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photos courtesy Imsa

About the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)

International Motor Sports Association, LLC (IMSA) was originally founded in 1969 and owns a long and rich history in sports car racing. Today, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier sports car racing series in North America. IMSA also sanctions the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge, as well as four one-make series: Ferrari Challenge North America, Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America and Porsche Carrera Cup North America. IMSA – a company within the NASCAR family – is the exclusive strategic partner in North America with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) which operates the 24 Hours of Le Mans as a part of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership enables selected IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors to earn automatic entries into the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Hawksworth, Barnicoat See Victory Lane with Lexus Once Again

Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche win GTD


 

June 28, 2026

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results

 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – It’s safe to say Jack Hawksworth is a darned good race driver. You can witness his 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) title and also that he moved to the top of the list of modern-era IMSA pole winners in Saturday’s GTD PRO qualifying session. 


 

But it’s fair to say he can add “soothsayer” to his resume in the wake of a victory for the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing with Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus RC F GT3 in today’s Sahlen’s Six Hours at The Glen. 


 

After all, when discussing the prospects for today’s race after capturing his 17th IMSA pole position he observed, “a lot can happen in this race, so we’re going to try to stay up front and out of (the chaos). There will be laps behind the safety car, there will be decisions made in the pits, there will be decisions made on the racetrack and hopefully we can make good ones and hopefully win the race.” 


 

Stay up front and out of the chaos? Check. Hawksworth and co-driver Ben Barnicoat may not have stayed all the way up front for the full six hours. But they were in the lead or thereabouts throughout the race (83 of 171 laps) and came home ahead of the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen) with the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 (Ben Barker, Dennis Olsen) in third spot. 


 

Laps behind the safety car? Check. The race finished under the ninth full course yellow of the day.


 

Good decisions on the racetrack? Check. The No. 14 Lexus completed what could charitably be called a hurly-burly race with nary a mark on it.


 

Good decisions on pit lane? Check. The Vasser Sullivan brain trust’s energy strategy enabled Hawksworth to advance from fourth to first without passing a car in the final 15 minutes as competitor after competitor ahead of him headed to pit road for fuel. 


 

“Obviously, we had such a fantastic car all weekend, and we’re really focused on executing. And that’s what we were able to do today, the whole team,” said Hawksworth, who “executed” his 13th IMSA class win. “We were phenomenal all day, made the right calls on the pit stand, right decisions on the racetrack … and there was a lot of decisions to be made throughout the race with all the cautions and accident stuff.”


 

The win also marked a welcome return to the top step of the podium for Barnicoat, who partnered with Hawksworth in taking the 2023 title but who missed much of last season after injuring his back in a mountain-biking accident. 


 

“We’d be completely lying to you if (we said) we thought it was going to take this long to win again,” he said moments after earning his eighth IMSA class win. “Jack and I had a season apart, not racing together. This year we got the band back together again. The team is in a great place. To be honest, it’s a shame it’s taken this long this year.


 

“As Jack said, so many hard decisions to make (today). I feel like we got them right, but we didn’t come out of the pits with the lead every time. There was points where we had to overtake cars, and Jack and I both got it done and it was nice to end up in Victory Lane.”


 

Added satisfaction came from the fact that the Vasser Sullivan Lexus ran out of fuel on the final lap while leading last year’s Six Hours at The Glen, not to mention also missing potential wins earlier this season at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Detroit. Either the fuel strategy or full course caution “chips” fell the wrong way for Hawksworth, Barnicoat and Co.


 

“It was the exact same situation we faced at Laguna Seca,” Hawksworth said, “and at that race we ended up on the wrong side of it. It was a situation where with one yellow after that last caution you could make it (on fuel). So, everybody was trying initially to save to get to the end and hope for a yellow. And then a few cars started to pit, the guy in second and a few others. 


 

“At Laguna we stayed out, which was the wrong decision because we didn’t have the fuel to make it. And then we had to splash at the end and guys behind us were able to jump us. This time we boxed early to cover for the car behind and fortunately there were not yellows until the (very) end. So, it was a good decision from the pit wall because had we stayed out we could have potentially lost the race … There’s always an element of rolling the dice whichever way you go. Today, we were on the right side of it.”

 

GTD: Manthey Makes its Mark

Manthey Racing may not be familiar to some American motorsports fans. This is despite seven overall wins in the 24 hours of the Nürburgring and a host of class wins in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 


 

But that lack of familiarity is quickly changing in this, Manthey’s first season of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition and 30th season as an organization. It’s focusing this year on the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup. After all, the team’s signature “Grello” Porsche GT3 R (992) opened the season with a worthy GTD PRO fifth place in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and followed that up with a class win in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. 


 

Success was more elusive in GTD, however. Manthey 1st Phorm’s No. 912 Porsche came home 12th at Daytona and suffered a DNF at Sebring after crashing in the final hour of the race.    


 

However, the third time proved to be the charm as the No. 912 Manthey Porsche grabbed the win in today’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen in the hands of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz. Although they led just eight laps of the Watkins Glen race, they were the right ones as the baby blue Manthey entry led the similar No. 120 Porsche of Wright Motorsports home ahead of third-place finishing No. 068 Aston Martin of new entrant Car Blanche.


 

And they did it the hard way, given that the Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche started well down the order today after the grid was set on the basis of championship points in the wake of a red flag that caused yesterday’s qualifying session to be abandoned.


 

“Starting from the last row nearly, we only had one direction to go with the strategy,” said Hardwick. “But I will say when you’re in the back, there are some different chances you can take.


 

“The start of the race for me, it’s very difficult to pass on this track,” he continued. “Our car wasn’t the fastest on top speed and acceleration but when we got clean air we were quite fast. We remained calm, and also in the pit box I will say our engineers made some really good strategy calls to get, at one point, all three of us kind of out of traffic and in clean air where we could then run appropriate lap times.


 

“I know at the end of the race, what took us to the lead, Riccardo was able to undercut the top three cars by pitting a bit early and that’s what put him out in clear air and we were able to sail to the front.” 


 

Although Hardwick and Lietz are no strangers to victory lane in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship, with four and five victories respectively, this was Pera’s first win in IMSA competition.


 

“For me it was very special, the first win in America,” he said. To do it here at Watkins Glen, which is an iconic track … a really challenging track, so I’m really happy.”


 

And while it wasn’t Manthey’s first win in America, it was its first win in GTD and second win in the WeatherTech Championship in three weekends of racing in two classes. Not a bad start.


 

“For the team, it’s very important,” said Hardwick. “I mean this is the IMSA championship. I know something that Manthey themselves as an organization has wanted to come and compete in for many years … I can tell you everyone on the team from the owners to management and engineers, all the mechanics, everyone really loves coming here to America and our style of racing and our tracks.


 

"As you can see, the team is very well prepared for even tracks they haven’t visited before. We always have an exceptional race car and the team makes unbelievable decisions and quick work on pit lane. And that’s what it takes to be successful in these endurance races … we’ve had a lot of success off the last couple of years racing together, and it’s nice to be able to that here in the U.S. and IMSA.”

 

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Race Winners Press Conference Transcript

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 28, 2026) - Transcript from the post-race press conference for Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen from Watkins Glen International.


 

Drivers include:


 

  • GTP Winners: Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti (No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R)
  • GTP Third-Place: Laurin Heinrich, Tijmen van der Helm, Kaylen Frederick (No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963)
  • LMP2 Winners: Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett, Jonny Edgar (No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07)
  • GTD PRO Winners: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3)
  • GTD Winners: Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz (No. 912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R 992)


 

THE MODERATOR: Laurin, looked like really frantic racing there for a lot of especially the last probably two hours or so. Take us through that and what it was like out there to do the battle today.


 

LAURIN HEINRICH: Yeah, frantic to say the least, I would say. It was a roller coaster, the race, I would say, on a roller coaster track. Had a good start. Yesterday was the first time qualifying, so that means a very first time starting in GTP in a prototype in general.


 

So that was a new experience for me, which was great to do. I knew it was a long race, so just trying to get settled, came in in third. Then we hit some trouble, we were a lap down, had to take emergency service to refit a tire. And looked like it's going to be difficult, but what I really liked was today the team didn't give up, didn't give up.


 

I was obviously a bit disappointed, also looking at the championship because I knew it's going to be difficult. But we recovered the lap. I have to say it's just the racing god who was on our side today because the caution came at the right time. But the team was always aware of what's happening, and we knew that this caution would give us the lap back, so it was great.


 

From there, we never gave up, we kept our heads cool. And we knew we're back in the lead lap, we are last, but we have a good car underneath us on the long run, which takes good care of the tires. And I think it was a key today to make some good moves at the end of the race.


 

I have to give credit also to my fellow competitors. There was some very good racing out there today. I think that's exactly what IMSA stands for and what the fans want to see. It was hard but fair. Very exciting, I hope. I'm looking forward to re-watch it tonight.


 

And I have to say a big thank you Porsche and to JDC and my teammates because it was a really good day, and we made a good turnaround.


 

THE MODERATOR: Tijmen, as I mentioned, your second podium of the year. Just talk about what this season has been like for you as part of JDC really since the start of the Porsche 963 cut as a customer program.


 

TIJMEN VAN DER HELM: Yeah, I think this year it's changed quite a bit. I think this year it changed quite a bit after we decided also to stick with the version 1 of the 963, and we got on our own B, which helps quite a bit to be for us more competitive.


 

I think with the team we made great steps this year to be more competitive on each race weekend. We worked quite hard to come here and roll good out of the box, and I think my teammates and myself did the rest. I think it was a bit of a messy race but good and fair.


 

Yeah, I think we should be happy with a second podium this year.


 

THE MODERATOR: Kaylen, as I mentioned, your first podium here in IMSA. What does it mean?


 

KAYLEN FREDERICK: It definitely means a lot, not having much experience here in endurance racing. Pretty happy to come away with a podium so early. It's my third race in endurance racing in general. Happy to learn. Happy to get a good result. Definitely happy with what we've been able to achieve this weekend.


 

I think the team did a great job. The car was really quick. Like Laurin mentioned, it was all about damage limitation this weekend really, or in the race at least.


 

Yeah, I'm super happy that we came back from that lap down. And like Laurin said, we never gave up. We just kept pushing. And now it just shows how strong this outfit is, and now I'm excited moving forward going to Road America.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll slide over to our GTP winners here in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.


 

Jack, why don't you start us off. Obviously started the race from pole position. A lot happening. You guys were strong for almost all the race, but take us through the battle that kind of ensued there towards the end and what you had to do to bring it home.


 

JACK AITKEN: Yeah, so I got back in the car -- my memory is always bad straight after the race. But the yellow sequence, the way it worked out, we had a couple of cars in front of us with a bit of an advantage, stopping just before the yellow came out. And we knew we had a bit of a fuel advantage. So it was just trying to stay close to them and keep saving fuel, see if we could get by if there were any opportunities.


 

I think the next pit stop sequence the team played it pretty much perfectly, so we got out with a decent gap, and we were able to just manage it from there and kind of just make sure we're taking care of the car and managing the traffic, which is always a bit -- a lot of fun here but quite scary at times.


 

Yeah, the car was fantastic today. Another great performance from the Whelen Cadillac guys and my teammates who were at the front the whole race in some form or another.


 

It's a real pleasure, as I said before. And it feels a bit surreal to keep the streak going, but it's a testament to what's been done and the talent of the people involved.


 

THE MODERATOR: Earl, especially about basically the whole second to last hour, at least in here it was pretty exciting with a lot of wheel-to-wheel battling and all that stuff. What was it like from your seat?


 

EARL BAMBER: Yeah, we just had a really good car, so it made it a lot easier, what we were doing in the clear air. Made a big difference. Obviously you saw a lot of competitors get close to people, but they never really managed to overtake. So for us the clean air was making a big difference.


 

Then we had the 25 BMW, I believe it was, end up nearly going a lap down or coming out in front of us with a penalty, and then they were using both to their advantage, just trying to block us back into the 24. So that got a little bit spicy there for a while.


 

Yeah, and then we were going through the S's, and then there was the incident and the 24 got by us. But our guys in the pit lane were really good all day long, always managing jump positions and stuff like that. And like Jack said, the fuel advantage.


 

It's just a testament at the moment with all the hard work Cadillac is doing. We had such a good showing at Le Mans. We had such good showings over here as well in IMSA. There's a whole massive team of people track side but also people back at the factory, so it's really nice to see.


 

THE MODERATOR: Fred, this is your first race in a little bit here. Just tell us about what it's like to jump back in with this team.


 

FREDERIK VESTI: Yeah, I'm so happy to actually make it to Watkins. Obviously not all teams are using three drivers, so it just means we have a little bit less time in practice. But in the race, we think we can share the drive time a bit better, keep Jack in this case fresh for the end, which is an advantage. It was actually a pretty hard day today, so it worked out really well. And for myself, it's just so cool to be a part of this team.


 

We all started the beginning of last year, had a bit of a rough start to the season, but since then, we have done some incredible things. And it's not only us, it's the team, it's everyone in Cadillac as well who are just pushing so hard for these results to come.


 

We are not taking it for granted. We're putting in the hours, and it's just very cool to have these kind of results.


 

Q.  Laurin, I wanted to ask if you could just talk about one heck of a drive, especially at the end of the race, to get back up on to the podium?


 

LAURIN HEINRICH: Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I have to re-watch the replay to really see what everything happened because it was just so much. It was so intense. It was quite a long stint there at the end in the car.


 

But the team kept me in the loop with what was happening. I think we had a very great recovery. And as I said, I have to give credit to my competitors. There was some really good battling out there. I hope the fans enjoyed it as much as I did. I think IMSA has proven that it's a very entertaining series, and the competition is at the highest level this year.


 

Q.  Jack, after a day with so many different caution periods, during that last stint, do you almost feel like, okay, it's coming, it's coming? Were you able to settle in?


 

JACK AITKEN: Yep, I definitely was expecting it. It was kind of then typical that it didn't come, and I was happy for that. Obviously managed to be able to build up a bit of a buffer.


 

Yeah, I think you just never know in IMSA racing. That's the cool thing. You can say it's going to be super predictable, then there'll be another yellow coming, but then you've got a massive green run until right at the end when you can't go green again.


 

It was in the back of my mind, but I was just trying to run clean laps, keep the car in a nice place, keep the tires happy and all that good stuff and just wait watching the (audio interruption).


 

Q.  Earl, talk to me about the incident with the Ferrari in the penultimate hour of the race from your perspective. Were you surprised there wasn't an investigation or a verdict on that either way?


 

EARL BAMBER: I got in the tower of our car, and I followed it up when I was inside of the Ferrari. I got a little bit of air wash and then he (indiscernible) so it was just a very slight touch. I think it was a combination of the (indiscernible) where he was (indiscernible) on the dirty stuff and then turning into us. Yeah, I'm not really sure what it was actually doing.


 

Q.  It was a race with a lot of incidents. Do you feel the driving standards are starting to slip a bit after the moment we had at Road America where we kind of brought the field and said, we need to change things?


 

EARL BAMBER: I think it's also just the natural speed of the differentiating classes up through there. Especially the P2 cars are making it difficult. The GTs are not that bad. The P2s end up in very similar speed to the GTs going through there, and then you have us getting a massive run. So I think naturally when you've got two wide and then we need to go with other cars behind us (indiscernible).


 

Q.  Jack, last year you were leading this race coming down to the wire. You had to go to the pits for a fuel stop, and of course there went the victory. This year obviously you turned it around, you guys did, you're in Victory Lane now. I don't know if you would call it redemption, but do you think you got one back after last year?


 

JACK AITKEN: Yeah, there's definitely a little bit of that. I think last year hurt for a lot of reasons. We obviously came very close and had a quick race car on that day, as well.

You have to just chalk it up as a learning experience sometimes on a day like that. We haven't made mistakes like that in a long time, and that's part of the reason we're on the streak.

Yeah, it is lovely to do it, right, and come back and win it because you never know when you have a chance to win these big races. Yeah, it's fantastic.


 

Q.  For Kaylen, I think tire incident for y'all happened on your stint, if I recall. What was the reason for that? What ended up causing that?


 

KAYLEN FREDERICK: Yeah, so I was coming up through the S's in Turn 2 and 3 onto the straight, and there was a couple of GT cars like right behind each other going up through there, and I went around the outside through the left up the hill.


 

I think the first one just didn't see me, and while I was blowing by, unable to not commit through that gap anymore, he just started closing that gap in terms of the wall and clipped the left rear. Thankfully didn't end up in the wall or anything. But yeah, we just got an instant puncture and then had to pit. So was unable to really avoid that.


 

Q.  Just a general question to anyone who wants to chip in on this. Watkins Glen, this event, seems to thrive on chaos, and wondered what is it about this racetrack and the event that kind of always seems to end up in a lot of full-course yellows and a lot of damaged equipment?


 

JACK AITKEN: I think one of the big things is that you've got a lot of cars per mile here. Big field fitting into not the biggest track in the world, and it's narrow, it's fast. There's a lot of pinch points, like Earl was saying before, going up the hill into some very fast sequences.


 

As the race gets to a close, people start taking more risks. It's always going to be quite a cool race because it's sketchy and it's a bit scary, like I said before. But it's thrilling, that's for sure. That's it for me.


 

LAURIN HEINRICH: Yeah, I mean, as Jack said, there's a lot of cars. I think none of us are going for a shopping trip here for six hours, so everyone is pushing.


 

I think there's not so many low-speed corners, so because of that, there's obviously high speed differences in the middle of the corner and moves are made around the outside and all of that stuff.


 

I wouldn't blame the track. I think it's one of the greatest tracks we have in the U.S. And I have to say driving alone already around this track is high commitment. So if you add -- I don't know how many cars we were, 50 cars, surely there's going to be incidents. But I wouldn't say that this was something out of the ordinary. It can happen, and I think it was still a good race.


 

THE MODERATOR: We have our LMP2 and GTD PRO winners. Let's start with LMP2, from left to right from the middle out, it's Jonny Edgar, PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron. Jonny, you come here, you won Le Mans a couple weeks ago and another one here. Tell us about what it means.


 

JONNY EDGAR: Yeah, it's been a great two weeks for me, winning Le Mans and then here again. Yeah, really happy to win here. It's my first win in the LMP2. I felt like last year Dane and PJ seemed to win everything, but the five endurance races I did I never managed to get over the line in first, so I'm absolutely happy to have a win in the LMP2 car.


 

Q.  PJ, you guys had plenty of pace all year but managed to bring it home today. Tell us how you did that.


 

PJ HYETT: I'm thrilled to hear that because we entered this weekend with P6 in the championship because silly stuff like you catch the wrong side of a safety car, and to be catapulted up and tied for second now is an absolute thrill.


 

I think, like you said, we have had the pace all season. I think the fact that we were able to bring it home just shows what we were capable of the whole year, and to actually put it together is -- yeah, I'm super proud of the team and my co-drivers for making it happen today. Man, it was a wild one.


 

Q.  Dane, really close there at the end. A lot of battling there. Just tell us about how relieved were you to see that yellow pop up a little shy of the checkered flag?


 

DANE CAMERON: Yeah, I thought we were pretty good to the end there. But yeah, time goes by pretty slow when you have a little bit of a buffer and you're kind of riding around up front and under control, it kind of goes by pretty slow.


