Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Race this Weekend

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ETROIT (June 21, 2023) – Corvette C8.R Racing’s team in the FIA World Endurance Championship is coming off an epic endurance victory. Now it’s time for the program’s squad in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to try and follow suit.

Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and the rest of the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R race team resume its push for the IMSA GT Daytona (GTD) PRO title this weekend with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
The event is the first for the team since mid-May and starts a stretch of four races in seven weekends, a run that will largely determine this year’s GTD PRO champions.

Corvette Racing has three victories at Watkins Glen, including two in the Sahlen’s Six Hours. Last year’s race was the first at Watkins Glen for the team in the GT3-based GTD PRO class, which provided plenty of lessons for this year’s return visit.

Both Garcia and Taylor are past winners at the Glen. They won together in 2021 both the Six Hours of a two-hour, 40-minute sprint race with Garcia also winning in 2014 with Jan Magnussen. The rapid Spaniard also is a two-time pole winner at The Glen (2019 and 2021 Six Hours) while his American teammate was the pole winner and set the fastest race lap in the ’21 sprint race.

The No. 3 Corvette team and its drivers sit fourth in GTD PRO points after four rounds. They are second, however, in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings following long-distance races at Daytona and Sebring.
The IMEC is a four-race championship made up of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Watkins Glen and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans to end the season.

At The Glen, points are earned at three and six hours, with strategic decisions factoring in for both points in the IMEC and the regular class championship. In the Sebring round, Garcia, Taylor and endurance teammate Tommy Milner scored the most points of any driving competition in GTD PRO.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 25
and airs live on the USA network from 2 to 5 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET.
IMSA Radio will have live audio coverage on XM 207, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which will have IMSA Radio coverage of all practice sessions, Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Corvette Racing has always been good at Watkins Glen.
We are usually quite decent there, and it seems like we always have a chance in this race. Watkins Glen is a track that I’ve always liked, and it’s always good to turn laps there.
Being part of the Michelin Endurance Cup adds something extra for us. We are in contention in that and in the regular championship, so this weekend has added importance.
This is six hours, so it’s one of those races that has something extra for the competitors.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It feels like we haven’t been at the track in months since Laguna, so it’ll be great to get back to racing at Watkins Glen.
We didn’t have the fastest car there last year, but we somehow found ourselves in contention. I feel like we’ve made some big gains this season that should benefit us there.
We haven’t had the results to show our true performance this year, so hopefully we can have a clean weekend and start getting back into the championship fight.”

 

[teamzr1]

With the 24 Hours of Le Mans “break” in the rearview mirror (or camera), competitors now focus on the meat of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship menu. The first course, so to speak, is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at venerable Watkins Glen International.

The official entry list for Sunday’s six-hour tilt features all five classes – Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototypes 2 and 3 (LMP2 and LMP3), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD). While those who competed in the French classic faced the physically and mentally grueling challenges associated with the event, the bulk of their competitors were getting ready for what figures to be a hectic slate of sports car racing in July and August (and what remains of June).

Despite the break, when the green flag waves at Watkins Glen for Friday’s opening round of practice, the crews and drivers won’t have any issues dusting the rust off their collective performance as most have not been idle. Time spent on the test track, in wind tunnels and simulators and racing in other series around the world will have produced gains of their own – at least that’s the hope.

Based on their performance in the opening rounds of 2023, the Acura ARX-06s of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian may be considered the GTP favorites. Whether the Acuras continue to enjoy a performance edge at The Glen, or the knowledge gleaned from a week’s worth of pounding ‘round the Circuit de la Sarthe will enable the Cadillacs and Porsches to close that gap, remains to be seen.

Of the other GTP runners who stayed stateside, you can bet JDC-Miller MotorSports has learned much from what amounted to a three-day test in the debut of its No. 5 Porsche 963 at the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N in May, and will look to put that experience to good use this weekend. Similarly, will BMW M Team RLL’s recent test at The Glen enable it to take the fight even more to Acura, Cadillac and Porsche and secure the manufacturer’s first GTP victory?

