Action Express Cadillac’s Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti have won the IMSA Six Hours of Watkins Glen, dominating the race and leading for the majority of the 180 laps.
Nick Yelloly, Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta finished second in the #93 Meyer Shank Acura, after the teamcar, which had started second, was taken out in a bizarre accident under safety car earlier in the race.
Laurin Heinrich and Kaylen Frederick in the #5 JDC Miller Motorsports Porsche finished third after a storming drive by youngster Heinrich in the final stages of the race.
The race was messy, with 8 caution periods over the 6 hours totalling more than 2 hours under full course yellow or safety car in total.
Aitken started the #31 Action Express Cadillac on pole and very quickly built a gap of just under 5 seconds in under 15 minutes. However, the race’s first caution period was soon called due to debris on track from Jon Field’s #11 Intersport LMP2 Oreca.
After the race went green again, Aitken opened another gap from Tom Blomqvist behind him, in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura machine.
But soon after the race’s second caution was called, again for debris, this time for a sponsor hoarding which had been brushed by a car and fallen onto the racing surface.
At this point every GTP pitted under yellow, although Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche stayed out for some laps until he came in.
Aitken handed the car over to Fred Vesti, who retained the lead in the stops with Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche second and van der Zande, in the #93 MSR Acura, third.
However, this caution period was lengthened significantly by two GTPs coming together. The #23 Aston Martin Valkyrie, and the #60 MSR Acura of Colin Braun, both having only recently got into each car, came together in the Esses. Both had received a green light to leave the pits as the GT cars were passing pit exit, with Braun ahead of de Angelis. They were driving to catch the field but Braun had to check up significantly and de Angelis had nowhere to go except into the back of the Acura.
When the race went green again after more than half an hour of caution, Vesti lead from L. Vanthoor and van der Zande. The Dutchman made short work of the Belgian in the Porsche ahead of him, but couldn’t find a way past Vesti in the red, Whelen-sponsored Cadillac. Equally, Vesti couldn’t pull away, with both nose to tail and the top 5 within 8 seconds of each other.
Another few short cautions for on-track incidents followed, which culminated with Vesti handing the car over to Bamber around the half way mark.
At this point, Philipp Eng in the #25 BMW led from Bamber and Kaku Ohta in third behind the wheel of the #93 MSR Acura. Eng had jumped into the lead at the stops. He retained the lead at the restart for the fifth caution from Bamber, but the race was soon under caution yet again for a multi-car accident involving 4 GTD cars: the #70 Inception Ferrari of Ollie Millroy, #44 Magnus Racing Aston, #13 13 Autosport Corvette of Matt Bell and the #57 Winward of Russell Ward have collided at the esses in a multi car crash.
Only Bell in the #13 13 Autosport was able to continue, trundling around to the pits with a puncture and resultant damage.
At the sixth restart of the race, Eng again managed to retain the lead, but he went a bit wide at turn 1 allowing Bamber a chance, as well Ohta, with the 3 of them almost side to side going into the inner loop bus stop chicane after the esses. Eng, though, defended well and lead after the first lap.
It wasn’t to last for the German manufacturer and driver, though. First he got a puncture, requiring him to pit for new tyres. Then he got a drive through penalty for the team working on the car behind the wall. Then he got another drive through for a pit entry violation. And they say bad luck comes in 3s! After leading, this dropped him off the lead lap, although with more cautions sure to come after a scrappy race, it meant he and BMW could get back onto the lead lap.
This elevated Bamber back into the lead. He soon handed back over to Aitken for the final stint, soon after making contact with the #21 AF Corse USA Ferrari of Simon Mann, which caused damage to the Ferrari. However, Bamber didn’t get a penalty, and in the resulting caution period Aitken took over.
Aitken took it to the flag, extending a lead of over 11 seconds by the chequered flag, with a final caution period falling on the final lap due to a crash for Chris Mies in the #65 Ford Mustang, caused by contact with Nicky Catsburg in the #4 Corvette on the final lap.
“Amazing,” said Aitken after the race.
“It was a real tough one today. Had a lot of stuff thrown at us and had to battle our way through it. But it was a really, really fast ride, that I had with the #31 Cadillac. All the guys continue to do an awesome job and I can’t believe how long we’re keeping this going.”
Asked what their biggest challenge was, Bamber said: “It was super tight. We had some really ferocious battles all throughout the race. It looked easy, but the whole time it wasn’t.
“There were a few cars that really showed up there for a while, the BMW, the Acura was on our toes all day, and the No. 5 there at the end. So, there was some really great hard racing, but what set that up all day was Jack’s pole position. We got track position and then the guys in the pit lane, this whole bunch here is the reason why we keep staying out front. So, thanks to these guys behind us.
“It was amazing to win here at Watkins Glen, and I managed to get another endurance cup win and extend that streak to, what is it, 9 now? I don’t know. It’s just amazing momentum. a great organization to be part of, and let’s roll on to Road America, where it’s a new format. It’s going to be something interesting with 6 hours there, everyone can’t wait.”
Second was Nick Yelloly in the #93 MSR Acura, who simply couldn’t keep up with Aitken in the lead in the final hour. Yelloly, Ohta and van der Zande had started third behind the sister car and Aitken on pole, but the Cadillac was too quick and second was the best they could do.
Third was Laurin Heinrich, Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick in the #5 JDC Miller Porsche. Heinrich had started the car from fifth for a single stint before handing over to van der Helm and Frederick, with Heinrich getting in for the final 3 stints. He got the car up into podium contention and was hot on the heels of Yelloly ahead, less than a second behind, when the race was neutralised on the final lap due to Mies’ crash.
Fourth was Sheldon van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor in the #24 BMW, while fifth went to Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer in the #7 Porsche.
In LMP2, Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar took victory driving the #99 AO Racing Oreca machine, a whole lead ahead of second placed Alex Quinn in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca, joined by his teammates George Kurtz and Toby Sowery. Third was Ferdinand Habsburg, Jacob Abel and Naveen Rao in the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca.
James Calado and Riccardo Agostini took GTD Pro victory in the #033 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari, ahead of #1 Paul Miller BMW of Madison Snow and Neil Verhagen by just 0.550 of a second. Third across the line was Dennis Olsen in the #64 Ford Mustang, alongside teammate Fred Vervisch; consolation for Ford after Mies’ crash on the last lap.
Finally, in GTD, Riccardo Pera took victory along Ryan Hardwick and Richard Lietz in the #921 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche, 2 seconds ahead of Callum Illot in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche he shared with Tom Sargeant and Adam Adelson. Third was new IMSA team #068 Car Blanche, with Valentin Hasse Clot, Marius Fossard and Trenton Estep behind the wheel during the race.