 

Honestly, a pretty classic IMSA race, coming and going with traffic, some hard fights and strategies and things playing across LMP2 in terms of when people are pivoting and overs and unders and all sorts of things.


 

I had a lot of fun today. We were pretty aggressive and something we were working on as a group. I think we've been conservative sometimes, car-wise, driving-wise, things like that. We felt like there was a few times last year that was bad for us.


 

Again, kind of a poor start to the year, and at some point you need to stop the bleeding and get one on the board. And the car was awesome as soon as we rolled off the truck. We were super quick. And great to close that one off for sure.


 

We felt like we only just missed last year, so it was one that was in the back of my mind as we probably should have won that one last year. Glad to be able to do that one. Glad to be able to get a win with Jonny after doing such a great job after the last year and a half, and to get PJ his first win in the U.S. is special, as well.


 

THE MODERATOR: We have Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat from the GTD PRO class. Jack, start us off, just obviously pole position, converted pole to the win here. Emotional event as well with the Dreyer & Reinbold name. Take us through what all this means for you.


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: Yeah, it was definitely an emotional day, and there was definitely some redemption stories in there after everything that happened here last year. Mine and Ben's first win together since 2024 and Ben's first IMSA win since he broke his back. Some good stories to come out of the day.


 

Obviously we had such a fantastic car all weekend, and we're really focused on executing. And that's what we were able to do today, the whole team. We were phenomenal all day, made the right calls on the pit stand, right decisions on the racetrack, and there was a lot of decisions to be made throughout the race with all the cautions and accident stuff.


 

And yeah, I think the Vasser Sullivan team, Ben, everybody involved, just put together a perfect race, and it was exciting to the end. And couldn't be more proud of everybody, and super excited to see what we can do now that we've got a bit of momentum. We were so close at Detroit as well. We feel now we're rocking and rolling, and we're in it to have a real strong end of the season.


 

Q.  Ben, first win since you broke your back. How does it feel to be back up there?


 

BEN BARNICOAT: It's been too long obviously. 2024, Long Beach, the last time I was here as a race winner. You saw a real good winning podium record in IMSA, and it's kind of gone downhill through self-determination. Great to be back. It's been a year, so really pleased to get it done.


 

Q.  It's been 836 days since that win at Sebring in 2024. Did you guys imagine it being that long of a stretch? Also with the aging car and everything --


 

BEN BARNICOAT: People aren't liking us today.


 

DANE CAMERON: How many hours and minutes?


 

BEN BARNICOAT: Yeah, look, that point of when we won Sebring, we'd just come off the back of a championship. We had a tough day that year when we won Sebring, and we'd be completely lying to you if we thought it was going to take this long to win again. Jack and I had a season apart, not racing together.


 

This year we got the band back together. The team is in a great place. To be honest, it's a shame it's taken this long this year. We were in great form at Sebring, had an issue with the pit stop. Laguna Seca didn't work out, Detroit we were very close, like Jack said. Just felt like a matter of time.


 

So really proud of the team for doing a great job today. I think there was eight or nine cautions. As Jack said, so many hard decisions to make. I feel like we got them right, but we didn't come out of the pits with the lead every time. There was points where we had to overtake cars, and Jack and I both got it done, and it was nice to end up in Victory Lane.


 

Q.  Jack, was there any doubt that you would think that RC F wouldn't get back to Victory Lane at one point?


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: I never would not believe in this team and in Ben as a co-driver. I think we got one of the strongest driver lineups in the series. We've got one of the strongest teams in the series. The car is proven.


 

Look, it was just a matter of time until we got it done again. We just needed to work through some issues and kind of put it all together. I feel like we're a better race team for it, we're better drivers for it, and excited to get into the meat of the season, heads down, and go for it from this point forth.


 

BEN BARNICOAT: It was when, not if.


 

Q.  We learned how Turn 5 was going to play out yesterday in qualifying after they pulled up the curbing there. Having the paint there, how did that race today?


 

DANE CAMERON: In the P2, it's not hugely different. We can't go over what remained there, so it's a little less drama because you don't sort of have to get this perfect jump over the curb. We could use some curb with what was there before, but not a huge amount, and you had to be very precise and very careful.


 

There's a bit of skill to it to get it right. Took a little bit of that drama away. It's maybe a little faster on the way in, but I don't think it was as big of a change for us as it was for GT that suddenly moved four feet over to the right kind of thing.


 

I'd say a small change for P2, but certainly for us I was a little bit concerned about what might happen if you get that wrong or you have the wrong side of an interaction in traffic, you could end up on a little bit of a ski jump in a P2 car.


 

So I was a little concerned with how that was going to go. I'm glad nothing went sideways, and I'm sure there will be some steps forward looking forward to next year, I would imagine.


 

Q.  Ben?


 

BEN BARNICOAT: Yeah, I think it was good for us, to be honest. It kind of made the corner a bit faster and a bit more challenging. I quite liked it. Obviously Jack got a taste in qualifying.


 

I think the hardest thing for me is you're getting in the race, I was on the safety car restart. It's like, you don't want to leave any time on the table. Obviously I studied what Jack did in qualifying. So it took me a few laps to get my eye into it, but yeah, once I figured it out, no complaints really. Thought it was good.


 

Q.  I'm not trying to continue the negative numbers, but after Detroit with how that ended, the importance of rebounding like this and not letting that, what ended up being a negative outcome, carry over into this race?


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: Yeah, Detroit, I took the positives from really. It was a great team performance. We deserved to win the race, at worst finish second, but there was nothing from our side I would change really.


 

I looked at it as a great team performance, and if we do that again and we have a normal race, then we're going to be in the front. I think we took the positives from it rather than the negative, to be honest.


 

Q.  Mainly to Jack, in the last maybe half hour of the race, you were, I think, running fourth behind three other competitors. Presumably they weren't going to be making it on fuel and you had the energy to get to the finish. Can you talk about that situation and how that came about?


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: Well, it was the exact same situation we faced at Laguna Seca a couple of races ago, and at that race we ended up on the wrong side of it.


 

It was a situation where with one yellow after that last caution you could make it. So everybody was trying to initially save to get to the end and hope for a yellow. And then a few cars started to pit, the guy in second and a few others.


 

At Laguna we stayed out, which was the wrong decision because we didn't have to fuel to make it. And then we had to splash at the end, and guys behind us were able to jump us.


 

This time we boxed early to cover for the car behind, and fortunately there was no more yellow until the end, and that really played out for us. So it was a good decision from the pit wall because had we stayed out we could have potentially lost the race. So it was good.


 

Q.  Obviously you're driving the car, you weren't making that decision particularly, but was that sort of a lesson learned from Laguna Seca and applied here?


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: Well, there's always an element of rolling the dice whichever way you go. Today we were on the right side of it. You try and make the best decisions you can. I wouldn't have said we made the wrong decision at Laguna Seca. It just didn't work out. Today it would have been potentially the wrong decision had a caution come out. Fortunately it was the right one.


 

I feel like we have -- on our pit stand we usually make good decisions and the best decisions at that moment, but again, it's IMSA racing and anything can happen. So you try to get it right seven out of ten times, and if you do that, you've got a pretty good percentage.


 

Q.  PJ, obviously great to get the win today, and now you go to two tracks that you won last year. Can you reflect as you approach the first anniversary of those wins what they meant and how they propelled going forward for the rest of the year?


 

PJ HYETT: Getting on the podium here last year, while we were disappointed we didn't win, it certainly helped build some momentum for us, Dane and I and the team at large. So going into Mosport and Road America, two tracks I absolutely love, I knew we had a good shot at performing well there. Yeah, it was a huge confidence boost not just for myself, for the entire team. And then, yeah, absolutely helped with our championship position.


 

Yeah, it meant the world to me and the whole team. For us, looking forward to both those races. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. It's a wonderful thing to be able to race in this championship.


 

Q.  For CTMP in particular, what does it mean for you guys to go for the overall win there?


 

PJ HYETT: It's real cool.


 

THE MODERATOR: Now we are joined by our GTD winners in the No. 912 Manthey 1St Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R.


 

Ryan, why don't you start us off. This team is new to the IMSA championship but certainly not new to top-level racing around the world, and we're seeing it here. Just tell us what it means to bring home another win here for them and for your team and how it feels to get back to Victory Lane and IMSA competition for you personally.


 

RYAN HARDWICK: Yeah, I think for the team, it's very important. I mean, this is the IMSA championship, I know something that Manthey themselves as an organization has wanted to come and compete in for many years. I'm just really happy to be a part of it in their first season here.


 

I can tell you everyone on the team, from the owners to management and engineers, all the mechanics, everyone really loves coming here to America and our style of racing and our tracks. So the whole team is just really excited to be participating in these tracks.


 

It's an interesting spot for me to be the -- I would say the one with the most track experience. That's usually not the case for me. But I'm enjoying being a part of it. As you can see, the team is very well prepared for even tracks that they haven't visited before. We always have an exceptional race car, and the team makes unbelievable decisions and quick work on pit lane, and that's what it takes to be successful in these endurance races.


 

It's a team sport, and the three of us, along with Manthey, we've had a lot of success over the last couple of years racing together, and it's nice to be able to do that here in the U.S. and IMSA.


 

Q.  Richard, you got drafted in here a little bit last minute, drafted into the race here, and now you're taking home a trophy. What does that feel like?


 

RICHARD LIETZ: I know at the end all the drivers complain about clashes, but for me it's the reason I got the job this weekend. The 24 of Spa is also this weekend, so therefore Porsche called me quite early in the year already but not saying which race and which team it's going to be, and when Ryan and Team Manthey asked me, I was of course really excited to come back to America to race.


 

I have to say that this track is really -- you need a lot of commitment from the drivers. I think it's a really intense, multiple-class racing circuit, but I really enjoyed it.


 

We had a great car. At the end the right strategy calls, even though during the race I was not 100 percent sure what we were doing. But it ended up, with some luck, to be the best choice.


 

It was a pleasure to share the car with these two gentlemen next to me, and I really enjoyed my trip to America.


 

Q.  Riccardo, both Ryan and Richard have won IMSA races before. How does it feel to join those ranks here today as the newest winner?


 

RICCARDO PERA: Yeah, for me it was very special, the first win in America. To do it here in Watkins Glen, which is an iconic track. As Richard said, the drivers need a lot of commitment, and a really challenging track. So I'm really happy.


 

After winning Le Mans and the world title last year together, finally we had the opportunity to race together again. So really happy, and yeah, for sure another day that I will never forget.


 

Race-wise, I have to thank the team. We had a great car and also good strategy calls. These two guys drove amazing. Yeah, I think we did a really good job, and yeah, couldn't ask for more.


 

Q.  I believe you guys led for eight laps today, but you were up front and within contention throughout the race. What was sort of the strategy behind getting the win?


 

RYAN HARDWICK: Well, starting from nearly the last row clearly, we only had one direction to go with strategy. But I will say when you're in the back, there are some different chances you can take.


 

We found ourselves in the back with the championship standing starting order.


 

I think it was crucial about mid-race -- the start of the race for me, it's very difficult to pass on this track. Our car wasn't the fastest on top speed and acceleration, but when we got clean air, we were quite fast. I was very patient in my stints and waited for opportunities, and as everyone saw, there were lots of crashes and lots of opportunities with other cars just basically taking themselves out.


 

We remained calm, and also in the pit box I will say our engineers made some really good strategy calls to get, at one point, all three of us kind of out of the traffic and in clear air where we could then put some appropriate lap times down.


 

I know at the end of the race, what took us to the lead, Riccardo was able to undercut the top three cars just by pitting a little bit early and being the first ones to pit on the last couple pit stops, and that's what put him out in clear air, and we were able to sail to the front. It was easy, right, Riccardo? Nice and easy.


 

Q.  Riccardo, this is your first win in America. How good does this feel, particularly after Sebring where you had that unfortunate accident near the end of the race that could have made it -- would have prevented a Manthey double victory back there at Sebring?


 

RICCARDO PERA: Yeah, exactly. Sebring we just left for sure more. We were really fast, and unfortunately we had the contact in the last hour. Yeah, it felt really good today to take back, let's say, this win.


 

As I said, I'm really happy, and also how the race went. As Ryan said, good strategy call by the team. I was able to undercut the dropped three cars, and being in clean air, I was fast enough to take the first position.


 

Let's say after Daytona and Sebring, I'm really happy now to step up on the podium and take this victory. Now we have two more races, and let's hope for another good result.



FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Unofficial Results, Points & Post-Race Nuggets | WeatherTech Championship

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Watkins Glen International - Sunday, June 28, 2026

Unofficial race results available at results.imsa.com.


 

Unofficial points available at pitnotes.org/points.

GTP

No. 31 Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing)

  • 33rd IMSA class win
  • Second consecutive win following win at Detroit
  • Fifth IMSA class win in GTP
  • Fifth overall win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours, most of any team all-time
  • First Watkins Glen 6 Hours win in GTP
  • Last win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was in 2017 in P with car No. 5
  • Second IMSA class win in 2026 (won at Detroit)
  • Eighth consecutive podium finish, tied for the team’s longest ever streak


 

Earl Bamber

  • 35y 11m 19d from Wanganui, New Zealand
  • 12th IMSA class win in 88th start
  • Second consecutive win following win at Detroit
  • Fourth win in GTP class in 14th start
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in eighth start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was second in 2015 in GTLM
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in GTP in second start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in GTP was fifth in 2025
  • Second win in 2026 season in fifth start


 

Jack Aitken

  • 30y 9m 5d from London, England, United Kingdom
  • Fifth IMSA class win in 28th start
  • All 5 wins have been in GTP
  • Second consecutive win following win at Detroit
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in fourth start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was second in 2023 in GTP
  • Second win in 2026 season in sixth start


 

Frederik Vesti

  • 24y 5m 15d from Langelund, Denmark
  • Third IMSA class win in 11th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in GTP, 3 starts between
  • Third win in GTP class in 10th start
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in second start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was fifth in 2025 in GTP
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was second (2 times) last at Long Beach in GTP


 

Cadillac

  • Second overall Watkins Glen 6 Hour win
  • Previous win was in 2017 in DPi with Action Express Racing (Christian Fittipaldi, Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa)
  • All four GTP Watkins Glen 6h races have been won by different manufacturers


 

LMP2

No. 99 AO Racing

  • Ninth IMSA class win
  • Last win was in August 2025 at Road America in LMP2
  • Third IMSA class win in LMP2
  • First IMSA class win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was second (1 time) last in 2025 in LMP2
  • First IMSA class win in 2026


 

Dane Cameron

  • 37y 8m 10d from Newport Beach, CA
  • 20th IMSA class win in 166th start
  • 66th driver to reach 20 career IMSA wins
  • Last win was at 2025 Road America in LMP2, 4 starts between
  • Third win in LMP2 in 10th start
  • Third win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in 15th start
  • Last win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was in 2024 in GTP, 1 start between
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in LMP2 in second start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in LMP2 was second in 2025
  • First win in 2026 season in third start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fifth at Daytona


 

PJ Hyett

  • 42y 10m 18d from Naperville, IL
  • Third IMSA class win in 26th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Road America in LMP2, 4 starts between
  • Third win in LMP2 in 17th start
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in fourth start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was second in 2025 in LMP2
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in LMP2 in third start
  • First win in 2026 season in third start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fifth at Daytona


 

Jonny Edgar

  • 22y 4m 15d from Whitehaven, England, United Kingdom
  • Second IMSA class win in 12th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Long Beach in GTD with AO Racing No. 177, 5 starts between
  • First win in LMP2 in 11th start
  • Previous best finish in LMP2 was second (1 time) last at 2025 Watkins Glen
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in third start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was second in 2025 in LMP2
  • First win in 2026 season in third start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fifth at Daytona


 

GTD PRO

No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Championship Racing / Dreyer & Reinbold

  • 17th IMSA class win
  • Last win was in April 2026 at Long Beach in GTD with car No. 12
  • Sixth IMSA class win in GTD PRO
  • Last win in GTD PRO was in March 2024 at Sebring with car No. 14
  • Third IMSA class win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours
  • Last win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was in 2023 in both GTD PRO and GTD
  • Second IMSA class win in 2026, (Won at Long Beach with No. 12)


 

Jack Hawksworth

  • 35y 4m 0d from Bradford, England, United Kingdom
  • 13th IMSA class win in 111th start
  • Last win was at 2024 Sebring in GTD PRO, 25 starts between
  • Sixth win in GTD PRO class in 35th start
  • Second win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in eighth start
  • Last win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was in 2023 in GTD PRO, 2 event starts between
  • Second win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in GTD PRO in third start
  • First win in 2026 season in sixth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fifth (1 times) last at Long Beach in GTD
  • Win comes one year after running out of fuel on the last lap while driving the GTD No. 12


 

Ben Barnicoat

  • 29y 6m 8d from Chesterfield, England, United Kingdom
  • Eighth IMSA class win in 46th start
  • Last win was at 2024 Long Beach in GTD, 19 starts between
  • Sixth win in GTD PRO class in 43rd start
  • Last win in GTD PRO was at 2024 Sebring, 19 class starts between
  • Second win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in fifth start
  • Last win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was in 2023 in GTD PRO, 2 event starts between
  • First win in 2026 season in fifth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was sixth (1 times) last at Detroit Street in GTD PRO


 

GTD

No. 912 Manthey 1st Phorm

  • Second IMSA class win
  • Last win was in March 2026 at Sebring in GTD PRO with car No. 911
  • First IMSA class win in GTD
  • Previous best finish in GTD was 12th at Daytona
  • First IMSA class win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in first start


 

Ryan Hardwick

  • 45y 8m 25d from Atlanta, GA
  • Fourth IMSA class win in 40th start, all in GTD
  • Last win was at 2022 Laguna Seca, 17 starts between
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in fifth start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was third in 2023 in GTD
  • First win in 2026 season in third start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was 12th at Daytona


 

Richard Lietz

  • 42y 6m 11d from Waidhofen, Austria
  • Fifth IMSA class win in 39th start
  • Last win was at 2022 Daytona in GTD, 3 starts between
  • Second win in GTD class in third start
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in third start
  • Previous best finish at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours was third in 2013 in GT
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in GTD in first start
  • First win in 2026 season in second start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was 12th at Daytona


 

Riccardo Pera

  • 26y 11m 24d from Lucca, Tuscany, Italy
  • First IMSA class win in third start
  • Previous best finish was 12th (1 times) last at 2026 Daytona in GTD
  • First win at the Watkins Glen 6 Hours in first start

 

Cadillac Whelen Slams Home a Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Win

No. 31 Trio Wins WeatherTech Championship Race, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and IMSA Michelin Sustainability in Racing Award


 

June 28, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – The No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R led most of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and secured its second straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race win at Watkins Glen International, after six hours of racing filled with nine full-course cautions and frenetic action in-between.


 

The trio of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti enjoyed a thoroughly authoritative drive from the Motul Pole Award aboard their No. 31 Cadillac en route to their eighth straight Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) podium finish as well.


 

They led 143 of the 182 laps but needed to jump the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 on the final pit stop sequence, as they got ahead by pitting before the second-to-last full-course caution of the race. 


 

For the No. 31 Cadillac, it was a triple victory as the car also won both the IMSA Michelin Sustainability in Racing Award and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup portions of the race. 


