The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 LMDh machine took the overall win with Felipe Nasr behind the wheel in the very rain soaked Sahlen’s 6 Hours of the Glen last night in gruelling sprint to the finish line after a red flag restart. Dane Cameron joined Nasr on the top step on the podium becoming the first team of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship to take two overall wins in the GTP category.
The #6 Porsche Penske beat the #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series R driven by Renger van der Linde and Sebastien Bourdais by 0.7 seconds over the finish line after a series of rain storms that caused massive shake-up in the racing order.
Nasr was installed into the cockpit during the final red flag restart with 15 minutes left on the clock, it was there he managed to sneak past the pole-sitting #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 of Louis Deletraz who struggled to get to grips on his new tires in the rainy weather.
It also became a double Porsche Penske podium as the #6 Porsche 963 took third place in the hands of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy meanwhile the #40 WTRAndretti Acura dropped to fourth overall.
The #25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly completed the top five, however, they were forced to start from the pitlane at the start of the race due to an overnight chassis change.
The #24 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 came across the line in sixth followed by the #5 Proton Competition Porsche 963 in seventh and the #31 Wheelen Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series R in eighth. A five-minute stop-and-hold penalty was handed for Richard Westbrook in the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsport Porsche 963 after hitting a board on the pit exit. The car was leading the race in the early hour with Phil Hanson behind the wheel.
Ricky Taylor in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06 was forced to retire with 30 minutes to go, he came to a stop on the track while under full-course yellow after losing the car’s right-rear wheel, delaying the race’s restart procedure at the same time.
Another retirement came for the Iron Lynx ran Lamborghini SC63 as it suffered cooling issues around the two hour mark of the race.
2024 Le Mans winner Nielsen steered the AF Corse to the finish line in LMP2
In the LMP2 class, it was the #88 Richard Mille AF Corsa ORECA 07 machine driven by last week’s 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner, Dane Nicklas Nielsen who came out on top after the restart and led the class by a good margin of 38 seconds as the checkered flag was waved.
Nielsen managed to come out from the restart mayhem unharmed as he avoided being collected by the #74 Riley Motorsport of Felipe Fraga at turn 7, where the #2 United Autosports of Ben Hanley got spun around and got rear-ended by the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR of Colin Braun.
Luis Perez Companc, who along with Lilou Wadoux shared the spoils togheter with Nielsen at the top step while the #04 despite having front damage managed to come home in second place. Third place went to Fraga and the #74 Riley Motorsport car.
Heart of Racing steals GTD Pro honours on the final lap
It was close combat between the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo and #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsport Z06 GT3.R from the red flag restart to the second-to-last lap where the #4 car driven by Tommy Milner was forced to make a pitstop to get splash of fuel, this lead to the GTD Pro win was given to the Aston Martin drivers of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas.
#9 Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo also join the train during the final laps of the race which handed the second place finish to Marvin Kirchhofer and Corvette Racing managed to get third place with the sister #3 car with Antonio Garcia behind the wheel.
Over in the GTD, it was the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward and Philip Ellis that came out on top after not taking a pitstop during the red flag restart. Meaning the driver pairing is still continuing their winning streak in the class.
The #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Jan Heylen was normally going to end second in class but was later penalized post-race with a drive-time infringement which promoted #34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Albert Costa Balboa, Manny Franco, and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli to second and joining the podium in third was #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin.
