again, the No.31 Cadillac led the way ahead of the No.10 Acura and No.6 Porsche.

As was the theme with this race though, it wouldn't stay green. The No.19 Aston Martin GTD found itself in the wall.

Back at the front on the restart, the No.7 Porsche sat in second. By the time Nick Tandy reached turn five, he was down to fifth. Both Acuras and the No.40 Cadillac flew past the Porsche 963.

Credit: Lumen Digital Agency

There would be a bigger problem for that car soon though, Tandy lost the car and hit the barriers at high speed. A massive accident for the championship leaders.

Due to the extent of the damage this was a lengthy FCY. During the yellow pit stops, the No.31 Cadillac came out on top, ahead of the No.93 Acura. On the restart the No.60 Acura moved up to third, ahead of the No.10 Cadillac.

From there the GTP order stayed the same as we went through the final hour. All the while the No.22 and No.99 were battling for honours in LMP2.

The No.48 BMW held the reigns in GTD PRO and the No.12 Lexus was on top in GTD. This order held into the final 15 minutes of the race, with the longest green flag period of the race.

But with 10 minutes to go, the FCY struck again. The No.36 DXDT Corvette stopped on track with a mechanical issue.

Crucially the No.10 Cadillac and the No.6 Porsche both made it into the pits before the pit lane closed, for a final splash. Most of the GTP leaders would need a final short stop to make it to the end.

Just as the safety car was about to come in, the No.8 Tower LMP2 was smoking with some sort of damage, but he got it into the pits

The safety car peeled away with three minutes left, with the No.31 leading but not with enough energy to get to the finish, the same with the No.60 in second.

Bamber pit just before the white flag, and the No.60 kept going. Tom Blomqvist had done a massive fuel save to try and get to the end.

He done enough to win the race, with just 1% energy left. The No.40 Cadillac was second and the No.10 in third. The No.22 LMP2 took victory, as Paul Di Resta held off Dane Cameron in the No.99.

In GTD PRO Dan Harper held on to win in the No.48 BMW. In GTD there was drama, with the race leading No.12 Lexus running out of fuel on the final lap, giving victory to the No.27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin.

Meanwhile the No.021 Ferrari was sent into the barriers, not able to take the chequered flag.

So it was Acura who won in the end, taking their second win in two IMSA races.