 

Acura was second, with Nick Yelloly holding off Laurin Heinrich at the finish. All three podium finishers had three-driver lineups. Yelloly shared his No. 93 Acura with Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta while Heinrich shared his No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 with Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick.  


 

In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), AO Racing scored its first win of the year with Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar in their No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07. Cameron fought a hard-charging Alex Quinn in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA in the waning stages, however the overall leading No. 31 Cadillac got between the Nos. 99 and 04 cars by the time of the checkered flag. 


 

Quinn was second in his No. 04 CrowdStrike car with George Kurtz and Toby Sowery, with the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA completing the podium in the hands of Naveen Rao, Jacob Abel and Ferdinand Habsburg.


 

The GT races came down to see whether teams gambling on a late-race yellow would be able to stretch their fuel and energy allotments without needing a final splash, but ultimately the potential podium cars in both categories needed to hit pit lane prior to the checkered flag.


 

It produced two new winners, though. Both Vasser Sullivan Racing and Manthey won in a second different class this year. 


 

Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold scored the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) triumph. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat won from pole in their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3, for their first win since the 2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi) was second ahead of the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 (Dennis Olsen, Ben Barker).


 

In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Manthey 1st Phorm won with the trio of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz in the No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche (Adam Adelson, Callum Ilott, Tom Sargent) and No. 068 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Valentin Hasse Clot, Marius Fossard, Trenton Estep) completed the podium.


 

Unofficially, the No. 31 Cadillac, No. 04 CrowdStrike APR, No. 14 Vasser Sullvan Lexus and No. 912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche were the race winners in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points portion for the race. 

 

 

Cadillac Whelen Paces First Three Hours at Watkins Glen

AO in LMP2, Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus, Heart of Racing Aston Martin Lead Other Classes


 

June 28, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Hour 3 Results


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Earl Bamber leads as the 2026 Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen hits the halfway mark, with three hours complete under clear, sunny skies and in front of a great crowd at Watkins Glen International. The remaining three hours of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s late June endurance race classic can be streamed live on Peacock, IMSA’s Official YouTube channel and IMSA.TV.


 

The No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R has led the majority of the first three hours from Jack Aitken’s pole position. Aitken, Bamber and Frederik Vesti have rotated through the No. 31 car with Vesti’s stint sandwiched in-between the two full-season drivers.


 

The No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 has posed the most consistent threat, in the hands of Renger van der Zande for the opening two-plus hours before the rapid Dutchman turned the car over to Kaku Ohta for the middle portion of the race, with Nick Yelloly due to take over later.


 

Another Cadillac from Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing (No. 40 entry of Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz) was third ahead of the first Porsche 963 and BMW M Hybrid V8, respectively.


 

The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) field was in the middle of a pit cycle during the three-hour mark. Though it appeared first the No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07, then No. 99 AO Racing ORECA was due to lead, the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA was classified first at the three-hour mark. Toby Sowery took over the No. 04 car from George Kurtz with Alex Quinn due to finish. Both United Autosports USA cars slotted up to second and third.


 

The LMP2 field rotated through all its Bronze-rated drivers to start, all eclipsing their 90-minute minimum drive time before the field pitted and handed their cars off to their Silver-rated drivers. Their Gold- or Platinum-rated drivers will all finish the race.


 

In Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus RC F GT3, No. 65 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 and No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R all made it into the pits mere moments before the fourth full-course caution and propelled themselves forward in class upon the rest of their rivals pitting.


 

Following the most recent restart, Connor De Phillippi’s leading BMW had a moment through the Bus Stop chicane, thus promoting Ben Barnicoat’s No. 14 Lexus to the lead ahead of Frederic Vervisch in the No. 65 Ford. De Phillippi slotted in third, just ahead of Corvette, the first Ferrari and Porsche.


 

The Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) championship leading No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, which started from pole as the GTD grid was set by team championship points, led at the halfway mark in the hands of Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello. His two teammates, Tom Gamble and Zacharie Robichon, won here last year in the No. 27 car. The No. 12 Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus was second ahead of the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO third. From 20th and last on the GTD grid after moving to the rear of the field for causing a red flag that prematurely ended GTD qualifying, the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 rebounded to sixth.


 

Five full-course cautions slowed the opening three hours, with a multi-car incident under caution at the top of the Esses involving Car Nos. 23, 60 and 81 taking two GTP contenders out and significantly delaying the No. 81 car. 


 

The No. 911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)’s hopes of adding a second straight IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup victory in its first WeatherTech Championship start since winning the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March ended in the third hour following contact exiting Turn 6.


 

Additionally, the first IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points are awarded at the three-hour mark with the top three scorers in each class achieving five, four and three points, respectively. The entries that led each class (No. 7 Porsche 963 in GTP, No. 99 ORECA in LMP2, No. 1 BMW in GTD PRO and No. 21 Af Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO in GTD) entering the race still unofficially lead after Hour 3 here, although the No. 04 ORECA has

 closed significantly in LMP2. 

Long But Fast Day for Hawksworth in Watkins Glen Qualifying

GTD PRO Sees Record Lap; GTD Qualifying Truncated


 

June 27, 2026

By David Phillips

IMSA Wire Service

Starting Lineup

 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold’s Jack Hawksworth laid down a sizzling lap in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 midway through today’s qualifying session to claim the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) Motul Pole Award for tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. 

 

Although Hawksworth’s best lap of 1 minute, 43.701 seconds (118.434 mph) was a comfortable four tenths of a second quicker than his competition for most of the session, his qualifying run was not without its challenges.

 

A shuffling of the day’s schedule resulted in the session kicking-off some three hours later than planned, putting the dozen GTD PRO cars on track in the cool of the evening rather than the late afternoon heat. 

 

“Definitely a strange day,” said Hawksworth, who set a new qualifying record in the cooler conditions that beat the previous mark of 1:44.203 set in 2024.

 

“It feels like we’ve been here for 24 hours. We practiced in the morning and then had to sit around for seven or eight hours before we qualified.”

 

What’s more, at the end of a long day Hawksworth and company had to deal with what amounted to an unfamiliar track, given that some curbing on the entrance to the Bus Stop (Turn 5) had been removed after it began coming apart during the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race earlier in the day.

 

“The changes to the Bus Stop were pretty dramatic,” Hawksworth said. “So going out there trying to figure out the track and understand how much curbing to take was interesting . . .

 

“It was wildly different, it changed the whole feel,” he continued. “Now you can almost carry the car out to the fence, kind of like the NASCAR guys do, and it doesn’t affect the car. (But) you’ve got that guardrail and normally when we get that close to the guardrail it’s second or third gear corners so it’s easy to judge where the side of the car is. But when you’re in fourth gear entering the corner at 110 mph it’s a challenge.”  

 

Doubtless the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team had a few uncomfortable moments in the waning minutes of the session as, first, Harry King posted a 1:43.914 in AO Racing’s No. 77 “Rexy” Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) to halve Hawksworth’s margin. Then Neil Verhagen nearly joined the “1:43 club” with a 1:44.089 in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO, as all were under the previous record lap. 

 

And while no other car or driver threatened for pole, when the checkered flag waved the first six cars representing six different manufacturers were within eight tenths of a second of the No. 14 Lexus, which Hawksworth will share Sunday with Ben Barnicoat.

 

This bodes for a hectic six hours of racing, according to Hawksworth, who earned his 17th pole in IMSA competition and, in doing so, broke a tie with Ben Keating for the most pole positions in the modern era of IMSA. 

 

“A lot can happen. You want to be up front and out of (the chaos),” he said. “There will be laps behind the safety car, there will be decisions made on the pit, there will be decisions made on the racetrack and hopefully we can make good ones and hopefully win the race.”

 

GTD: Heart of Racing Team Up Front by Points

Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) qualifying ultimately proved anticlimactic thanks to a red flag that effectively ended the session before the guaranteed minimum green flag time of running had been completed. Ten minutes are required to be green in the 15-minute session. Per IMSA rules, the 20-car field grid for tomorrow’s race will be based on the current team championship points standings.

 

Thus the Heart of Racing Team’s No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo will start first beside Turner Motorsport’s No. 96 BMW M4 GT3 EVO with the No. 12 Lexus RC F GT3 of Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold lining up third.

 

“I don’t think I’d call it pole,” said Heart of Racing’s Zacharie Robichon, who along with Tom Gamble won in GTD last year with third driver Casper Stevenson. It’s Robichon and Gamble’s new 2026 teammate – Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello – who leads the GTD driver points entering Sunday’s race and was key in this car starting first.

 

“I think we’re just starting from first. It’s definitely too bad that we weren’t able to get a proper session in because I think there were a couple of cars that would have battled it out. 

 

“But it’s a great place to start. Obviously, there’s a benefit to leading the championship when things do go awry. So, we’ll go for a good clean race. It can get pretty chaotic here, so I think if we can keep our nose clean, we’ll be happy.”

 

The reason for the red flag in-session was an incident for the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. The car entered the weekend fourth in the team points.

 

Sunday’s race goes green at 12:10 p.m. ET, streaming on Peacock in the U.S. and internationally via IMSA’s Official YouTube channel and IMSA.TV. 

 

Aitken Sets New GTP Track Record En Route to Motul Pole Award for Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

British Driver Picks Up Second Pole of the Season and Continues Red-Hot Run of Recent IMSA Success


 

June 27, 2026

By Holly Cain

IMSA Wire Service

Provisional Starting Grid


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – From the opening minutes of qualifying for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, it was apparent the real question to settle was who would start second on the grid to the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

British driver Jack Aitken continued a perfect weekend atop the speed charts, ultimately claiming Saturday’s Motul Pole Award with a Grand Touring Prototype class (GTP) record lap of 1 minute, 31.284 seconds (134.544 mph) around the famous 3.4-mile Watkins Glen International. Aitken's lap eclipsed the previous record of 1:31.558 set by Renger van der Zande during qualifying last year.


 

It’s the fourth pole of Aitken's career, second of the 2026 season and first at The Glen. It was also the 35th pole position for Cadillac since 2017. 


 

The GTP championship leader will share the front row with the defending race winning No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06. Tom Blomqvist was 0.197 seconds off Aitken’s best time with a lap of 1:31.481 (134.254 mph). Louis Deletraz was third fastest in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac, only 0.006 seconds behind Blomqvist’s effort at 1:31.487 (134.245).


 

“I think all of Whelen Cadillac have been on a great roll, so nothing has really changed in the last few races,’’ Aitken said, acknowledging the team is riding some good momentum right now. 


 

The No. 31 has finished on podium every race this season and is riding a modern-day GTP record seven consecutive podium finishes dating back to the final two races of the 2025 season. 


 

“This is certainly a place I wanted to get pole since we came so close last year,’’ said Aitken. “I wasn’t massively confident and try not to be too optimistic going into these things. We saw the (No.) 5 (JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963) was very quick in (Practice) 2 and a bunch of other cars in the mix as well and it’s very easy to make a mistake around here. It invites you to push a lot and you can trip over yourself. So, I just try to take it steady and get a clean lap in and that turned out to be quite a good one.”


 

The session marked the first time around the 11-turn circuit following a course modification that was necessitated after an incident in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race earlier Saturday afternoon. The curbing at the entrance to the track’s famed “inner loop” chicane came up toward the end of that two-hour race requiring track workers to remove it. 


 

Ultimately qualifying for the six-hour race was pushed back about three hours to allow for repairs. While the GTD PRO and GTD class drivers said it was a notable change in the feel of the track, Aitken downplayed the effect for the GTP cars. 


 

“It was okay, it’s a tough one to adjust going into qualifying - any type of track changes halfway through a weekend is never ideal but I think IMSA did a good job under the circumstances,’’ Aitken said. “It hasn’t changed the line a huge amount for us. Some of the GT guys can cut it a lot more now but we don’t have the clearance for that. … I’m not going to be the first try it.’’


 

Of note, the front row sets up an interesting storyline between the Cadillac and Acura that essentially settled the overall win last year on a dramatic final three minutes of the six-hour race. The race-leading No. 31 Cadillac had to peel off track and pit for fuel before the final restart leaving Blomqvist to take the lead on track with only two laps remaining to claim the trophy in the No. 60 Acura.


 

“It was obviously a tough race in a way,” Blomqvist said, of the many yellows and changing weather conditions between a wet and dry track. He said the team’s plan all along was to save fuel and ultimately they had just over one percent of fuel remaining post-race.


 

“That whole thing at the end just happened at the right time,’’ Blomqvist said. “It was a pretty good job from the crew to kind of make that call early enough. Stuff like that doesn’t happen at the time, it happens earlier.


 

“A number of factors that actually went into that victory, but luck, obviously that’s racing. You’ve got to make sure you’re on the right side of it. So it was really cool.’’


 

LMP2: Clarke Scores Third Career Pole in LMP2 Qualifying

In one of the more dramatic qualifying sessions of the day, American Jeremy Clarke claimed the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) Motul Pole Award in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07 setting a best lap of 1 minute, 35.124 seconds (129.113 mph) with just over two minutes remaining in the 15-minute session. 

 

Clarke’s work bettered the mark set by PJ Hyett in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 by only 0.164 of a second. Hyett had a tall task to claim pole anyway having received a penalty for a practice session incident earlier in the day. Still, Clarke said he fully expected a day’s long battle with the No. 99 considering how tight the 11-car class is.


 

“PJ is very strong and you saw in P2 [second practice] we were separated by only three-thousandths of a second,’’ Clarke said. “He and I are always very close and it’s just always going to be a battle between us for sure.’’


 

The effort marks both Clarke’s and the team’s third pole position. The top four cars in the LMP2 class were separated by only 0.753 seconds.


 

“Great start for the team and I think it’s going to come down to surviving those first couple stints tomorrow,’’ said Clarke, who noted that unlike the GTP class, the new curbing – or lack thereof – in the inner loop would change the line substantially.


 

“I think with the new line we can be a bit more aggressive going into the brake zone where we have a bit more space now,’’ Clarke allowed.


 

The defending Watkins Glen-winning No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 will start third in the 11-car class.


 

Green flag Sunday is 12:10 noon (ET) on Peacock, YouTube and IMSA.TV.  

 

 

TR3 Sweeps Watkins Glen Lamborghini Weekend

WTR, XONINE, Topp Claim Other Class Wins


 

June 27, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – TR3 Racing claimed both Pro and overall victories to complete a weekend sweep in Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races at Watkins Glen International.


 

Daniel Morad and Elias De La Torre drove the No. 29 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2. 


 

Championship leader De La Torre has scored his fourth win of the year, achieved with two different co-drivers. He swept Sebring with teammate Will Bamber and now Watkins Glen with new teammate Morad, who was substituting for his Monterey teammate Dennis Lind, who missed this weekend due to a schedule conflict. 


 

The No. 29 car moved to the front of the field at the conclusion of the 50-minute race following a series of 95-second time penalties issued to multiple cars for unserved mandatory pit stops.


 

That affected cars and leaders in all four classes, who’d hoped to extend their window as long as possible within the available time. However, the strategic options were limited following a red flag for a multi-car incident earlier in the race that pushed both the restart and the pit window into the final 18 minutes of the 50-minute race.


 

With the penalties applied, the Pro podium was the same three cars as on Friday, albeit in a slightly different order. 


 

Morad and De La Torre ended ahead of RAFA Racing Team’s Kiko Porto and Tyler Gonzalez in their No. 2 Huracán and XONINE Racing’s Bamber and Darius Trinka in their No. 33 Huracán. On Friday, the No. 33 car was second with the No. 2 car in third. 


 

“Last year was a great weekend, and we improved on it this weekend,” said De La Torre, who swept Watkins Glen last year as well. “We have such a great team at TR3 and I have such a great teammate with Daniel Morad. We made it count when we needed to. We didn’t have many green laps, but we showed ourselves.” 


 

Morad, in his first Lamborghini Super Trofeo weekend added, “This TR3 team has so much experience and it was so dialed in from the start. We had minimal setup changes to make. The fact I don’t drive this car often, I can bring a fresh perspective. I noticed the car had a good, neutral balance. 


 

In ProAm, Graham Doyle and Danny Formal, who shared the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán, extended their win streak to a perfect sixth win in as many races.


 

“We made some changes and it was purple on the one lap we had,” said Formal, who was one of several drivers who had minimal green flag running. “Graham was super safe and moved through. He did a great job with a great reaction. Six for six is awesome.” 


 

There were two new weekend podium finishers, with RAFA’s ProAm pair of Chloe Chambers and Ian Porter a season-best second in the No. 81 Huracán and Mateo Siderman and Martin Fuentes equaling their season-best of third in the No. 63 TR3 Racing Huracán.


 

Anthony Bullock parlayed his weekend pace and top-10 overall starting position into a top-10 overall finish too, ninth overall and first in Am in his No. 12 XONINE Racing, Lamborghini Chicago, Huracán. It’s his second win of the year, after securing his first in Monterey.


 

“It feels amazing,” Bullock said. “We had a pit problem yesterday with the timer. To be racing with the pros is every racing fan’s dream when you’re out there. Ninth today is special!” 


 

Friday winner Dean Neuls (No. 70 TR3 Racing) and Am championship leader David Staab (No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports) completed the podium.

In LB Cup, season-long combatants Rocky T. Bolduc (No. 99 Topp Racing, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán) and Philippe Touchette (No. 11 TB Autosports) went at it again. Bolduc claimed the win ahead of Christopher Tasca (No. 95 Forty7 Motorsports) with Touchette in third. 


 

“We’re finishing in 20th in a 41-car field (16th overall in Race 2); we’re halfway through the pack,” Bolduc said of the depth of the LB Cup field. “I’ve never seen such a LB Cup field like we have now. We’re almost third or fourth in the class ahead of us.” 


 

De La Torre in the No. 29 car ascended to the Pro championship lead after Friday’s Race 1 and extended his lead after Saturday’s Race 2. The Doyle/Formal pairing holds a healthy ProAm lead. Staab (Am) and Bolduc (LB Cup) also unofficially solidified their leads in their respective classes, as well.


 

Lamborghini Super Trofeo heads next to Road America July 30-Aug. 2 for Rounds 7 and 8 of the season. 

 

 

Winward Mercedes-AMG Secures Michelin Pilot Challenge Win at Watkins Glen

KMW Honda Goes Last-to-First in TCR


 

June 27, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results

 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Winward Racing scored the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge victory in Saturday’s LP Building Solutions 120 after poor luck bit the team that had appeared to play its pit stop strategy to perfection, CarBahn by Peregrine Racing, inside the final 20 minutes of the two-hour race.

 

Bryce Ward and Philip Ellis co-drove the winning No. 57 Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 to the victory in Grand Sport (GS) to the team’s fourth victory in the series, but first since Indianapolis in 2023. Ellis is filling in this weekend for Daan Arrow, who had a schedule clash this weekend.

 

From her first pole and the first in GS by a woman since 2007, Hannah Grisham led the field for the bulk of her first stint in the No. 26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO she shares with Hannah Greenemeier. But as she pitted just after the minimum drive-time window of 40 minutes elapsed, it became apparent that tire management in the heat and excellence from the crew on pit lane would make a big impact in the two-hour race.

 

On both pit sequences, the CarBahn crew that fielded the No. 39 BMW M4 GT4 EVO of Sean McAlister and Jeff Westphal gained several seconds on their competitors, after starting fourth. Westphal withstood an overcut attempt by Ellis in the second stint after Ellis had gained several seconds prior to the last stop.

