No.31 Cadillac goes back to back, triumphs in IMSA 6 Hours of the Glen
- DIVEBOMB Sportscars Team
- 35 minutes ago
- 6 min read
The No.31 Cadillac won for the second straight time, in what turned out to be a turbulent and eventful IMSA 6 Hours of the Glen.
If you missed the first three hours, catch up here.
As it happened
We opened hour four with some good battles shaping up in all four classes, but that was interrupted by the No.11 TDS Racing car which had an incident at turn one in the hands of David Heinemeier-Hansson.
The Dane sustained suspension damage on the front-left corner of his Oreca 07, and tried to limp it back to the pits, but eventually had to pull over on the side of the track. The incident brought out the races sixth Full-Course Yellow (FCY).
That gave the opportunity for the majority of the field to pit, including all of the GTPs. The No.31 Whelen Cadillac crew once again won the race off pit lane, with Kaku Ohta in the No.93 Acura coming out in second. The first change in the order was the No.6 Penske Porsche jumping to third, ahead of the No.40 Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) Cadillac.
The No.25 WRT BMW was offset from the rest of the GTPs, so the team rolled the dice and decided not to pit under this yellow. They had about 40% less energy than the rest, but they had track position.
The LMP2 cars had already been in the midst of pit stops, so only half the field took the opportunity to stop. Those who had already stopped came out in front, with the No.52 Bryan Herta car led, from the No.04 Crowdstrike and No.99 AO.
In GTD Pro the No.14 Lexus came back out in front, ahead of the No.65 Ford and No.1 BMW. The second GTD class was still headed up by the No.27 Aston Martin, ahead of the No.12 Lexus.
We went back to green, but not even half a lap later we were back under yellow. At turn one the No.59 McLaren got caught in the middle of the No.80 Lone Star Mercedes and the No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari. The McLaren spun off, but rejoined with just a punctured tyres.
The action continued up the hill though, with a big GTD pileup coming out of turn four. The No.70 Inception Ferrari was battling the No.13 13 Autosport Corvette, when the two tagged and went spinning across the track at high speed.
The No.57 Winward Mercedes slowed in avoidance of the two spinning cars, but was hit in the rear by the fast incoming No.44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin, both of whom were sent out of control into the No.70.
Magnificently, the No.13 Corvette was actually able to get back to the pits for repairs in the hand of Matthew Bell, and got back out to re-join the Safety Car (SC) queue.
Finally we got green flag racing again, with Phillip Eng in the No.25 BMW leading the field away, but coming into the pits on the first green lap. Earl Bamber in the No.31 Cadillac took over the lead from the No.93 once again. It only got worse for the BMW, as a few laps later they got two drive-throughs penalty for a pit entry infringement and a pit stop infringement, but one got rescinded.
The No.52 led LMP2 still, with the No.14 Lexus and No.34 Ferrari leading the GTD Pro and GTD classes.
Jordan Taylor in the No.40 Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) car got a right rear puncture after battling with the No.6 Porsche, that crew had to get back to the pits for a new set of tyres.
With just under two hours to go, Kevin Estre and Laurin Heinrich were battling over third place, after Ohta in the No.93 made a mistake, allowing the No.6 and No.5 Porsches through. The Porsche v Porsche battle sat two and a half seconds off the No.24 BMW who was chasing Bamber in front.
Those four all began to group together, meanwhile there was a battle for second in LMP2, with Dane Cameron in the No.99 AO Racing car getting past Alex Quinn in the No.04.
The GTP leaders caught this LMP2 battle pack, and chaos broke out. Sheldon van der Linde went for the lead, with him and Bamber going either side of the fourth placed LMP2 car. The Cadillac held the inside and the lead, but the action was everywhere you looked on circuit.
The No.93 Acura and No.10 Cadillac both came into the pits with just over 90 minutes remaining, and as both were in the pits, the No.21 AF Corse GTD Ferrari hit the wall hard and brought out the FCY.
Simon Mann was tagged by the race leader, Bamber, and hit turn 3's outside wall hard. The passenger side door flew off alongside the front left wheel, thankfully the driver was okay. In that scuffle, Bamber lost the lead on track to van der Linde.