Few teams enjoyed a more productive or encouraging Le Mans than Corvette Racing. Down two laps in the early hours owing to a damper failure, the No. 33 Corvette clawed its way back to win in the GTE Am class. Two of the drivers – the evergreen Ben Keating and talented Nico Varrone – are racing at The Glen this weekend, albeit in an LMP2 and LMP3, respectively. Both will surely arrive at Cloud Nine. Keating looks to translate Le Mans success into a second consecutive Glen win in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2, although the class-leading No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA (among others) may have something to say about that.

Varrone, meanwhile, rejoins the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 team where he was an LMP3 winner in January at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Talk about rested and ready: the LMP3 class makes its return to competition after a very long layoff, having last run in anger in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. At the end of those dozen hours, Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon stood atop the podium and their No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 was coated in champagne and confetti befitting the winning car. If those names sound familiar, it’s because the No. 74 Riley, Robinson and Fraga are the defending LMP3 winners at The Glen.

In the GT3 classes, the Heart of Racing Team is chasing a repeat sweep of the GTD PRO and GTD wins from last year at The Glen. But with the depth and strength of each field – nine cars in GTD PRO and 20 in GTD – that will be no simple feat. Keep an eye on Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in GTD PRO. They’re driving to extend a streak of eight consecutive podium finishes.

What it all amounts to is a Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen virtually guaranteed to be equal parts unpredictable and entertaining. Be sure and catch all the action on IMSA.tv, Peacock, the USA Network and over the air on IMSA Radio.

 

[teamzr1]

End of first practice

Practice was interrupted by a 14-minute-long red flag when Jon Falb took the No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA LMP2 off track and into the tire wall at Turn 6.
Falb was unhurt, but removing the car and repairing the tire wall took some time.
The session also officially ended under a red flag when Luke Berkeley spun the GTD-class No. 42 NTE Sport Lamborghini Huracán GT3 exiting Turn 10 with only a few seconds left on the clock.

Dozens of track-limit violations at Turns 1 and 8 were logged during the session, leading to many deleted times and a few drive-through penalties.

 

[teamzr1]

Corvette C8.R Racing will roll off from the third row of the GTD PRO grid Sunday for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen – the fifth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – following a challenging qualifying session Saturday.

Jordan Taylor drove the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in the 15-minute session and posted a best lap time of 1:46.168 (115.288 mph) to start the race fifth in class and ninth among all GTD cars. He’ll drive Sunday with Antonio Garcia as the duo looks for its second victory in the Six Hours in three years.

It was a tough qualifying in a couple of ways.
The ultimate pace of the Corvette has it nearly two seconds off the overall GTD pole-winning Lamborghini, which took three of the top six positions.
The track also was partially dry and partially wet, with rain impacting both prototype sessions after the GTD qualifying concluded.

The No. 3 Corvette team and its drivers sit fourth in GTD PRO points after four rounds. They are second, however, in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings following long-distance races at Daytona and Sebring.
The IMEC is a four-race championship made up of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Watkins Glen and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans to end the season.

At The Glen, points are earned at three and six hours, with strategic decisions factoring in for both points in the IMEC and the regular class championship.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is scheduled for 10:40 a.m. ET on Sunday, June 25 and airs live on the USA from 2 to 5 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock beginning at 10:30 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio will have live audio coverage on XM 207, SiriusXM Online 992 and IMSA.com, which will have IMSA Radio coverage.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“You always want to be competing at the front. I feel like we haven’t qualified well here in a couple of years now, so it’s all down to race pace, strategies and pit stops. It’s a good thing our guys are always strong at that, but it’s always a little demoralizing leaving a qualifying session almost two seconds off the pace. I don’t think we’ve forgotten how to drive or set up a car. It felt good, there’s just no lap time in it.”

This Sunday, Pratt Miller Motorsports will be live-streaming their alternative broadcast for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. Link is in the bio as this alternative broadcast will be streamed on Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter.

PrattMiller

 

[teamzr1]

A crash by the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen,
which rolled on its roof, with four minutes to go, resulted in the race ending under full course caution, just moments after the race-winning pass.