 

It appeared as though the No. 39 BMW had the race won before Westphal appeared to strike a curb at Turn 5, with the resulting damaging puncturing his left rear tire. It also brought out a full-course caution, the first of the race after the first 100-plus minutes ran without one.

 

Following a restart, an additional full-course caution for debris on track brought the race behind the safety car to the finish.

 

The No. 57 Mercedes-AMG won ahead of a pair of Fords, the No. 13 McCumbee McAleer Racing Ford Mustang GT4 (Nate Cicero, Robert Noaker) and No. 60 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 (Evan Slater, Mike Skeen). Skeen had made a pass of Luca Mars in the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 EVO for third just after the restart.

 

“I think it comes down to teamwork,” Bryce Ward said. “Having Philip as a co-driver this weekend helped me so much during the practice we did. The 39 car jumped us in the pit stops; ours were great, but theirs were better as they needed less fuel with a fuel advantage. I was sad to see them go out … but the racing gods were in our favor today.”

 

Following an alternator belt issue at Mid-Ohio, this result helps Ward in the championship as several cars should be within 100 points once provisional results are posted.

 

“I don’t think we came here thinking we had to win, but we came in with the attitude we must finish every single lap as best as we can to put us in the championship,” Ward explained. “It worked in our favor.”

 

TCR: KMW Goes Last-to-First with Honda

A technical infringement sent the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda Civic FL5 TCR to the rear of the Touring Car (TCR) field to start Saturday’s race. But a comeback drive from Rocco Pasquarella to start the race and a strong finish from Tim Lewis Jr. ensure the KMW car broke its run of bad luck.

 

Pasquarella started 14th in the TCR field but quickly ascended to 10th in the first lap, sixth a few later, and third by the time the minimum drive time window elapsed 40 minutes into the race.

 

Once Lewis took over the car, he was in podium position behind fellow Honda runners HART, its No. 89 Civic in the hands of Chad Gilsinger. However, Lewis passed Gilsinger for the lead with 32 minutes remaining with a hard-charging Celso Neto up to third in his No. 77 Stallion Motorsports w/GOU Cupra Leon VZ TCR.

 

Neto then passed Lewis for the lead into the Bus Stop with 20 minutes to go. However, that was short-lived as four minutes later, roughly the same time as the GS leader encountered an issue, Lewis and Eddie Gou in the No. 55 Gou Racing w/Stallion Audi RS3 LMS TCR passed Neto.

 

A further charge from Mason Filippi in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR brought him up to second past Gou, ensuring another strong result for both he and Bryson Morris, the championship leaders entering the race.

 

But for Pasquarella and Lewis, the win was a needed result as its first with Honda after a series of near misses in the last 18 months since switching from Alfa Romeo.

 

“It was a tough start to the weekend but we knew we’d be strong going forward (from the back),” said Pasquarella, who won his first IMSA race. “Last-to-first wasn’t what we expected for our first win, but it’s pretty memorable.”

 

Lewis, who won his 10th race and first since Road America in 2024, added: “We had major adversity this weekend, but Rocco never gave up. The KMW team gave us a great car and we capitalized on it.”

 

The IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge races next at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada outside Toronto for Round 6 on Saturday, July 11.

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Pole Winners Qualifying Press Conference Transcript

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 27, 2026) - Transcript from the post-qualifying press conference for Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.


 

Drivers include Zacharie Robichon (No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO), Jack Hawksworth (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing with Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus RC F GT3), Jeremy Clarke (No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07) and Jack Aitken (No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R).


 

THE MODERATOR: We're pleased to be joined by drivers that will be starting from the pole position in tomorrow's Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Let's start with our GTD pole setter for the race, which the grid was set by other means, which is team points. Zacharie Robichon will start from the GTD pole in the No. 27 Heart of Racing team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. The team also started from the GTD pole last year and won the race here. That was first win here at Watkins Glen International.

Zach, weird way to get the pole, but good starting spot. Just tell us what you're looking forward to tomorrow.


 

ZACHARIE ROBICHON: Yeah, I don't think I'd call it pole. I think we're just starting from first because of what happened. Definitely a weird way. It's too bad we weren't able to get a proper session in because I think there's a few cars that were deserving to battle it out.

Great place to start. Obviously there's a benefit to leading the championship, a position when things do go awry, that it falls back. Yeah, I think we had a chance to be there, anyway. So I don't know. We'll go in for a good race and a clean race. And we know it can be a bit chaotic here, so we can keep our nose clean, we'll be happy.


 

THE MODERATOR: We'll go to two of our GTD PRO Motul Pole Award winner, the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing with Dreyer & Reinbold Lexus RC F GT3. Jack Hawksworth's best lap was 1 minute 43.701 seconds, beating the previous GTD PRO 1 minute 1:44.203 (indiscernible) set by Daniel Serra in 2024. This is Jack's 17th pole, which breaks a tie with Ben Keating for the most poles in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship era which began in 2014. Second pole here at Watkins Glen for Jack. Last was in 2018 in the GTD class. This is his third pole of the season. Looking for his third win here at Watkins. Won the sprint race here, the 2-hour-and-40-minute race in the GTD class, and the six-hour race in GTD PRO in 2023. The top eight were within 0.959 seconds among seven different manufacturers.

Jack, a little bit of track adjustment there going into qualifying. Just talk about maybe how that affected things tonight and what you expect for tomorrow.


 

JACK HAWKSWORTH: Yeah, it was definitely a strange day. Obviously feels like we've been here for 24 hours. You know, we did the one practice this morning and then, yeah, we sat around really for seven or eight hours waiting to go out and qualify. Finally GTD PRO side anyway got the opportunity to do that.

The changes to the Bus Stop were pretty dramatic. Going out there and trying to figure out the track and understand exactly how much of the curb you could take compared to practice was interesting.

Yeah, obviously we've had kind of a really good weekend so far. The car has been working really well. Glad we could get a pole and this marathon day at Watkins Glen. Looking forward to race day tomorrow.

As Zacharie said, it's usually very chaotic here. A lot can happen. You want to be up front and out of it, and there are a lot of decisions to make tomorrow, strategic decisions, and then decisions on the racetrack. Hopefully we can make good ones and be there and try and win the race.


 

THE MODERATOR: Questions.


 

Q. Question for both of you guys. You guys talking about the track situation, was there any difference in terms of the sensation today?

JACK HAWKSWORTH: It's wildly different. I mean, certainly in our car, I don't know about the Aston, but the curb that was previously in the Bus Stop, when we hit that with the center of the car, it was quite a big jump, which really changed the whole feel of the Bus Stop. Now you can really almost be up to the metal fence. Kind of like the NASCAR guys do. It really doesn't affect the car.

It opens up the corner a lot more. The corners are quicker. Certainly for us in our car it was very, very different. It did all right, because you've got that guardrail. Normally when we're driving really close to guardrail, it's second, third gear corners, so it's easier to judge exactly where the side of your car is. When you do it fourth gear entering at 110 miles an hour to a corner like that, it's quite difficult.

It's a challenge, but it's balls to the wall. It was fun to drive, that's for sure.


 

Q. Then just lastly, obviously this weekend Vasser Sullivan is carrying Dreyer & Reinbold partnership on there in honor of the late Dennis Reinbold. What are your thoughts on that?

JACK HAWKSWORTH: I personally never met Dennis, but I knew of him and competed against him in INDYCAR for a number of years in the Indy 500 and stuff. I know Jimmy and Sully had a really good relationship with him. I've only heard (indiscernible) things, and I think you can see how much it means to Jimmy and to Sully that they put the name, the team name, alongside of the Sullivan name for this weekend.

Yeah, I kind of -- thoughts are with his family and all of his loved ones and stuff. Hopefully we can pay really good respect to him this weekend with a good result.


 

Q. Zach, you did some laps with the new configuration. Can you share your thoughts on that?

ZACHARIE ROBICHON: Yeah, we basically did one lap. Honestly, we kind of went through there not knowing, to Jack's point, how much of that -- call it a curb, call it whatever you want to call it, so we're going to do one lap where we beat it completely, and then we were going to actually push. Then after that we saw what happened.

I think potentially that's what happened to the 57 car. If you hit that curb wrong, because now if you kind of look before you start, as touched upon, you kind of ramped over it. Whereas now I think if you were to attack that turtle or whatever, if you hit it wrong, you can have some consequences. We'll see what they do tomorrow, and definitely changed the race because even just on a sighting lap, it looks totally different.


 

Q. I guess competitors are allowed to inspect the track until 8:30 tonight.

THE MODERATOR: We won't hold you up.

ZACHARIE ROBICHON: Yeah, I mean, until you drive it, doesn't really mean much.

JACK HAWKSWORTH: I will not be staying until 8:30 (smiling).


 

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for coming in. We're joined now by our Motul Award winner in the LMP2 class, Jeremy Clarke in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07. Jeremy's best lap was 1 minute 35.124 seconds. It's his third career pole as well as the third pole for Inter Europol. First pole here at Watkins Glen International, top 4 in LMP2 recovered by 0.753 seconds. Pole position for a six-hour race, what's it mean?

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, it's a great start for the team. It's going to come down to surviving those first couple of stints tomorrow and handing over the car to teammates and letting them take it the rest of the way.


 

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. We had the GT guys in here a second ago, and they talked about how some of the track repair work made it a little bit different through the Bus Stop. Getting your take on what it feels like now in the LMP2 car.

JEREMY CLARKE: It changes the whole (indiscernible) for P2 because we use a lot less curbing than the GTs. Now that the curbing is mostly gone, it changes the line for us, and we're able to kind of get more over and it opens up the entire corner. I'm sure we carry much more speed through there now.

Yeah, it's a benefit for us, for sure.


 

Q. How do you think that will play into effect because you're the unique class in the sense that -- how do you think that will play with traffic, I guess is what I'm saying?

JEREMY CLARKE: I think it will -- you know, we're able to -- with that new line, I think we can be a little bit more aggressive going into the brake zone of those corners where we have a bit more space now on the inside, to whereas before if you're not quite alongside a GT before that section, they're going to kind of squeeze you over into a spot that if you go over that, the car is done.

It just gives us a little more (indiscernible) because it's a good passing zone. We're able to just kind of get an extra pass done that maybe we would have had to wait until the exit of the Carousel.


 

Q. Obviously you were faster than PJ, even without him having to serve whatever the penalty is. How close? Do you see this as really being pretty tight between the two cars?

JEREMY CLARKE: Oh, absolutely, yeah. PJ is very strong. You saw this morning we were separated by 3,000ths of a second. He and I are always close. I think it's always going to be a battle between us, for sure.


 

Q. I'll ask if what you did in qualifying is kind of, you know, we can do that without you even having this (indiscernible) --

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, it was nice to get it done, even without the penalty, and be able to put down the lap when I needed to. It's always good to come in first.


 

Q. Can you talk about the strength of Inter Europol right now? It was a really strong performance at Le Mans and coming into here.

JEREMY CLARKE: Yeah, I mean, absolutely. You saw it at Le Mans, 1-2 finish. The team is very strong. We're here all day always looking at data, figuring out how can we squeeze out another half a tenth in this corner. I mean, the team, very dedicated to getting the job done and being as fast as we can.


 

THE MODERATOR: Best of luck tomorrow. Now we have our GTP Class Motul Pole Award winner, No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series R, Jack Aitken. Jack's best lap was a new GTP track record 1:31.284. It beats the previous record of 1:31.558 set by Renger van der Zande last year. This is Jack's fourth career pole, second of the season. His other pole came at Sebring in March. This is his first pole here at Watkins Glen International. It's the 35th pole for Cadillac since 2017, and the third street pole for Cadillac, which were (indiscernible) different drivers: Louis Delétraz at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Earl Bamber at Detroit.

Jack, certainly a lot of good momentum, you (indiscernible) into this event and as we saw here in qualifying. Talk about that a little bit. You guys are really on a roll.

JACK AITKEN: Yeah, I think it's been a bit of a -- it feels like it's been quite a (indiscernible) spread through practice. I have seen a bunch of different manufacturers and teams in the mix in the longer run pace.

I think we've been doing a pretty good job of getting a lap in and extracting performance from the tire, but when you look a little bit deeper, then I think it's going to be a really cool race tomorrow.

So I was expecting similar in quallie, that it would be quite tight. Track changed a little bit, not just physically, but weather being a bit cooler at night, or evening. It's quite quick. We got a lap in early, and then just couldn't really improve after that.

I tried a few times, and then just accepted that that was as good as it was going to get. It was more dreading someone else was going to pop a lap in, but it didn't happen, thankfully.

I think, like you said, Whelen Cadillac have been on a great roll, and we've got Fred back with us this weekend. He's been doing a great job with the car as well. Nothing has really changed from the last couple of races. We're still having a great time.


 

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Obviously you were top on all these sessions. I mean, how confident were you that this was going to happen? How significant is it to win pole here?

JACK AITKEN: It's definitely one I wanted to get because we came very close last year. I think this is also the place (indiscernible) first ever IMSA qualifying session back in '24. So it's a really cool track. I love going around here on low fuel, new tires. The cars sing around here. It's a lot of fun. It's a place I haven't, yeah, quite cracked in previous years. So it was cool to do it today.

I wasn't massively confident. I try not to be too optimistic going into these things. We saw that the 5 was very quick in FP2. There were a bunch of other cars in the mix as well, and I knew it's very easy to make a mistake around here. It (indiscernible) push a lot, and you can trip over yourself. I tried to take it steady, get a clean lap in, and I ended up with a good one.


 

Q. I don't mean to hit on a sore subject, but is there any extra motivation in light of how last year's race ended and everything like that to do what you guys have done?

JACK AITKEN: I didn't look at it. Selfishly, I was just thinking about my qualifying (indiscernible). I could have maybe got pole last year with a perfect lap. I was trying to get revenge for that.

We'll see about tomorrow. Hopefully we have a better race. We were in obviously last year and getting caught out. We've been on a great run since then, so we'll see.


 

Q. How was it through the Bus Stop and the curbing there?

JACK AITKEN: It was okay. It's just (indiscernible). Any time the track changes through a weekend, it's not ideal. But I think IMSA did a good job under the circumstances. I think it hasn't changed the line a huge amount for us. GT guys, they get a lot more now, but we just don't have the clearance for that. There's still a few little curbs that potentially could cause damage. I think a chat before the session of maybe you could cut it (indiscernible) 180K or whatever it is, obviously (indiscernible) quite a big one (indiscernible) first one to do it. If I see someone try it, then I might. I don't think it did, not that I saw.


 

Q. Do you think it could cause a complication in traffic, perhaps, or does it change anything?

JACK AITKEN: We have corners on the calendar where GTP can cut a lot more than the prototypes. It does make it a bit awkward sometimes. It's something we haven't -- that happened before. It's not ideal. If this is the best we can do, (indiscernible).


 

Q. Just kind of curious with the way that Daytona and Sebring kind of played out, you're always having to fight Filipe. How crucial is this in terms of the endurance and trying to shift the momentum for this?

JACK AITKEN: I don't even know where we are in the Endurance Cup. I haven't checked it in a second. It would be nice to get more points, though.

I think we're in a position where if you're doing a good race anyway, then you will pick up those points naturally. Yeah, we keep an eye out for them, but I think we focus on winning the race and then deal with the other stuff.


 

Q. In light of getting back in the groove of things, because it's been a couple of months since your last race at Long Beach and been three months at Sebring.

JACK AITKEN: It's cool to have him back. We (indiscernible) here at Watkins two or three weeks ago, so we (indiscernible) -- has been keeping up doing bits and bobs here and there for our shakedowns or sim work or when I'm keeping in touch with the program, which is great.

He's got a lot of talent. He settles back in quick. So we're looking forward to using him tomorrow. I mean, there's a few other cars out there with three drivers as well, and it's always nice to gets a bit (indiscernible), which it always can this time of year. Two or three drivers, it's always debated. It can go either way. You can win the race both ways, so yeah.


 

Q. For you and Earl in particular, a little extra fire there heading into this week, the disappointment at Le Mans?

JACK AITKEN: Probably. Still a bit fresh. It's always worse when you do well. I mean, I've not got the best record at Le Mans. I keep telling them they probably shouldn't take me anymore. I've got a curse or something. I haven't finished on the lead lap at Le Mans, so I need to change that.

Like I said, it's more because we were leading the race at some points, and we were truly in the fight. So yeah, we picked ourselves from that and thrown ourselves back in the IMSA side of things. There's a lot we've learned from that race as well.



FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

 

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Watkins Glen International - Saturday, June 27, 2026

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 

Historic Pole as Hannah Grisham Set to Lead Michelin Pilot Challenge Field at Watkins Glen

Grisham, Montour Set New Lap Records Ahead of LP Building Solutions 120


 

June 27, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Provisional Starting Grid


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Hannah Grisham captured a historic pole position for today’s LP Building Solutions 120, Round 5 of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season at Watkins Glen International. The race goes green this afternoon at 1:05 p.m. ET, and streams on Peacock and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel, ad-free courtesy of Michelin. 


 

Grisham is the first woman to win an overall pole in nearly 20 years.  Valerie Limoges was the first and last to do so, driving a Ford Mustang GT in the Grand Sport (GS) at Homestead in 2007. 


 

It’s also the first female pole win in the series since Taylor Hagler did so at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2020, in the Touring Car (TCR) class. 


 

Grisham follows Limoges, Hagler and Sarah Cattaneo as past female polesitters in the series history. Cattaneo's three career poles all came in the Street Tuner (ST) class.


 

Grisham is one of seven women competing in today’s Michelin Pilot Challenge race, including her co-driver Hannah Greenemeier in the No. 26 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 EVO. She set a best time of 1 minute, 53.839 seconds (107.887 mph) around Watkins Glen’s 3.4-mile circuit. 


 

The lap is also a track record, eclipsing the previous mark held by Devin Jones of 1:54.077 in the June 2019 race, the first year where Michelin served as both the tire and entitlement partner of the series. 


 

“It’s really exciting I got pole in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge overall; my first overall pole in this car,” Grisham said. “First in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. It means a lot to get that token under my name, but we want to win today and that’s the main priority.


 

“I’m excited to prove to myself and everyone else that I could do it. Big thanks to all the guys at the shop prepping the car before every race; also here on the race weekends. Phil, our engineer who we’ve been working with. The Heart of Racing and Aston Martin, everyone giving us the opportunity to be here. For Hannah and I to race together has been an amazing experience in the IMSA paddock so far!” 


 

The most recent female race winner in the series was Hagler, a two-time Touring Car (TCR) champion, at VIRginia International Raceway, in 2022. Sheena Monk is the last woman to win in GS and overall, which happened at Road America in 2020. 


 

The seven women racing today include Grisham, Greenemeier, Samantha Tan, Madeline Stewart, Aurora Straus, Maddie Aust and Riley Pegram. The first five are in GS and Aust and Pegram are in TCR.


 

Aust enters Watkins Glen fresh off her first IMSA podium, finishing third at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course earlier this month in the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR with Mark Wilkins. 


 

Grisham will lead the No. 60 KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 of Evan Slater and Mike Skeen to green in GS. With the first Toyota, BMW and Mercedes-AMG behind them, five manufacturers are in the top five starting positions. 