However in the FCY stops, the No.31 re-overtook the No.24 in the pit stops, and the No.5 jumped the No.6. However, the No.93 Acura and No.10 Cadillac that pitted just before the FCY would lead the field to green.
In LMP2 the No.8 led a close fight between them the No.04 and No.99, with the No.4 Corvette leading GTD Pro and the No.34 Ferrari leading GTD as the GT classes got fiesty on the restart.
Up ahead, the No.93 Acura retained the lead from the No.10 WTR Cadillac, although only on paper, as they both needed to pit, while the net leader No.31 Cadillac sat third, ahead of the No.24 BMW.
A short while later contact was made between No.10 and No.31, with the latter, driven by Aitken attempting to overtake. The contact thankfull was light. At the same point in time, the GTD Pro lead changed hands, as the No.14 Lexus of Hawksworth got past the No.4 Corvette of Catsburg.
Just after the final hour mark elapsed, the battle for fourth got heated, with the No.24 BMW blocked momentarily by a GTD Porsche, losing position to the No.5 JDC Porsche, with Van der Linde finding his way back in front of Heinrich initially, with the Porsche driver getting past for good in the next lap.
With around 50 minutes to go, the No.31 Cadillac, which had gone past the No.10 Cadillac thanks in part to traffic, went into the pits for the last time, alongside the No.93 Acura and a number of other cars, with the No.5 JDC Porsche and the No.24 BMW pitting in the very next lap.
As such No.31 was now in second, still the net leader, with No.93 in net second, while the BMW pit crew allowed Van der Linde to once again jump in front of Heinrich, thanks to putting a slightly less amount of fuel in. In fact the No.5 JDC Porsche also lost track position to the No.10 WTR Cadillac of Albuquerque, but had a touch more of fuel for the last dash to the flag.
With 45 minutes to go a fantastic wheel to wheel battle was going on for fourth in LMP2, but attention quickly turned to the No.13 Corvette, which suffered a left rear puncture, though Matthew Bell managed to get the car back to the pits without causing a FCY or a SC.
Ath that time the leaders were: No. 31 Cadillac in GTP, No.99 AO Racing in LMP2, No.64 Ford in GTD Pro and No.96 BMW in GTD. The two GTD classes were set for amazing finales, with the leading duos seperated by less than one second, whilst still needing to pit once more.
With less than half an hour to go, Aitken in the No.31 led comfortably from the No.93 of Yelloly, with the gap sitting at just over five seconds, with Van der Linde in third, about a second away from the Acura.
Further behind the main focus remained in the GTD Pro and GTD battles for the lead, with Aaron
Telitz in the No.12 Lexus going past the No.96 BMW of Robby Foley for the GTD lead, with the latter opting to pit moments later.
A short while later, any hopes the second place No.77 Porsche had of winning in GTD Pro got dashed, with it receiving a drive-through penalty for multiple track limits violations. That dropped it right down the order.
With all that going on, the battle for the LMP2 lead was brewing, as Cameron in the No.99 AO Racing car, seeing three cars bunching up behind him, with Quinn in the No.04 United Autosports car right up his tail, and Ferdinand Habsburg not far behind in the No.18 TDS Racing. The battle for third in GTP was ongoing too, as Heinrich again managed to get past Van der Linde.
After the last of the pit stops, the GTD Pro and GTD leaders were the No. 14 Lexus and the No.912 Porsche respectively, as some teams' gambles for another FCY or Safety Car did not come to fruition.
At the front of the GTP class, Heinrich continued his rampage, afforded by more fuel compared to other around, catching up to the second place No.93 Acura of Yelloly, not managing to get past, as a FCY was -rather ironically- called in the last lap, as Christopher Mies in the No.65 Ford lost control and crashed, after being spun round by the No.4 Corvette of Catsburg.
Thus came the end and glory belonged to the championship leading No.31 Cadillac, as Jack Aitken crossed the finish line to win the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, by a gap of seven seconds to the second place No.93 Acura.
The No.99 AO Racing car won in LMP2, followed by the No.04 United Autosports and the No.18 TDS Racing. In GTD Pro the No.14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus achieved a breakthrough win, while the No.912 Manthey Porsche won in GTD.
