Michael Valiante and Richard Westbrook celebrates in victory lane after winning Sunday’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International. Photo by Michael L. Levitt LAT Photo USA
The final hour of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International saw its fair share of action and excitement, not least of which was the first repeat Prototype class winner of the 2015 season by the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante.
The team’s first victory of the year came at the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May.
“I wasn’t feeling great over the last three days, but Richard and I were talking before the race just to stay safe during these conditions, said Valiante.” We didn’t have the pace, but we tried to keep our head down and keep out of trouble. At one point we lost a windshield wiper and it made it hard to see. Then we had some electrical issues, but we kept trying, and took advantage of the (No.) 01 car there at the end. It’s great to be leading the championship now, but I’ve learned from past years of racing that you can’t focus on that.”
After a 14-minute stoppage for rain with less than two hours remaining, then-race leader Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP made contact with the tire barrier at the exit of turn 10. Needing fuel to make it to the finish, Christian Fittipaldi pitted the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Cedar Tree Corvette DP under green anticipating a caution due to the large debris left on the track from No. 10. The caution did not come until later, and the No. 5 team also was penalized issued for speeding through pit lane.
The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP of Joey Hand inherited the lead. He led under a lengthy full-course caution in wet conditions and took the the green flag on a restart with 16 minutes left, running low on fuel.
Hand lost the lead to Westbrook when he pitted for fuel. Shortly thereafter, the race’s final full-course caution came out for an incident involving the No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT Daytona car of Kuno Wittmer. Westbrook took the checkered flag under caution.
“We had plenty in the tank actually,” Westbrook said. “When Michael pitted the last time when he came in under his own, I knew we’d be in good shape and that was it until the end. It was super fun out there, especially when it was raining out there and we were on slicks. I think the officials did a great job today, with the red flagging and the standing water. They made some great tough calls today. But without the wiper at the end, it was tough to even see the safety car at the end. Then when it came out with the caution at the end, it was all about keeping if off the paint and just bringing it to the end.”
Hand and co-driver Scott Pruett finished second, followed by Fittipaldi and co-driver Joao Barbosa in the No. 5 entry. The result enabled the No. 5 team to continue to lead the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup Prototype standings after three of four races.
Van der Zande, Hedlund, Popow Give Starworks Motorsport Second Straight In PC
There’s something about wet weather that seems to agree with Starworks Motorsport and Renger van der Zande, as the team picked up their second consecutive Prototype Challenge race victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The team also won in the wet last month at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers.
This weekend, van der Zande joined forces with Alex Popow and Mike Hedlund for the victory, as regular co-driver Mirco Schultis was unavailable. It was van der Zande’s fifth career TUDOR Championship victory and Popow’s ninth victory across TUDOR Championship, American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series competition. It was the first win for Hedlund.
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No. 93 Dodge Viper Scores Second GTD Victory For Carter, Lawrence, Goossens
Team Falken Tire rolled the dice and came up a winner in Sunday’s rain-plagued Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, taking the checkered flag in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class with virtually no fuel in the tank.
The No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR of Wolf Henzler and Bryan Sellers went to the lead at Watkins Glen International as the other contenders in the GTLM class pitted following a 14-minute red flag delay.
When racing resumed with one hour remaining, Henzler managed to keep the advantage while a competitive battle raged for second. Running low on fuel, Henzler was saved by a final caution with eight minutes, 40 seconds remaining that caused the race to finish under the yellow flag. That preserved the team’s first TUDOR Championship triumph of 2015, and also gave them the victory in the third round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.
Coming off an overall victory in the recent 24 Hours of Le Mans, Earl Bamber rebounded from a pair of spins to finish second in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR co-driven by Joerg Bergmeister. Bamber passed Auberlen to take second following a final restart with 16 minutes remaining, and closed to within two seconds of Henzler at the final caution.
Auberlen and Dirk Werner took third in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL IHG Rewards Club BMW Z4 GTLM. It was the third consecutive podium finish, unofficially putting them into a tie for the GTLM points lead with Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen, who finished fourth in the No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Each team has 157 points.
No. 93 Dodge Viper ‘Double Winner’ In GTD
Running a second car in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup events, Riley Motorsports approached the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen as two races for the No. 93 ViperExchange.com Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R driven by Al Carter, Cameron Lawrence and Marc Goossens. They won both of them, backing up the team’s victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Andy Lally, John Potter and Marco Seefried finished second in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Flex-Box Porsche 911 GT America, giving Lally his third runner-up finish in the event in addition to three victories.
Christopher Haase, Dion von Moltke and Bryce Miller took third in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Castrol Edge Audi R8 LMS. That allowed Haase and von Moltke to extend their lead in the GTD standings to 10 points over Leh Keen and Cooper MacNeil, who finished fifth joined by Andrew Davis in the No. 22 Alex Job Racing WeatherTech Porsche 911 GT America, 149-139. Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler are another point behind after placing fourth in the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia.
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