 

In TCR, LP Montour captured the pole in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR at a time of 1 minute, 54.673 seconds (107.102 mph). He will share that car with Karl Wittmer. The duo won last time at Mid-Ohio and also won here at Watkins Glen last year.


 

Montour’s lap is also a TCR lap record, eclipsing the previous mark of 1:55.096 set in June 2023. 


 

The No. 77 Stallion Motorsports w/GOU Cupra Leon VZ TCR starts second, in the hands of Raphael Reis and Celso Neto.

 

 

De La Torre Adds New Co-Driver, Another Super Trofeo Win in Watkins Glen

TR3 Claims Pro and Am Wins; WTR Wins Fifth Straight ProAm; Bolduc ‘Topps’ LB Cup


 

June 26, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Close points battles entering the first Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America race of the weekend set the stage for a decisive and dynamic first 50 minutes of action at historic Watkins Glen International across three of the four classes and a Watkins Glen Super Trofeo record 41-car field.


 

Then once a caution mid-race shook up the gaps between the leaders, it became a battle to see who’d excel quickest in the final 23 minutes to the finish.


 

But in the end, Daniel Morad and Elias De La Torre claimed the overall and Pro victory in their No. 29 TR3 Racing, Lamborghini Miami, Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo2.


 

Wayne Taylor Racing continued its ProAm streak with Danny Formal and Graham Doyle in their No. 10 WTR, Lamborghini Palm Beach, Huracán. In Am, Dean Neuls brought TR3 its second win of the day in his No. 70 TR3, Lamborghini Miami, Huracán and in LB Cup, Rocky T. Bolduc delivered a win in his No. 99 Topp Racing, Lamborghini Greenwich, Huracán.


 

Morad claimed Pro pole position for Race 1, which created a three-way tie in the Pro class points. It left Morad’s teammate Elias De La Torre, De La Torre’s previous teammate Will Bamber (No. 33 XONINE Racing) and the duo of Nick Persing and Hampus Ericsson (No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing) entered all with 47 points.


 

It meant whichever of the three finished ahead would move into the Pro points lead for Race 2. The No. 29 car rolled off first overall with the No. 33 car in third (second in Pro) and No. 1 car fifth (fourth in Pro).


 

Morad proceeded to extend his lead north of 12 seconds before a full-course caution flew for the No. 40 car stopped on track at Turn 8 just prior to when the scheduled pit window was supposed to open at the 30-minutes remaining mark. Morad had 4.1 seconds over Formal in second overall and 12.7 to his nearest Pro competitor, Giano Taurino.


 

The gaps were erased once the full-course caution flew, and the pit stop window shifted to after the race resumed with 23 minutes remaining. Once the cycle shook out, Formal’s teammate Doyle held the overall lead but only briefly before De La Torre in the No. 29 TR3 car and Darius Trinka, Bamber’s teammate in the No. 33 XONINE entry, both made it past on the road.


 

De La Torre withstood Trinka’s pressure in the final stint to win by just 0.464 of a second. RAFA Racing Team completed the Pro class podium with the new pairing of Tyler Gonzalez and Kiko Porto in the No. 2 Huracán; Porto is substituting for an injured Jem Hepworth this weekend.


 

“We’ve had great partners all year, but I think we found another great one,” said De La Torre, who scored his third Pro win of the year and now unofficially holds a three-point lead after Friday’s Race 1.


 

Morad, in his first Lamborghini Super Trofeo weekend added, “When you have TR3 behind you, it’s always impressive. They know what they’re doing. It’s all the hard work and preparation that makes it run smoothly. We had it under control. We were conservative on the pit stop to not get caught up in the yellow.”


 

After four consecutive wins to start the year in ProAm, Formal and Doyle extended their streak to make it five-for-five in their No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Huracán. Formal qualified second overall, first in ProAm, and proceeded to hand off to Doyle who did the rest.


 

Doyle maintained a class win by a healthy 10.926 seconds over teammates Paul Nemschoff and Marc Miller in their No. 41 Huracán. Forty7 Motorsports’ duo of Lindsay Brewer and Keawn Tandon scored their fourth podium in five races in third in their No. 77 Huracán.


 

“A fun stint; I was overall leader, but struggled a bit with the rears,” Doyle said. “Minute issues, really. We were third overall and won our class, so five for five which is unbelievable. Wayne Taylor Racing puts the best car on track. I should have won overall for them today, but maybe it’s in the cards for tomorrow. So fortunate to have Danny in the car as he put me in a perfect position to close.”

The Am race was once again a battle of two different drivers up front and championship leader David Staab (No. 48 Precision Performance Motorsports) maintaining consistency in the background.


 

In this race, Neuls made a decisive move through the Esses in his No. 70 TR3 Huracán on the returning Cooper Broll, who shared the No. 47 Precision Performance Motorsports Huracán with Derek Ware. Broll finished second, 3.938 seconds behind, with Staab banking his fifth podium finish in as many starts.


 

“What a fun race that was!” Neuls reflected. “These guys were tough competitors and faster than me in several corners. We got them coming up the Esses with a draft into the Bus Stop. It was a little sketch for the old man, but it was so fun!”


 

Broll added on the battle: “It was a good stint, and a lot of fun. It was give and take. I had him in one part but he had me in another. Wish we could have brought it home, but it was so fun.”


 

LB Cup entered with a tight points battle and a record 11-car grid as part of the 41-car lineup Philippe Touchette (No. 11 TB Autosports) entered with a two-point gap to Bolduc. Like in Am, four different drivers had won the class in as many races entering Round 5.


 

It once again came down to Bolduc and Touchette for today’s Race 1, with Bolduc leading 22 of 26 laps and only losing the class lead to Touchette during the pit stop sequence. Bolduc held on to win by just 0.477 of a second over Touchette; both scored their fourth podium in five races. Ray Shahi (No. 65 Taurino Racing Huracán) was third.


 

Nashua, New Hampshire’s Bolduc was verklempt at his home race as he enjoyed a savory repeat of his 2025 win in his Bolduc Maple Farms entry, albeit with another team.


 

“This guy gave me a run for my money,” Bolduc laughed. “I love racing with these guys, Philippe and Ray. We’ve been playing P1-2-3 since Sebring. It’s been a heck of a battle.


 

“I’m speechless. I have 40 of my closest family and friends here. My first ever race was at Watkins Glen. My first ever P1 was Watkins Glen. To repeat it is nothing but special!”


 

Saturday’s Race 2 goes green at 5:15 p.m. ET and local time and streams on Peacock, IMSA’s Official YouTube channel and Lamborghini’s YouTube channel. 

 

Aitken Aces Watkins Glen Practice to Start Sahlen’s Six Hours Weekend

Cameron Tops LMP2; Hasse Clot Leads GTD with Mies atop GTD PRO


 

June 26, 2026

By Holly Cain and Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Practice 1 Results


 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Picking up where they’ve been for so much of the season, the Cadillac Whelen team again led the way in Friday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship opening 90-minute practice for Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at the iconic Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International road course.

 

Jack Aitken posted a fast lap of 1 minute, 33.846 seconds (130.871 mph) in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R around the 3.4-mile, 11-turn track in scenic upstate New York.

 

Aitken, the current Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) championship leader, was 0.315 of a second faster than last year’s Motul Pole Award winner, Renger van der Zande, in the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06, to pace the field.

 

Tom Blomqvist was third fastest in the defending race-winning No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 in the 11-car GTP field. The 11 GTP cars are part of a 54-car field as part of the third IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round of the season.

 

“I think Action Express and the Whelen Cadillac guys, we have a bit of a reputation that we want to get out on track first thing and have a good first couple of steps,” said Aitken, who set the fast time only three laps into the hour and a half opening session.

 

“It helps when you’re first in pit lane, so you can get out in front of the queue and we just get down to business as quick as we can. It’s not because we want to have headline time; it’s more that we just try to get down to work as quickly as possible. I think the other guys may ease into it a bit more, but we’re quite happy. We’re ready. We’re here. The car’s prepped. The drivers are ready, so why not just get on it quick?’’

 

“It was just a pretty smooth session and we’re gonna have a busy day tomorrow, so we’ll get our homework done tonight, so we’re ready for it.”

 

Aitken and co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti are hoping to extend the Cadillac Whelen team’s modern-day GTP class record seven consecutive podium finishes run that goes back to the last two races of the 2025 season.

 

Dane Cameron led the 11-car Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class. His fast lap of 1 minute, 35.385 seconds (128.759 mph) came in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07 he shares with PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar. Cameron’s best lap was 0.509 of a second faster than Tom Dillmann in the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition ORECA LMP2 07.

 

Edgar enters Watkins Glen off an LMGT3 class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, while Hyett and Cameron – last year’s IMSA LMP2 champions – finished third in the LMP2 Pro/Am class at Le Mans in an AO by TF entry.

 

“It's one of the driver's favorite places to go to, Watkins Glen,” Cameron said in advance of the weekend on an IMSA-hosted media availability.

 

“The thing that we that we love about IMSA is the way the traffic really can shake things up. Going through GT cars and things like that can always blow the race wide open.

 

“In LMP2, the aggression level is quite high. The battles are pretty aggressive. We had a couple of fun ones in Le Mans and throughout the course of last year and start of this year. We’re excited for what's ahead and really to get here into the meat of the calendar for LMP2 to see if we can kind of get our year turned around.”

 

New Car Blanche Entry Leads GTD While Ford Paces GTD PRO

 

Valentin Hasse Clot was fastest both in the 20-car Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) class and among all GT cars, posting a lap of 1 minute, 44.860 seconds (117.125 mph) in the No. 068 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. This is a new team name, car number and lineup debuting this weekend; Hasse Clot shares the No. 068 car with Trenton Estep and Marius Fossard.

 

Fellow Aston Martin runners Magnus Racing clocked in second, with Spencer Pumpelly posting the No. 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo’s best time. Pumpelly shares the car with John Potter and Mario Farnbacher. This driver lineup has two milestones ahead of them Sunday: Pumpelly is poised to start his 250th top-level IMSA series event with Farnbacher due to start his 100th.

 

Ford Racing led the always-competitive 12-car Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class with Christopher Mies turning in a lap of 1 minute, 46.095 seconds (115.761 mph) in the No. 65 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 and was a very slight 0.048 of a second faster than Max Esterson in RLL Team McLaren’s No. 59 McLaren 720S GT3 EVO. 

 

Mies shares his No. 65 Ford with Frederic Vervisch while young drivers Esterson and Nikita Johnson share the RLL McLaren.

 

The No. 65 car was the only one of the top four in GTD PRO points in the top six, with the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO seventh and two Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs eighth (No. 3) and 11th (No. 4). That said, GTD PRO championship leader Tommy Milner in the No. 4 car was not overly concerned.

 

“Watkins Glen always requires a little bit of building up to it, maybe more so than other tracks,” explained Milner, who shares the No. 4 Corvette with Nicky Catsburg. “There are some balance things that we can work on and some other things, as well. I’m not too concerned right now. It’s the first practice session. A qualifying simulation wasn’t in our plan for this session, so we’ll save that for tomorrow.”

 

In one other GT note, the two Lexus RC F GT3 entries split between GTD PRO and GTD that usually run as Vasser Sullivan Racing will run this weekend as Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold in a tribute to the late Dennis Reinbold and in celebration of the longtime friendship and partnership he shared with team co-owners James “Sulli” Sullivan and Jimmy Vasser.

 

The team noted Reinbold’s passion for racing and commitment to the sport left a lasting impression on everyone who knew him and added, “Looking forward to going racing with you again, Dennis.”

 

A second, 45-minute practice session for the race is scheduled for 10:05 ET Saturday followed by pole qualifying at 3:40 p.m. ET. 

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Watkins Glen International - Friday, June 26, 2026

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 

Balogh, Grist Earn Strategic Win in Airbnb Endurance Challenge at VIR

No. 30 Toney Driver Development Teammates Overcome Opening-Lap Incident, Play Pit Strategy Perfection En Route to Victory


 

June 21, 2026

Staff Report

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results


 

ALTON, Va. – As Ari Balogh slid off course in Turn 3 following contact from Farhan Siddiqi in the No. 87 FastMD with Remstar Duqueine D08 on the first lap of Sunday's two-hour IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race at VIRginia International Raceway, he likely didn't expect to find himself standing in victory lane two hours later.


 

But that's exactly where he wound up alongside his No. 30 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 co-driver Garett Grist thanks to heady strategy from Toney Driver Development Owner Nathan Toney and a well-timed full-course caution period. The first-lap incident put Balogh at the rear of the field, but the first of the race's three full-course cautions for debris just four minutes into the race enabled him to catch back up to the rest of the field.


 

"After the first lap, I got spun out," Balogh said of the incident, which drew Siddiqi a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility. "The car was vibrating. I wasn't even sure we were going to make it."


 

Shortly after achieving minimum drive-time, Balogh made the first of the team's two required pit stops to turn the car over to Grist for the remainder of the race. The turning point came for Grist and the No. 30 team with 46 minutes left.


 

Grist entered pit lane for his second required two-minute, 15-second pit stop before the final full-course caution came out to retrieve Wyatt Brichacek's No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 and Patrick Liddy's No. 86 Forte Racing Ligier from the tire barriers at VIR's famed "Oak Tree" turn.


 

He ultimately rejoined the field one lap down to the first- and second-place runners, Oscar Tunjo in the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09 and Danny Soufi in the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine, but both Tunjo and Soufi still needed to make their final pit stops after the full-course caution period ended.


 

With lap times in the 1-minute, 44-second range, Grist managed to unlap himself and build more than a 30-second lead at the end of the pit stop cycle. Grist took the lead with 16 minutes to go and pulled away over the remaining distance – despite substantial damage to the right rear of the car from the opening-lap incident – to win by 40.611 seconds over Soufi.


 

"There's quite a bit of damage to the back (of the car)," Grist said. "I mean, engine cover, floor. There was a little bit of vibration, but Nathan made a real strategy call."


 

"Really, this is a team sport, of course, (in) these endurance races," Balogh added. "The team is awesome, and Nathan on strategy is the best. The best."


 

Balogh and Grist became the third different winners in three Airbnb Endurance Challenge races this season, but for much of the race, it appeared Tunjo and co-driver Valentino Catalano would be celebrating their second victory after taking the season opener at Sebring in March.


 

Catalano led throughout his stint after starting the race from the pole position and Tunjo reclaimed the lead once he took over. But the timing of his final pit stop put Tunjo well behind and a brief off-course excursion with 16 minutes to go promoted Soufi to second place, where he finished alongside co-driver Jake Williamson.


 

Catalano and Tunjo came home third but unofficially remain atop the Airbnb Endurance Challenge point standings with 950 points, 20 more than No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325 co-drivers Brian Thienes and Patrick Kujala – who finished fourth in Sunday's race – and 40 more than Grist and Balogh.


 

Those margins will make it an all-out battle for the inaugural Airbnb Endurance Challenge championship at the season finale at Road America on Aug. 16.

 

 

Catalano Secures First Pole of Season in IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge Qualifying at VIR

2025 VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3 Champion Continues Strong Run for Gebhardt Team


 

June 20, 2026

Staff Report

IMSA Wire Service

Qualifying Results


 

ALTON, Va. – Valentino Catalano already had fond memories from his first visit to VIRginia International Raceway when he swept all three races of an IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge tripleheader last August.


 

He added another one in Saturday's 15-minute qualifying session by securing the pole position for Sunday's two-hour IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race at the 3.4-mile circuit on the Virginia-North Carolina border. Driving the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA, Inc. Duqueine D09, Catalano claimed his first pole position of the season with a best lap of 1 minute, 42.626 seconds (114.707 mph) in the car he shares with co-driver Oscar Tunjo.


 

It should be noted that this also was the first qualifying session of the season for Catalano, the 2025 VP Racing Challenge LMP3 champion who is only competing in the Airbnb Endurance Challenge races this season. Tunjo qualified the car on pole for the first two endurance races of the season to go with three additional poles from the sprint race portion of the VP Racing Challenge season.


 

It will be a familiar view out of the windscreen for Catalano. He started all three of last year's races at VIR from the pole position, including one that served as a makeup for a weather cancellation at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park a month earlier.


 

"It's a nice track," said Catalano of VIR. "I love it here. Last year, I got three wins here, so it's good to come back. It was a bit tricky now because we have a new car with a V6 Biturbo (engine) and we didn't have a lot of practice with it. So, we improved over the weekend now, the past two practice sessions. Now the car got better. There is still some work to do, but I am happy with the job that Gebhart Motorsport did. Let's see how the race pace will be. I think we're in a good position."


 

Catalano and Tunjo are looking for their second victory of the Airbnb Endurance Challenge season after taking the season opener at Sebring International Raceway in March prior to a third-place showing at Circuit of The Americas last month. They enter Sunday's race with a 10-point lead in the Airbnb Endurance Challenge standings over No. 77 Forte Racing Ligier JS P325 co-drivers Brian Thienes and Patrick Kujala.


 

Kujala posted the second-quickest time in Saturday's qualifying session but had his times disallowed as the team was penalized for working on the car during qualifying. Nevertheless, the No. 77 teammates will have two hours to match or exceed the second-place results they achieved in both of the season's Airbnb Endurance Challenge races thus far.


 

The penalty to Kujala moved Farhan Siddiqi to the outside of the front row in the No. 87 FastMD with Remstar Duqueine D08. Siddiqi posted a best lap of 1:43.468 (113.774 mph) in the car he shares with Jagger Jones.


 

Lincoln Day rounded out the top three with a best lap of 1:44.127 (113.053 mph) aboard the No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325 he shares with Wyatt Brichacek. The top-three qualifying performance was a nice rebound for the team after Brichacek crashed in Turn 1 just after taking the checkered flag in Friday's lone practice session.


 

Sunday's two-hour race takes the green flag at 10:35 a.m. ET and will be streamed live on the IMSA Official YouTube Channel. 

 

Vanthoor, BMW M Team WRT to Lead Field from 24 Hours of Le Mans Pole

IMSA Stars, Teams Feature Near Front of All Class Grids


 

June 11, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Hyperpole 2 Hypercar Results

Hyperpole 1 Hypercar Results

Qualifying Hypercar Results


 

Hyperpole 2 LMP2/LMGT3 Results

Hyperpole 1 LMP2/LMGT3 Results

Qualifying LMP2/LMGT3 Results


 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Dries Vanthoor made a habit of qualifying on pole throughout 2025 in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition with four straight poles to start the season. He’ll now have the same vantage point for June’s major endurance sports car racing classic, the 94th 24 Hours of Le Mans. 


 

Vanthoor starts first overall and in the leading 18-car Hypercar category aboard his No. 15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 which he’ll share with Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen. 


 

Linear distribution of the race is available on MotorTrend and TruTV with digital distribution available via Max, FIAWEC+ and HBO MAX, with radio coverage all week via Radio Le Mans. The race starts at 4 p.m. local and Central European Time (CET) on Saturday, June 13 (10 a.m. ET).


 

The Belgian qualified second on the road, what had been just 0.005 of a second behind Jack Aitken’s last-lap flyer in his No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R. Aitken’s 3:22.559 lap only barely eclipsed Vanthoor’s 3:22.564.


 

However, race officials deleted the No. 38 car’s times in the final Hyperpole 2, 15-minute session, which was set to determine the pole position. The car was placed under investigation for not respecting Race Director instructions as it emerged at the head of the queue at pit out.