C8.R finished third out of the 9 cars in the class
They could have won but were given a drive by penalty as one of their tires sitting in their pit area was hit by another car and tire than rolled across the pit lane
That time lost cost the Corvette the race :-(

Also interesting, the winning car had 2 less pit stops than the C8.R

 

[teamzr1]

The No. 14 Lexus was out front after a four-car crash that wiped out the then class-leading No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini of Andrea Caldarelli, although faced final hour drama of its own due to a pit lane speeding infringement.

Hawksworth emerged from the drive-through penalty behind the No. 3 Chevy Corvette C8.R GTD-Pro of Antonio Garcia,
although got around the Spaniard for the class lead with 23 minutes to go.

He then faced pressure from the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Daniel Serra, who moved into second in class prior to the race-ending yellow, with Garcia and Jordan Taylor’s Corvette having to settle for third.

 

[teamzr1]

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor recorded their third podium finish of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season Sunday in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.

The duo drove the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to a third-place finish in GT Daytona (GTD) PRO, an improvement of three spots from their sixth-place starting position.
Garcia and Taylor inched up a spot in the class Drivers Championship to third after five races.

Despite two penalties and a pace deficit to the class front-runners, Garcia found himself leading inside the final 30 minutes thanks to some great strategic calls, fuel-saving and maximizing performance out of the No. 3 Corvette.
Nevertheless, the C8.R team left Watkins Glen encouraged with a solid points day.

Three early full-course yellows and a pace deficit made it tough to establish a rhythm early.
The Corvette pit crew did its part, however, and jumped three cars on the first pit stop at the 46-minute mark to move Taylor to fourth on the restart.

Unfortunately for the Corvette squad, IMSA officials penalized the No. 3 team after the No. 23 Aston Martin drove through the Corvette’s pitbox and hit a tire that clearly was inside the C8.R’s pit space.
The Corvette team provided the series with evidence that its tire was within the pitbox boundary, but the penalty stood.

That knocked Taylor down one position in class but well down the order in the overall GTD category. Undeterred, he battled back through the slower traffic and passed eight GT cars prior to the halfway mark. Misfortune struck again as officials required the No. 3 Corvette to stop about seven laps early due to a faulty tire pressure sensor.

The team elected to make the change from Taylor to Garcia, who was in the Corvette for the final three-plus hours.
Despite the setback, the No. 3 Corvette cycled back up to fourth in class and gained back a considerable amount of track position due to the race’s fourth full-course yellow with a little more than two hours to go.
That caution period moved Garcia to third when the No. 63 Lamborghini was caught up in a prototype crash that necessitated the full-course yellow.

Garcia gained another spot when the then-second place Aston Martin had to pit to correct a tire pressure problem.
The Corvette crew called him in with 62 minutes remaining on the same lap as the class-leading No. 14 Lexus.
However, it had to serve a penalty for a drive-through penalty, which elevated Garcia to the lead.

It was a small lead, though, as the No. 14 re-emerged from the pitlane with 59 minutes left and right on the Corvette. Forced to save fuel and hold off the No. 14 and the hard-charger No. 62 Ferrari, Garcia did a masterful job keeping the two challengers at bay before they found their way past with a little more than 30 minutes left.

Corvette Racing’s next event in GTD PRO is the Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on Sunday, July 9.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“Corvette Racing has always been good at Watkins Glen.
We are usually quite decent there, and it seems like we always have a chance in this race. Watkins Glen is a track that I’ve always liked, and it’s always good to turn laps there. Being part of the Michelin Endurance Cup adds something extra for us. We are in contention in that and in the regular championship, so this weekend has added importance. This is six hours, so it’s one of those races that has something extra for the competitors.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R:

“It feels like we haven’t been at the track in months since Laguna, so it’ll be great to get back to racing at Watkins Glen.
We didn’t have the fastest car there last year, but we somehow found ourselves in contention.
I feel like we’ve made some big gains this season that should benefit us there.
We haven’t had the results to show our true performance this year, so hopefully we can have a clean weekend and start getting back into the championship fight.”

 

[teamzr1]

A bit of summary of the race