“That is a great surprise!” said Vincent Vosse, Team Principal of BMW M Team WRT. “I am very happy to be on pole position for the first time in Hypercar. I take that, of course, but at the same time congratulations to Cadillac and Jack Aitken for putting on a great show! Overall, we at WRT can be extremely happy with the qualifying results. Now let’s focus on the race.”


 

It promotes BMW to the top spot in qualifying for the first time in the race’s history. BMW last won the race overall in 1999.


 

“To have now secured BMW M Motorsport’s first ever pole position at Le Mans is simply fantastic!” said BMW M Motorsport Head Andreas Roos. “Congratulations to Dries Vanthoor on a brilliant lap and many thanks to everyone who has worked on this project over the years. This is a fantastic reward for their efforts. We’ll relish seeing our BMW M Hybrid V8 right at the front of the grid on Saturday. But now we’re focusing fully on race preparation.”


 

Vanthoor added, “I’m super happy to be on pole in Le Mans! This is such a great event and now being on pole here and giving everyone in the team what they deserve is awesome. At the same time our goal is to win the race, so we need to keep it clean over 24 hours to be right there on Sunday.” 


 

Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA’s second entry moves up to the front row, with Norman Nato, Will Stevens and Louis Deletraz sharing the No. 12 Cadillac.


 

The No. 35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424 (Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg, Antonio Felix da Costa) led Wednesday’s preliminary qualifying practice and Hyperpole 1 and slotted into third ahead of the second BMW (the No. 20 car of Rene Rast, Sheldon van der Linde and Robin Frijns). 

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing will fly the IMSA flag from fifth with the trio of Ricky and Jordan Taylor alongside Filipe Albuquerque sharing the No. 101 Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

Here’s how some key members of a sizable IMSA contingent racing at this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans fared in qualifying:

 


 

Heart of Racing Team Scores LMGT3 Pole


 

The Heart of Racing Team scored its second straight Le Mans pole in LMGT3. The team runs parallel programs in both IMSA and the FIA World Endurance Championship and one of its two LMGT3 entries, the No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 Evo, flew to pole in the hands of Mattia Drudi for a second straight year.

The Italian set a best time of 3:52.433 in the car he shares with IMSA veterans Zacharie Robichon and Ian James.



“It feels really great and it’s nice to be here on pole after last year,” Drudi said. “The car has been so good. Zach and Ian too. The car is quick. We are feeling really quick. The race is another story. But it’s always a good starting point.” 


 

The team’s second LMGT3 made it home in eighth, and the pair of Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyries that include IMSA full-timers Roman De Angelis (No. 009) and Ross Gunn (No. 007) will roll from seventh and 11th, respectively, in Hypercar.

 

IDEC Takes LMP2 Pole; Flurry of IMSA Contenders


 

IDEC Sport took the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) pole after a one grid spot penalty was assessed to the class’ fastest car from Forestier Racing by Panis following an infringement in Wednesday’s sessions. Paul Lafargue, Valerio Rinicella and Job van Uitert share the No. 28 IDEC ORECA 07 Gibson. The No. 29 Forestier ORECA that includes Toyota protégé Esteban Masson, who qualified fastest, starts second.

IMSA regulars feature in the next eight cars in the top 10, all ORECAs. David Heinemeier Hansson (No. 24 Nielsen Racing), Tom Dillmann, Nick Yelloly and Jakub Smiechowski (No. 43 Inter Europol Competition), George Kurtz, Alex Quinn and Laurin Heinrich (No. 4 CrowdStrike Racing by APR), Julien Andlauer (No. 30 Duqueine Team), Tobi Lutke, Mathias Beche and Kevin Estre (No. 14 TDS Racing), PJ Hyett and Dane Cameron (No. 99 AO by TF), Ben Barnicoat (No. 183 AF Corse) and Bijoy Garg (No. 343 Inter Europol Competition) are all racing either a full WeatherTech Championship or full IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup program in 2026 and seek to add a Le Mans win to their yearly record.


 

Hyett, the 2025 Jim Trueman Award winner, rolls off eighth as he, Cameron and James Allen seek to deliver AO by TF an encore Le Mans LMP2 Pro/Am win. Kurtz, Quinn and Heinrich’s No. 4 CrowdStrike by APR car is the fastest LMP2 Pro/Am car on the grid. 


 

Hawksworth Rallies After Brief Delay in LMGT3

Among LMGT3 entries, Akkodis ASP had a scare before Hyperpole 2 even started when mechanics struggled to close the left-side door of Jack Hawksworth’s No. 78 Lexus RC F LMGT3. Luckily they got it sorted and the Englishman flew to fourth on the grid, behind the polesitting Aston Martin, No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and second Akkodis ASP Lexus. 


 

IMSA regulars Parker Thompson (No. 69 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 Evo), Lorenzo Patrese (No. 74 Kessel Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 Evo) and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) championship leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello (No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin) slotted in sixth, seventh and eighth. 


 

Bob Akin Award recipient Orey Fidani will look to bring 13 Autosport’s No. 13 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R forward from 24th in the field in the car he shares with Matt Bell and Lars Kern.


 

BMW Photos Courtesy of BMW M Motorsport

Aston Martin Photo Courtesy of Aston Martin Racing

Pivotal Pit Work Propels Ibiza Farm McLaren to Mid-Ohio Win

Last-Lap Pass from Wittmer Delivers Honda a TCR Victory


 

June 7, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

LEXINGTON, Ohio – A combination of pivotal pit work and dynamic last-lap drama produced the two winners in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge headlining showcase at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio.


 

Michael Cooper and Moisey Uretsky scored their second Grand Sport (GS) win of the year in their No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4. Meanwhile, courtesy of a last-lap pass, Karl Wittmer brought Honda to victory lane for the first time this year on its home turf in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR he shared with LP Montour and Dai Yoshihara.


 

Honda is the 17th of 18 participating OEMs to win a race in 2026 across eight IMSA- sanctioned series. This is Honda’s first Mid-Ohio IMSA win in the series now known as Michelin Pilot Challenge since 2013, in the Street Tuner (ST) class with RSR Motorsports and drivers Andrew Novich and Tom Dyer. The manufacturer has a plant in nearby Marysville. Acura has won in WeatherTech Championship competition at the circuit more recently.


 

In GS, a slick pit stop propelled Cooper forward five positions into the lead. Once unleashed out front, the No. 44 Ibiza Farm Motorsport McLaren Artura GT4 streaked away to the Grand Sport (GS) class win.


 

Most of the opening two and a half hours of the O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio ran under green flag conditions and sunny skies after a roller coaster weather weekend. But the race complexion changed entirely following a full course caution with 97 minutes remaining for an incident for the No. 2 car entering Turn 1.


 

Cooper entered the pit lane sixth for the penultimate scheduled pit stop, but a stop more than 12 seconds quicker than the No. 95 Turner Motorsport and 15 quicker than the No. 39 CarBahn with Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVOs proved pivotal to move the No. 44 car to the head of the queue. 


 

Once out front, Cooper ran in clear air to build his lead north of nine seconds before his final stop, then was the first to make his final stop. The Ibiza Farm team’s last stop was also more than six seconds quicker than the BMW pair, and Cooper emerged more than 15 seconds ahead on track.


 

He brought the No. 44 McLaren home to his and Uretsky’s second win of the season (Sebring) by 2.295 seconds despite another full-course caution and another restart. 


 

“Moisey kept us within 10-15 seconds of the leaders in the first two stints, and that was all we needed,” Cooper said. “I got in the car maybe sixth or seventh and we couldn’t pass anyone without straight line speed. But then we had a yellow and a pit stop and jumped everyone, and that was all we needed. I just hit my marks, and we got in clean air – which is what suits this Ibiza Farm McLaren best.” 


 

Uretsky, who started fifth, raced against some of the best in GS in a jumbled starting grid for his stint. While it appeared calm and quiet on paper, he said it was anything but from behind the wheel.


 

“It was not a calm stint!” he laughed. “At this track you have to push every lap, there’s not a lot of cautions. We had the right team and the right strategy, and we figured everything out. This one, everyone had to nail.” 


 

Despite a weekend full of pace, BMW came up shy of the victory even though a trio of the M4 GT4 EVOs finished second through fourth. The championship-leading No. 95 Turner pair of Dillon Machavern and Luca Mars finished second, one spot off the car’s winning ways from Mid-Ohio last year and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca last race, while the Motul Pole Award-winning No. 39 CarBahn entry of Jeff Westphal and Sean McAlister finished a season-best third. 


 

AutoTechnic Racing banked its fourth top-six finish in as many races this year with Stevan McAleer and Austin Krainz in the No. 27 BMW. Koch-Copeland Motorsports’ trio of Ford Koch, Jaxon Bell and Jeremy Fletcher completed the top five in their No. 23 Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2. 


 

TCR: Last-Lap Pass Nets Wittmer, Honda an Ohio Win

Preston Brown and Denis Dupont’s form in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge four-hour races is well-known, so much so it would take a superhuman effort to beat it. Karl Wittmer put on the proverbial cape to do so on the final lap of the four-hour race in Mid-Ohio.


 

Despite starting 11th, the resilience of Brown and Dupont was poised to pay off with their fourth four-hour race win. Brown, battling an illness, got out after fulfilling his minimum drive time and turned the No. 76 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR over to Dupont for a stint over three hours in warm, mid-80-degree conditions.


 

After starting third and also overcoming a drive-through penalty for tires without crew on a pit stop, the No. 93 MMG Honda rallied with first Yoshihara, then Montour, then Wittmer aboard the car – with Wittmer taking over for the final stint with just over an hour remaining. 


 

Wittmer hounded, dogged and hustled to try to get past Dupont, who delivered a sterling defense both inside and outside primarily heading into Turn 4 at the end of Mid-Ohio’s longest straight.


 

But finally, on the last lap, Wittmer deployed the late race magic he’s known to wield – he put the No. 93 Honda on the podium late at both VIRginia International Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year – to make a move on Dupont into Turn 4 and proceed to capture the checkered flag by just 0.801 of a second.


 

“Denis is such a good driver; he kept me honest and I have such respect for him,” Wittmer said. “I took a launch out of the Keyhole, side drafted him and lunged for it. Props to him for giving it up so clean. It’s a mutual respect thing. It was very hot in the car, everything got hot, but we worked through it.” 


 

Dupont, tired and nearly triumphant, reflected on the battle for the win. 


 

“I tried everything,” Dupont admitted. “I think he knew that he had a little bit more where he could make it happen. In the braking zone he got ahead of me and there wasn’t much I could do. Fair play to him though!” 


 

Behind Dupont and Brown, two more Herta Hyundais finished third and fourth, although not the championship-leading No. 33 entry.


 

The No. 98 Hyundai of Mark Wilkins and Madison Aust finished third, with Aust scoring her first Michelin Pilot Challenge podium. The No. 18 car rallied to fourth with the trio of Harry Gottsacker, Lance Bergstein and Jon Miller. 


 

The new Stallion Motorsports w/GOU team posted its season-best finish of fifth with Celso Neto and Raphael Reis sharing the No. 77 Cupra Leon VZ TCR.


 

IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge teams resume for two-hour races the rest of the season, with the LP Building Solutions 120 next up on Saturday, June 27, at Watkins Glen International.   

 

unjo, Workman Double Up VP Racing Challenge Victories at Mid-Ohio

Tunjo Drives Through P3 Field; Workman Sets GSX Pace

 

June 7, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

LEXINGTON, Ohio. – Oscar Tunjo and Westin Workman completed weekend sweeps in the pair of IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge races at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. At least for Tunjo, it was a different experience compared to his flag-to-flag win from pole on Saturday.


 

Due to the wet weather conditions for qualifying on Saturday morning, the Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) grid was set by the fastest lap times in Saturday’s Race 1 on a damp-but-drying track. Although Tunjo had solid pace in the No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09, his best race lap was only fifth fastest in Race 1 which left him out of position for Sunday’s second 45-minute race of the weekend. 


 

Tunjo gained a spot before the race even started as one car in front of him failed to present to the false grid in time. After the green flag, he leapt to third into Turn 4 on Lap 2, got to second by Lap 3 and then chased down polesitter Gian Buffomante in his No. 30 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325.


 

Buffomante led the opening 10 laps before Tunjo made his move, using his more extensive LMP3 experience to his advantage. As Buffomante was balked exiting Turn 1 catching traffic, Tunjo darted to the inside in the Keyhole (Turn 2) on Lap 11 to secure the lead.


 

Tunjo quickly built his lead and despite a full-course caution that wiped out the lead, drove away on a restart to his fifth total and fourth sprint win of 2026 by 11.337 seconds.


 

“Super happy for this race and result,” Tunjo said. “We’ve been fast but today was a bit strange starting from the back. We made our way forward, and it was good battles up front.” 


 

The battle for second came down to the final lap, although contact occurred between Buffomante and Danny Soufi in his No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing Duqueine D09. The incident was reviewed with no further action and Soufi made it through into second, while Buffomante was delayed in the gravel. Toney’s second driver made it to the podium with Lincoln Day advancing to third in his No. 95 Ligier JS P325 entry. 


 

“Fun race; I thoroughly enjoyed it,” said Soufi, who advanced from sixth on the grid. “I wasn’t sure if the safety car would help me or not. It was full attack mode, and traffic towards the end made it interesting.” 


 

In fourth and capturing the Bronze Cup win was Slade Stewart, making his IMSA P3 debut this weekend in the No. 29 Riley Ligier JS P320. Stewart is a past race winner in IMSA’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America series.

 

GSX: Workman Makes it a Six-Pack of GSX Wins

Westin Workman’s win streak continued into the sixth round of Grand Sport X (GSX) competition, following another authoritative victory at Mid-Ohio.


 

In today’s race, he again started from pole, led flag-to-flag, and captured the checkered by a winning margin of one lap in his No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2.


 

He set a new GSX record for fastest race lap of 1 minute, 25.958 seconds (94.566 mph), which was more than 1.6 seconds faster than anyone else in class. 


 

“At the end it was everything I had,” Workman said. “The goal is to improve each race, because if you do the same thing every lap, every race, you won’t get better. I want to be the best one out there and that’s the goal. With Toyota Gazoo Racing and RAFA Racing, what a combo. Super blessed and thankful to be out here.” 


 

The battle in GSX most of the race was a strong three-way battle for second. Bronze Cup winner Rob Walker started and finished second in his No. 53 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2, holding off the consistent advances of Justin Di Benedetto and Ismaeel Ellahi in a pair of Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS cars. Di Benedetto finished third in his No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche ahead of Ellahi in fourth in his No. 25 CSM Porsche. 


 

The LMP3 field heads next to VIRginia International Raceway on Sunday, June 21, for the third two-hour race of the year as part of the Airbnb Endurance Challenge schedule. The next sprint weekend for both P3 and GSX takes place at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, July 10-12.

 

 

Tunjo, Workman Deliver Wet-to-Dry Saturday Wins at Mid-Ohio

VP Racing Challenge Points Leaders Both Lead Flag-to-Flag from Pole


 

June 6, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

LEXINGTON, Ohio. – The “mid” in the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course described perfectly middle-of-the-road conditions directly in-between a gray, cloudy and wet start and clear, sunny and drying finish to the opening IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge race of the weekend. What wasn’t “mid,” however, was the performances delivered by both class championship leaders who excelled in the challenging conditions. 


 

Oscar Tunjo in Le Mans Prototype 3 (P3) and overall and Westin Workman in Grand Sport X (GSX) maintained their season long form en route to a pair of victories in the 45-minute race.


 

Tunjo had track experience in his back pocket from winning his first VP Racing Challenge event at the Mid-Ohio circuit in 2025 in similar treacherous conditions. But what was new to him this weekend – at least in North America – was his No. 1 Gebhardt Motorsport USA Inc. Duqueine D09, a loaned chassis from Duqueine run by Forbush Performance at the most recent IMSA Airbnb Endurance Challenge race (the endurance portion of the VP Racing Challenge) at Circuit of The Americas. 


 

The Colombian has raced Duqueine’s third generation LMP3 chassis in Europe but made his first start in the new car in the U.S. this race as his primary Duqueine D08 chassis has been sent to France for updates. This weekend has seen Tunjo spend time adapting to the new chassis at this track and learning in real-time through evolving race conditions. 


 

Although Tunjo led flag-to-flag from pole en route to his fourth total and third sprint win this season, he didn’t have it entirely easy. A lead of more than six seconds briefly whittled down to just over two seconds in the final 15 minutes of the race in GSX traffic, before Tunjo expanded the gap back to a healthy 20.415 seconds by the end of the race.


 

“It was a tricky race after a tricky weekend so far,” Tunjo explained. “We had a dry practice, then a wet qualifying, then a wet-to-dry race. We had a good qualifying though. The start was tricky, but it got better when the track dried. It was hectic and hard to know when to push depending on the grip. Great to get another sprint win though!


 

“Today the track dried quicker (than last year), but I learned a lot from last year,” he added in comparing this race to his 2025 win. “We’ll try to maximize the weekend.” 


 

His Gebhardt Motorsport-affiliated teammate, Danny Soufi, posted his best race of the season in his own new Duqueine D09 chassis, the No. 11 PINAXIS-ZONE 4 Racing entered car. It’s not technically a Gebhardt Motorsport-entered 1-2, but it is the team’s first 1-2 finish in IMSA P3 competition since the first race at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta last October when Tunjo led home 2025 IMSA P3 champion Valentino Catalano.


 

In third, Bronze Cup winner Travis Hill delivered an impressive drive in the No. 2 Shopify Racing Ligier JS P325. Hill’s TWOth Autosport team rebuilt the Ligier chassis going into Mid-Ohio and secured his first Bronze Cup win of the season. In the final seven minutes, Hill made a pass of series returnee Lincoln Day in his No. 95 Toney Driver Development Ligier JS P325.


 

“We’ll call this a win for sure,” Hill said. “Happy to get it all together and in one piece. So nice to be on the overall podium. You could tell (Lincoln) was losing the rears a bit, so I tried to wait for an opportunity. I threw a dummy, then I was able to get alongside him.”  

 

GSX: High-Five for Workman to Start Season

Westin Workman’s name can’t be spelled without the word “win.” In the wet-to-dry race, Workman continued his win streak to open the VP Racing Challenge GSX season.


 

The driver of the No. 8 RAFA Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 captured his fifth victory in as many races in an unchallenged drive from pole, leading flag-to-flag to win by a lap. 


 

Workman gained experience in the wet for the first time aboard his GT4 Supra at Daytona earlier this year. Though the 3.56-mile combination oval/road course at Daytona and the 2.258-mile rolling, natural terrain Mid-Ohio road course couldn’t be further apart in terms of venue type, Workman figured out how to manage the changing conditions in both easily. 


 

“Honestly it was about managing the tires,” Workman said. “I didn’t start out with a big gap, but as the track dried out, it really showed to find the grip. That was the name of the game, honestly. We kept an eye on the radar. Once the cloud went over and the sun came out, it was game on. I started to push to go from 60 percent to everything I had.” 


 

Series returnees Justin Di Benedetto and Ismaeel Ellahi, both of whom missed the Circuit of The Americas sprint race double in February, completed the GSX podium. Di Benedetto enjoyed a smooth drive to second in his No. 4 Di Benedetto Racing Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS, while Ellahi drove up to and past Courtney Crone for third in his No. 25 CSM Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.


 

Rob Walker, in his first start of the year, won the GSX Bronze Cup in his No. 53 Kingpin Racing Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 ahead of the top-finishing full-season Bronze Cup entrant, Dan Ammann in the No. 91 VRC Motorsports Group, LLC Porsche 718 GT4 RS CS.


 

Sunday’s second race of the weekend goes green at 8 a.m. ET. It streams on Peacock (in the U.S.) and globally on the IMSA Official YouTube channel and IMSA.tv.

 

Pair of Record-Setting Poles Set for Michelin Pilot Challenge Mid-Ohio Headliner

Westphal, Pasquarella Power to the Top Spots for Four-Hour Race


 

June 6, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Qualifying Results


 

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Jeff Westphal doesn’t qualify frequently in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge competition, so it came as no surprise that it’d been quite a while since he achieved his most recent Motul Pole Award.


 

When told it was 15 years ago at Watkins Glen International just past 15 years to the day, June 2, 2011, in an ST (Street Tuner) class BMW 328i, Westphal summed it up succinctly:


 

“The old dog has still got it!” he laughed.


 

The now 39-year-old drove, fittingly, the No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO to something new: a new track record at the 2.258-mile Mid-Ohio SportsCar Course.


 

Westphal’s best lap of 1 minute, 25.216 seconds (95.390 mph) on his eighth lap not only broke but smashed the previous mark of 1 minute, 26.262 set in June 2024.


 

The CarBahn team of Westphal and Sean McAlister, which finished second in the 2025 Grand Sport (GS) championship, has had an abnormally and uncharacteristically difficult start to the 2026 campaign. With a best finish of 13th through three races, the No. 39 pair enter Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 4 Hours of Mid-Ohio (12:15 p.m. ET on Peacock and IMSA Official YouTube channel) 30th in GS points, 670 points out of the lead. 


 

There are still seven races to go in the season and the team figured it should switch something up for the second four-hour race of the season. McAlister usually qualifies and so with Westphal aboard for qualifying, things appear on the up ahead of Sunday’s race. 


 

“I’m elated with the effort of this CarBahn team; they gave me a great BMW,” Westphal said. “This puts us in such a great position to start the four-hour race. It’s a boost in momentum as it’s something the team needed, given we’ve had a rough start to the year.” 


 

One of Westphal’s longtime series sparring partners, Stevan McAleer, also took the opportunity to qualify and promptly positioned his No. 27 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 EVO second on the grid. McAleer was 0.375 of a second in arrears. He and Austin Krainz are in search of their first victory together but have been one of the GS field’s most consistent finishers of late, including with three top-six finishes to start 2026 to sit fourth in points.


 

Van der Steur Racing qualified a season-best third with Allen Patten and Trenton Estep sharing the team’s No. 66 Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT4 Evo. With the top Toyota and McLaren fourth and fifth, four GS manufacturers finished in the top-five of the stacked 30-car class. The top eight cars in GS beat the previous track record.

 

TCR: Pasquarella Plants His Honda on Pole with New Track Record

In Touring Car (TCR), the qualifying track record fell too – and in similar fashion as it did in 2025.


 

Last year, Karl Wittmer broke his own mark in the No. 93 MMG Honda Civic FL5 TCR of 1:26.747. This year, another Honda beat that lap, as Rocco Pasquarella took his No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Honda to the best lap of 1 minute, 26.564 seconds (93.904 mph).


 

Pasquarella’s pole only slightly beat Bryson Morris’ flyer in the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR. Morris ended just 0.008 of a second adrift, but is still in strong shape to build on his and Mason Filippi’s 110-point lead.


 

The No. 5 car has qualified in the top three in all four Michelin Pilot Challenge races this year but has finished between fifth and sixth in the first three races. Pasquarella is hoping to convert his second pole (Sebring) into a win or podium along with Tim Lewis Jr., and return the KMW team to victory lane with its new manufacturer. 


 

The longtime Alfa Romeo squad switched to Honda ahead of the 2025 season and is racing on the manufacturer’s home turf this weekend, which Pasquarella had a chance to experience earlier this week.


 

“The car was on absolute rails; massive thank you to KMW for the car,” Pasquarella said. “This week I got to tour the MAP (Marysville Auto Plant) Honda plant; huge thanks to American Honda for that. I know our car will be fast in the race. 


 

“I think it’s super important. There’s a lot of Honda signs around this track, and I’ve seen some people at the track this week that I met at the plant. Obviously a lot of support out here, and we’ll try to get them a win.” 


 

Wittmer’s No. 93 MMG Honda qualified third in the hands of Dai Yoshihara, the third driver alongside Wittmer and LP Montour, and also got under Wittmer’s previous mark. Cupra completed the top five with the pair of Victor Gonzalez Racing entries, qualified by Tyler Gonzalez and Steven Clemons, respectively.

Cadillac Whelen Scores "Hometown" Victory in Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Aitken, Bamber Team Up for Seventh Straight Podium and Championship Lead


 

May 30, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results


 

DETROIT – American muscle was on full display Saturday as Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R dominated the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, the 100-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race through the streets of downtown Detroit as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear.


 

Motul Pole Award winner Bamber started the race and comfortably led the first 33 minutes before handing over to Aitken, who built a 14-second lead until a full-course caution was called for debris on the track with 20 minutes remaining. That late-race reset offered a final glimmer of hope to the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class competition.


 

But it was unfulfilled hope, as Aitken aced a pair of late-race restarts and was able to pull away during the final stages while chaos broke out behind him. The No. 31 Cadillac built a 6.023-second gap before crossing the finish line ahead of the No. 25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 shared by Philipp Eng and Marco Wittmann.


 

Compounding the joy for General Motors in its corporate hometown at an event it sponsors, Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque took a season-best third place in GTP in the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R., while Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports notched the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) PRO class victory.


 

“My team absolutely nailed it, and to do it here at the home of GM and Cadillac, with so many friends and family with us…it really doesn’t get a lot better than that,” Aitken said. “It’s a win that we’ve been searching for for a while. With so many people involved in the program here, it was really meaningful. It’s pretty overwhelming, but amazing.”


 

“It was pretty nervy with those last yellows, just watching,” Bamber added. “I'm just really happy for Cadillac, and happy for the Corvette guys also, to finally get the win here in our home race. We had a great Cadillac this weekend that was super quick from the moment it hit the track. That’s a pretty perfect weekend.”


 

With seven consecutive podium finishes dating to a win at the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September 2025, the Cadillac Whelen team is on a hot streak unprecedented in the four years of the current IMSA GTP era. The victory was the fourth in IMSA competition for Aitken and the 11th for Bamber.


 

Cadillac has now won five times in Detroit, but the first four came at the old Belle Isle circuit (2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022).


 

Other than working through GTD PRO traffic, Aitken pretty much had the 1.645-mile Detroit track to himself for most of his stint. Two cautions in the final 20 minutes did little to dampen his confidence.


 

“I’ve been lucky to be in that position a few times before, but especially on a street circuit, you really need to keep your focus and keep pushing – stay in that rhythm and not think too far ahead,” Aiken said. “Frankly, you know there’s a high chance of a yellow that will bring things together again and create that knife-fight to the finish.


 

“I tried not to think too far ahead,” he continued. “But on Sector 3 of the last lap, I let myself realize, ‘This is going to be pretty cool!’”


 

The No. 25 BMW earned its second consecutive podium finish. Eng credited BMW M Team WRT for a late-stopping strategy that helped them overcome a loss of two positions in the hectic opening laps.


 

“Marco drove fantastically and we didn’t make any mistakes,” Eng said. “But the No. 31 Cadillac was just out of reach for us this weekend.”


 

Meanwhile, Taylor and Albuquerque earned the first trip to the rostrum this year for Wayne Taylor Racing in a year that has seen the No. 31 Cadillac finish on the podium every race.


 

“Huge relief here in Detroit,” said Ricky Taylor. “We got very unlucky in qualifying and that could have changed our day, so the team was on the back foot again at the start of the race. I’m glad everything worked out as planned and the team was flawless.”


 

With the win, Aitken unofficially took over the lead for the GTP drivers championship by 144 points over Laurin Henirich, whose title hopes took a turn for the worse at Detroit with an 11th-place finish. Heinrich incurred a stop-plus-60-seconds penalty for incident responsibility that dropped the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 two laps down after he forced the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie into the wall.


 

Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer, who rallied to finish fifth at Detroit after starting 10th, are third in the driver standings, 10 points behind Heinrich. Cadillac has leapfrogged Porsche to lead the GTP manufacturer standings by 17 markers.


 

The next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, June 25-28 at Watkins Glen International. In the interim, nearly three dozen full-time IMSA drivers will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans from June 10-14.

 

 

Corvette by Pratt Miller Captures Elusive Detroit IMSA GT Win

Garcia, Sims Deliver a GTD PRO Victory in Front of Chevrolet Brass

 

May 30, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Race Results

 

DETROIT – For Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, winning in Detroit was an important milestone to achieve. The team had not delivered an IMSA points race triumph in the city since 2008 on the former Raceway on Belle Isle Park.


 

They did so on Saturday in the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic. But despite leading 73 of 79 laps in the fourth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) season, Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia did not have it all easy in their No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.


 

Sims led the opening 24 laps from pole position and pitted 32 minutes into the 100-minute race, turning the car over to Garcia. As he explained, he had the easy part.


 

“I was honestly pretty nervous going into the race, because of knowing how much mayhem can unfold that's outside of your control around here,” Sims said. “Once the race got off to a clean start for us, I was able to maintain position after the first corner and our Corvette was working really, really well. The tires switched on nicely and I was able to, you know, sensibly pull out a pretty good gap. Even with one restart, it was fairly smooth sailing, to be honest. That also reduced the amount of times the GTPs came past me.


 

“But then with GTP traffic and the restarts at the end, it was mad to watch.”


 

Garcia’s stint covered the “mad” portion of the race in Motown.


 

In the middle portion of the race, the Spaniard lost a significant chunk of his multiple-second lead behind the tail end of the GTD PRO field. A snarling pack of rivals behind, including Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, gave chase but were unable to make a move past. The gap fell to under a second before he was able to get past and then expand the lead.


 

“It's part of managing and knowing how fast he is, and defending against the cars behind you,” Garcia explained. “So, you also need to know how much you can push him in order to be as fast as possible. Because there were laps where I was really on him, and he was really defending very hard, but I knew when you do that, you lose a lot of time.


 

“There was a point where they were getting really close, so I had made a move. I mean, I know I'm the leading car. They don't want to lose a lap, and I also knew once I cleared them that he didn't care anymore.”


 

Garcia, too, had to dodge the outward-leaning walls of the 1.645-mile Detroit Street Circuit and drove most of the second half of the race with a loose right hand driver’s side mirror. He then also had to navigate what he thought was fluid on the track, and as the first car through, had to tiptoe through.


 

A pair of late-race full-course cautions increased the drama and the respective heart rates.


 

At one stage, it appeared Hawksworth had made a pass of Garcia after contacting the rear of the No. 3 car and emerging ahead exiting the tight and narrow Turn 1.


 

But that pass was negated after it was deemed to have been completed after the full-course caution started. A subsequent reorder put the No. 3 Corvette ahead of the No. 14 Lexus, and with a drive-through penalty then assessed to the No. 14 car for incident responsibility, it dropped down the order.


 

“I was completely on top of oil,” Garcia said. “Out of Turn 9, last corner, he had a good run, but as soon as we went across the line, I saw the yellow flags and in my dash with the flag, too. I didn’t know how our car is right now, and that's something that I didn't know also on the next restart, how the car would behave after pretty heavy contact we had on that situation.”


 

Upon a final restart, Garcia was able to streak away to the checkered flag by 1.935 seconds.


 

This secured Garcia’s 32nd IMSA win, tying him with a trio of sports car veterans in Allan McNish, Ricky Taylor, and Sascha Maassen for 18th on the all-time sports car winners’ list. But it’s his first at Detroit. For Sims, it’s his ninth win.


 

The podium positions changed drastically in the final 10 minutes as nearly the entire rest of the GTD PRO field leaned into Detroit’s propensity for fisticuffs, set against the prominent Joe Louis “The Fist” that sits inside the Turn 3 hairpin.


 

At the final restart, the order was Garcia, Nicky Catsburg in the sister No. 4 Corvette and Aaron Telitz in the sister No. 15 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3. Contact between Cars 4 and 15 in Turn 3 saw Car 4 assessed a drive-through for incident responsibility.


 

Another incident between Cars 59 and 64, also in Turn 3, saw the No. 59 car assessed a drive-through for incident responsibility.


 

“It was a bit of a Mario Kart scene behind my rearview camera,” Garcia laughed.


 

Two blue cars that ran otherwise quiet races and stayed out of the wars benefited as a result. The Lamborghini Temerario GT3 scored its first IMSA podium in second with Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell second in the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports entry. Then Ford Racing made it back to the podium with Monterey winners Frederic Vervisch and Christopher Mies in third in their No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3.


 

To reflect how chaotic the finish was, the No. 9 car and No. 65 car took the final restart from fifth and seventh places and wound up on the podium.


 

The points also are in close quarters leaving Detroit. Catsburg and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette unofficially lead Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO by 18 points, Mies and Vervisch by 20 and Detroit winners Garcia and Sims by 31.


 

The No. 4 Corvette finished seventh and No. 1 BMW finished fourth on the roller coaster day.



The next GTD PRO round is part of the next all-class WeatherTech Championship race, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Sunday, June 28. 

 

 

Cadillac, Corvette Double Up for GM Brands in IMSA’s Detroit Sprint

Bamber, Aitken Win Overall with Whelen; Sims, Garcia Break Through in GTD PRO


 

May 30, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Unofficial Results


 

DETROIT – Against the backdrop of its former headquarters and with an armada of its key stakeholders in attendance, both General Motors brands delivered a key double victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

The No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber controlled the 100-minute race in Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) and overall, with the Renaissance Center in the backdrop of the 1.645-mile Detroit Street Circuit that runs along the Detroit Riverwalk.


 

Meanwhile the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) saw Chevrolet join Cadillac atop the Detroit podium. Antonio Garcia and Alexander Sims brought it home in the No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, while the rest of the GTD PRO field had a chaotic finish behind it.


 

Cadillac most recently won an IMSA race in Detroit in 2022 (this was its fifth, adding to previous triumphs in 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022). Chevrolet Corvette’s last GT points win in Detroit came in 2008, although the team did win a GT Le Mans non-points race in 2021. 


 

“To do it here at the home of GM and Cadillac with so many friends and family with us, you know, my team absolutely nailed it,” Aitken said.


 

Garcia added, “Super happy to be on victory lane in Chevrolet land, underneath the towers, I think all the big bosses will be very happy as we are. So fantastic drive by Alex, putting it on pole, opening up a big gap which made driver change was a little bit less stressful, and yeah. Great race overall.”


 

Both Motul Pole Award winners captured the checkered flag, which was relatively calm and controlled for the first 80 minutes of the race before a pair of late-race cautions jumbled the order and the field as the gloves came off. 


 

The GTP race was largely a strategic battle, with those entries opting to run longer for their first and only scheduled pit stop leaping up the order behind the otherwise dominant No. 31 Cadillac, which also scored its seventh consecutive GTP podium finish. 


 

The No. 25 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 and No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R completed the podium in class, with the fourth-place finishing No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 capturing the IMSA Michelin Sustainability in Racing Award. That marks the second race running where that award was achieved by a car that did not win the race.


 

In GTD PRO, Garcia nearly lost the lead late when prior to a final yellow flag, Jack Hawksworth attempted a pass into Turn 1 in his No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 but collided with Garcia. 


 

The No. 14 car was assessed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility, one of three GTD PRO cars dinged for the same infraction inside the final 10 minutes.


 

But Garcia withstood the final restart in order to secure his first Detroit win, adding a new venue to his rolodex of 32 IMSA victories. 


 

With multiple contenders shuffled out, the resulting fracas promoted the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Temerario GT3 to the new car’s first podium finish with Andrea Caldarelli and Sandy Mitchell second, and Ford Racing’s No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 of Christopher Mies and Frederic Vervisch to third.


 

Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac has unofficially moved into the GTP championship lead while the No. 4 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg and Tommy Milner retains the GTD PRO lead, albeit by a reduced margin. 


 

All four WeatherTech Championship classes resume with the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen from Watkins Glen International on Sunday, June 28. 

 

Unofficial Results, Points & Post-Race Nuggets | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Saturday, May 30, 2026

Unofficial race results available at results.imsa.com.


 

Unofficial points available at pitnotes.org/points.

GTP

No. 31 Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing)

  • 32nd IMSA class win
  • Last win was in October 2025 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in GTP with car No. 31
  • Fourth IMSA class win in GTP
  • First IMSA class win at Detroit Street
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was sixth (1 times) last in 2024 in GTP with car No. 31
  • First IMSA class win in 2026


 

Earl Bamber

  • 35y 10m 21d from Wanganui, New Zealand
  • 11th IMSA class win in 87th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in GTP, 3 starts between
  • First win at Detroit Street in second start
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was 10th in 2025 in GTP
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was second (2 times) last at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in GTP


 

Jack Aitken

  • 30y 8m 7d from London, England, United Kingdom
  • Fourth IMSA class win in 27th start
  • Last win was at 2025 Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in GTP, 4 starts between
  • First win at Detroit Street in third start
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was sixth in 2024 in GTP
  • First win in 2026 season in fifth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was second (3 times) last at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in GTP


 


 

GTD PRO

No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports

  • 119th IMSA class win
  • Last win was in August 2025 at VIR in GTD PRO with car No. 3
  • Sixth IMSA class win in GTD PRO
  • First IMSA class win at Detroit Street
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was second (1 times) last in 2025 in GTD PRO with car No. 3
  • Last win for Pratt Miller Motorsports at the Detroit was in 2008 (Belle Isle) in GT1
  • First IMSA class win in 2026


 

Antonio Garcia

  • 45y 11m 25d from Madrid, Spain
  • 32nd IMSA class win in 218th start
  • 32 wins is tied with Allan McNish, Ricky Taylor, and Sascha Maassen
  • Last win was at 2025 VIR in GTD PRO, 5 starts between
  • First win at Detroit Street in third start
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was second in 2025 in GTD PRO
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fourth (2 times) last at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in GTD PRO
  • 15th different track that Garcia has won at


 

Alexander Sims

  • 38y 2m 15d from London, England, United Kingdom
  • Ninth IMSA class win in 58th start
  • Last win was at 2025 VIR in GTD PRO, 5 starts between
  • First win at Detroit Street in third start
  • Previous best finish at Detroit Street was second in 2025 in GTD PRO
  • First win in 2026 season in fourth start
  • Previous best finish in 2026 was fourth (2 times) last at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in GTD PRO

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Saturday, May 30, 2026

Practice 3 Results


 

Qualifying Results


 

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

 

 

 

Big Day for GM as Cadillac, Corvette Claim Detroit Poles

Bamber, Deletraz Sweep GTP Front Row at Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic


 

May 29, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

Qualifying Results


 

DETROIT – General Motors basked in the Motor City sunshine Friday as its entries earned the Motul Pole Award for both IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes competing at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic.


 

Earl Bamber was fastest in both practice sessions in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, and he converted that speed into the overall and Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class pole. Meanwhile, Alexander Sims sped to the top starting spot for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class.


 

Bamber was delighted with the balance in his Cadillac after no less than three and half hours of practice time. The 35-year-old New Zealander was correct in his confidence that he could break Nick Tandy’s two-year old track-record for the tricky 1.645-mile street course along the Detroit Riverwalk in the shadow of the Renaissance Center, GM’s former corporate headquarters.


 

Bamber was one of five drivers who lapped under one minute, 6 seconds, finally lowering the benchmark to 1:05.313 with four and a half minutes remaining in the 15-minute session, for an average speed of 90.670 miles per hour. That was quick enough to top Tandy's previous track record of 1:05.390.


 

Bamber and his competitors might have gone even faster, before the session met a premature end. Felipe Nasr ran wide at Turn 1 in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 and his teammate Kevin Estre in the No. 6 Porsche slapped the wall in avoidance.


 

Louis Deletraz secured the outside front row staring berth in the No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R (1:05.635/90.226 mph), ahead of Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 and Marco Wittmann in the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 fielded by BMW M Team WRT.


 

This is Bamber’s third pole position in IMSA competition, but first in GTP or any prototype class. His last start from the top spot came in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class at the 2015 Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.


 

“It’s been a great weekend so far,” Bamber said. “I loved the old Belle Isle track, but as soon as I drove here, I really clicked with this place and we decided to shake it up a bit this weekend and have myself run the qualifying, and it’s really nice to get my first GTP pole. 


 

“The car has been fantastic all weekend, and obviously it’s really cool for Cadillac to get pole position at our home race – and Corvette too, with ‘Simmsy,’” he added. “Hopefully we can just run away and hide and stay out of trouble. But we know this race has brought a lot of surprises over the years.”


 

The difficulty of the “concrete canyon” street course in the heart of downtown Detroit was on display during practice, when no fewer than 40 reports of spins or runs down escape roads were reported. But qualifying was clean until the Porsche Penske drivers experienced the double disaster that will leave them starting eighth and 10th in the 11-car GTP field. 


 

The No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 qualified by Tijmen van der Helm and co-driver Laurin Heinrich may look to pull a strategic gamble to leapfrog from P11 and repeat its last-to-first win achieved last time out at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca; Heinrich enters this race at Detroit atop the GTP points. 


 

But Bamber and his co-driver Jack Aitken are on a hot streak, starting the 2026 season with four consecutive podiums after wrapping up ’25 with a pair of wins. Detroit would be the ideal venue to find their way back to the top step of the podium. Aitken entered the weekend second in points, 21 behind Heinrich, and with Friday’s qualifying result is unofficially only six back to start Saturday’s 100-minute race. 


 

“We’ve sort of got a motto in the team that if we keep knocking on the door, if we’re in that top two or three all the time, then eventually it opens,” Bamber said. “We’re racing against some great teams. It’s never easy to win one of these things, but we’re staring up front and hopefully we can lead and execute. 


 

“We just have to our thing the best we can,” he smiled. “Today we converted it; we’ll see if we can do the same thing tomorrow.”


 

The Chevrolet Detroit SportsCar Classic will be broadcast live on NBC and streamed domestically on Peacock, with the green flag set for 4:10 p.m. ET Saturday, May 30. International streaming options include the official IMSA YouTube Channel and IMSA.TV.

 

3-4 Equals 1-2 for Chevrolet in GTD PRO Qualifying in Detroit

Sims Beats Catsburg as Corvette by Pratt Miller Locks Out IMSA’s Motor City

Front Row

 

May 29, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Qualifying Results

 

DETROIT – The Chevrolet vs. Ford – and the rest of the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class – manufacturer battle is finely poised in Motor City for Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, Round 4 of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.


 

Last year, pole position proved pivotal for Seb Priaulx’s No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 en route to his and Mike Rockenfeller’s win in Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) on the downtown Detroit Street Circuit. For Alexander Sims in his No. 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R, he’ll be hoping that pole produces the same result this year.


 

Sims set a best lap of 1 minute, 9.354 seconds (85.387 mph) around the 1.645-mile, nine-turn circuit to secure the Motul Pole Award. Sims will share the No. 3 Corvette with Antonio Garcia as the 100-minute race airs live Saturday, May 30 at 4 p.m. ET on NBC, Peacock and IMSA’s Official YouTube channel.


 

Chevrolet was already in good shape heading into qualifying. The manufacturer led both practice sessions with Nicky Catsburg atop the 90-minute morning session in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.R and Sims faster in the two-hour second session in the sister No. 3 car. There is also a short practice session available Saturday morning for teams.


 

Sims’ team opted to change its set of Michelin tires early in the session and the grip – and pace – improved the longer the 15-minute session ran. The Englishman set his best time on his 11th lap of the circuit.


 

Catsburg then proceeded to qualify second, only 0.043 of a second in arrears of Sims, to ensure a Corvette 1-2 on the grid. Catsburg and Milner lead the championship points heading into this weekend’s race, while Sims and Garcia sit fifth.

“I was exploring the limits!” Sims said. “That was really close actually. We want to win them all to be honest. It’s lovely coming here. Pratt Miller is just up the road, and it’s GM’s home race. So, a Corvette lockout is pretty special. It lines us up nicely, but the Ford cars are right there. I thought they’d edge us in qualifying. But it’s an awesome job by the whole team.”


 

The 1-2 result in qualifying has been a trend of late in Motor City GT qualifying.


 

It’s the third year in a row where a single team locked out the front row at Detroit in GTD PRO, as Garcia led a Pratt Miller 1-2 in 2024 while Priaulx led the way with the then-Ford Multimatic Motorsports team (now called Ford Racing) in 2025.


 

Additionally, this is the fourth pole for Pratt Miller between Belle Isle and the Detroit Street Circuit (they won the pole in 2007 and 2008 in GT1 at Belle Isle). All those four poles were also front-row lockouts, and each was the No. 3 car on pole followed by the No. 4 car. Coincidentally, a Corvette GT car has not won an official IMSA points race in Detroit since that 2008 GT1 triumph.


 

Behind the pair of traditional yellow Corvettes, Ben Barnicoat qualified third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 with the pair of Ford Racing Mustang GT3s – now in their Evo version – in fourth and fifth. After an incident in practice, Paul Miller Racing performed a rebuild of its No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO and Neil Verhagen lines up sixth.

 

Qualifying Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 29, 2026

Qualifying Results


 

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 29, 2026

Practice 2 Results

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

Practice Results | WeatherTech Championship

Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic

Detroit Street Course - Friday, May 29, 2026

Practice 1 Results


 

Additional results are available at results.imsa.com.

 

Entry List Notebook – Chevrolet Grand Prix

LMP2 Headliner, Canadians in Action and Tight Title Battles


 

July 1, 2026

By Tony DiZinno

IMSA Wire Service

Entry List (Click Here)

 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class headlines the annual IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship trip to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park outside Toronto for a third straight year. The three classes all have relatively close title battles with 55 (LMP2), 60 (Grand Touring Daytona Pro) and 157 (Grand Touring Daytona) points covering first and second place. 


 

The field of 33 cars at CTMP covers 10 LMP2, 10 GTD PRO and 13 GTD cars who will race Sunday, July 12, at 2:05 p.m. ET (Peacock, IMSA Official YouTube channel, IMSA.TV). 


 

Car Blanche, which debuted at Watkins Glen and finished third in GTD, shifts into GTD PRO this race with Valentin Hasse Clot and Scott Andrews sharing the team’s renumbered No. 68 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo. 


 

Half of the 10 ORECA LMP2 07 cars feature a Canadian with all of Bronze-rated Phil Fayer (No. 2 United Autosports USA), John Farano (No. 8 Tower Motorsports), Tobi Lutke (No. 11 TDS Racing), Misha Goikhberg (No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen) and Chris Cumming (No. 73 Pratt Miller Motorsports) set to qualify and start Sunday’s race. Goikhberg’s No. 52 car has a fill-in co-driver this week as Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing’s Ricky Taylor is set to make an LMP2 cameo appearance. 


 

Pfaff Motorsports headlines the Canadian entries in GT in GTD PRO with its No. 9 Lamborghini Temerario GT3, along with 13 Autosport in GTD (Bob Akin Award points leader Orey Fidani and Matthew Bell share the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R) and also Canadian engineering powerhouse Multimatic, a key partner of the Ford Racing GTD PRO program. 


 

Canadian drivers in the two GT classes include Fidani, Roman De Angelis – filling in alongside GTD points leader Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo – and the returning Robert Wickens in the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R alongside Mason Filippi.

 

Fast Facts

Chevrolet Grand Prix

Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

July 10-12, 2026


 

Race Day/Time: Sunday, July 12, 2 p.m. ET

Streaming Coverage: LIVE Flag-to-flag beginning at 2 p.m. (streaming on Peacock in the U.S.; IMSA.tv, IMSA Official YouTube channel outside the U.S.)

Qualifying Stream: Saturday, July 11 at 3:55 p.m. ET (Peacock in the U.S.; IMSA.TV, IMSA Official YouTube channel globally)

IMSA Radio: Selected sessions live on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com; XM live race coverage on XM 206, Web/App 996

Circuit Type: 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course

Classes Competing: Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO), Grand Touring Daytona (GTD)

Race Length: 2 hours, 40 minutes


 

Track Social Media: 


 

Event Hashtags: #IMSA


 

WeatherTech Championship Track Records

  • LMP2: Matthew McMurry, ORECA LMP2, 1:08.197 / 129.806, July 2019 (race)
  • GTD PRO: Alexander Sims, Corvette Z06 GT3.R, 1:14.373 / 119.027 mph, July 2024 (qualifying)
  • GTD: Frankie Montecalvo, Lexus RC F GT3, 1:15.060 / 117.937 mph, July 2024 (qualifying)

 

2025 Chevrolet Grand Prix Winners

  • LMP2: PJ Hyett/Dane Cameron, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Albert Costa/Giacomo Altoè, No. 81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3
  • GTD: Danny Formal/Trent Hindman, No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2


 

2025 Chevrolet Grand Prix Motul Pole Award Winners

  • LMP2: PJ Hyett, No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07
  • GTD PRO: Neil Verhagen, No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
  • GTD: Jack Hawksworth, No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3


 

Storylines

  • LMP2’s Sprint and Headliner: The first of two sprint races of the year for the LMP2 field is also the one chance for the class to secure an overall win in IMSA competition during the season. 
  • Wickens’ Return: Robert Wickens makes his first WeatherTech Championship start since Long Beach after a transporter fire took the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R out of action prior to Monterey (the team returned to competition last week at Watkins Glen). He enjoyed his best 2025 race at his home circuit last year, finishing fourth and just off the podium.  
  • Fill-In Factor: CTMP once again sees a number of guest drivers with Ben Hanley (No. 22 United ORECA), Ricky Taylor (No. 52 BHA w/PR1 Mathiasen ORECA), Roman De Angelis (No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin) all filling in for others with schedule conflicts. 
  • GTD PRO Title Shift: The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO moved to the head of the GTD PRO class at Watkins Glen ahead of the pair of Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. The two Chevrolets will seek to change that stat at the Chevrolet Grand Prix. 
  • Dudu vs. Chasing GTD Pack: Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello in the No. 27 Aston Martin holds a 157-point lead on the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and 160 on the No. 96 Turner BMW. Either of those two cars will look to cut into Barrichello’s lead this race. 


 

Who’s Hot?

  • No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07, LMP2: One of only two LMP2 cars with three top-five finishes in as many races sees this entry move to the front of the LMP2 championship. 
  • No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, GTD PRO: The most recent GTD PRO winners have three poles in the last four races. 
  • No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, GTD: Quietly, this Porsche has two podiums and three top-four finishes in the last four races. 

 

Who’s Good Here?

  • Dane Cameron and PJ Hyett: Five-time IMSA champion Cameron leads the way in CTMP wins, with three overall across both the Prototype and now LMP2 classes. Co-driver Hyett won his first IMSA race at CTMP last year and has the last two poles in the No. 99 AO Racing ORECA LMP2 07. 
  • Antonio Garcia: The similar five-time WeatherTech Championship title winner (with a sixth in ALMS) also knows his way around CTMP, with three wins across two GT classes (GT Le Mans, GTD PRO). 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winners in 2026 Field (15)

  • Dane Cameron (3): P/Overall – 2016, 2017; LMP2/Overall – 2025  
  • Antonio Garcia (3): GTLM – 2014; GTD PRO – 2023, 2024
  • Roman De Angelis (2): GTD – 2022, 2024
  • Alexander Sims (2): GTLM – 2017; GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Giacomo Altoè (1): GTD PRO – 2025 
  • Albert Costa (1): GTD PRO – 2025 
  • Tom Dillmann (1): LMP2/Overall – 2024 
  • Robby Foley (1): GTD – 2019 
  • Danny Formal (1): GTD – 2025 
  • Felipe Fraga (1): LMP3 – 2023 
  • Trent Hindman (1): GTD – 2025 
  • PJ Hyett (1): LMP2/Overall – 2025
  • Tommy Milner (1): GT – 2013 
  • Nick Tandy (1): GTLM – 2015 
  • Ricky Taylor (1): P/Overall – 2015


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Pole Winners in 2026 Field (10)

  • Jack Hawksworth (3): GTD – 2018, 2025; GTD PRO – 2023 
  • PJ Hyett (2): LMP2 – 2024, 2025
  • Nick Tandy (2): GTLM – 2015, 2018 
  • Ricky Taylor (2): P – 2015, 2017 
  • Roman De Angelis (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Jon Field (1): LMP675 – 2002 
  • Robby Foley (1): GTD – 2019 
  • Antonio Garcia (1): GTLM – 2016
  • Alexander Sims (1): GTD PRO – 2024 
  • Neil Verhagen (1): GTD PRO – 2025 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winning Teams in 2026 Field (14)

  • Corvette Racing (13): GTS – 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004; GT1 – 2005, 2007, 2008; GT2 – 2009; GT – 2011, 2013; GTLM – 2014; GTD PRO – 2023, 2024 
  • Riley (3): GTD – 2014, 2018; LMP3 – 2023 
  • PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports (2): LMP2 – 2019; LMP2/Overall – 2024 (as Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen)
  • Heart of Racing Team (2): GTD – 2022, 2024 
  • Intersport Racing (2): P2 – 2004, 2005 
  • Turner Motorsport (2): GTD – 2016, 2019 
  • Wayne Taylor Racing (2): P – 2015; GTD – 2025 
  • AO Racing (1): LMP2/Overall – 2025 
  • Conquest Racing (1): P2 – 2012 
  • DragonSpeed (1): GTD PRO – 2025
  • Inter Europol Competition (1): LMP2/Overall – 2024 (as Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen)
  • Paul Miller Racing (1): GTD – 2023 
  • Pfaff Motorsports (1): GTD PRO – 2022 
  • Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (1): GTLM – 2017 


 

Previous Chevrolet Grand Prix Winning Manufacturers in 2026 Field (9)

  • Porsche – 18
  • Chevrolet – 15
  • BMW – 5
  • Ferrari – 5
  • Acura – 4
  • Aston Martin – 4
  • Ford – 3
  • Lamborghini – 1 
  • Mercedes-AMG – 1
 

 

 

Three Takeaways: Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

Whelen's Roll, Vasser Sullivan's Reinbold Tribute, Crowds Keep Flocking to IMSA


 

June 29, 2026

By John Oreovicz

IMSA Wire Service

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Throughout the week leading into the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers were keeping a wary eye on the weather.


 

“It’s a lot like Le Mans or Spa in that the weather pops up out of nowhere,” said Ricky Taylor, driver of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

“Every now and then the weather does seem to be a bit crazy,” added Nicky Catsburg, who competes in the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) class in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports. “I remember a red-flag situation maybe last year or a few years ago.”


 

Turns out weather was no issue whatsoever for the 2026 Sahlen’s Six Hours, which was run on a picture-perfect early summer day in New York’s Finger Lakes Region. But that didn’t mean the Watkins Glen race was any less chaotic than it generally tends to be – for whatever reason.


 

There were no red flags for weather or anything else, but also no fewer than nine full-course cautions – the last of which ended the race with Jack Aitken at the front of the field to end a six-hour batttle he and co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti controlled after Aitken earned the Motul Pole Award in the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.


 

“It’s a big field, fitting into not the biggest track in the world (3.4 miles and 11 turns),” said Aitken. “It’s narrow, it’s fast, and there’s a lot of pinch points going up the hill into some very fast sequences.”


 

Exhibit A: the early crash that eliminated Colin Braun in the No. 60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 and the No. 23 Aston Martin THOR Team Aston Martin Valkyrie when driver Roman De Angelis attempted but was unable to respond fast enough to a traffic stack-up approaching the top of The Glen’s famous “Esses.”


 

“As the race gets to a close, people start taking more risks,” Aitken added. “It’s always going to be quite a cool race because it’s sketchy and it’s a bit scary. But it’s thrilling, that’s for sure.”


 

That’s one clear takeaway from another action-packed Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. Here are three more…


 

Magic Eighth Podium for Whelen

Along with teammates Bamber and Vesti, who also turned in strong drives, Aitken and the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R extended their advantage in the points standings with a GTP-era record eighth consecutive podium finish - a streak that dates to September 2025. It appears the No. 31 Cadillac is only trending up: Watkins Glen marked the second consecutive race win for the Whelen car, which is displaying a faultless combination of one-lap qualifying speed, smart strategy, and stint-long race pace at every stop on the WeatherTech Championship trail. 


 

Aitken has built a 203-point cushion over Laurin Heinrich (who finished third at Watkins Glen in the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 with Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick) in their fascinating one-on-one battle for the GTP Driver’s championship. Sunday’s runner-up Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande (No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06) are the top driver pairing in the standings, 245 points off.


 

But Aitken isn’t taking the dream season to date for granted. He knows one really bad weekend combined with a really good weekend for his competitors could result in a 150-to-200 point swing. 


 

“You just never know in IMSA racing,” he said. “That’s the cool thing. You can say it’s going to be super predictable, then there’ll be another yellow coming, but then you've got a massive green run until right at the end when you can't go green again.”


 

He’ll also have to fight off the challenge of Heinrich, whose evolving 2026 schedule has resulted in a full-time GTP campaign in two different Porsches (the No. 5 JDC-Miller car and the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry he co-drove to victory in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Felipe Nasr and Julien Andlauer). The No. 7’s full-time duo is close behind the No. 60 Acura pair, 258 points off Aitken’s lead.


 

The No. 5 Porsche took advantage of the cautions to rally for Heinrich to claim the final podium spot at Watkins Glen after it fell a lap down earlier in the race and lost a tire in the process. Another electrifying performance that included several daring passes has marked the 24-year-old German as sports car racing’s most exciting young prospect since his countryman (and also Porsche factory driver) Stefan Bellof.


 

“I have to say a big thank you Porsche and to JDC and my teammates because it was a really good day; we made a good turnaround,” Heinrich said. “There was some very good racing out there today. I think that’s exactly what IMSA stands for and what the fans want to see. It was hard but fair. Very exciting, I hope. 


 

“I’m looking forward to re-watch it tonight.”


 

Vasser Sullivan Celebrates Reinbold  

When a member of the racing community passes away, all branches of the sport feel affected and offer their support. The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is no exception.


 

Dennis Reinbold was best known for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing team that has competed in the IndyCar Series since the turn of the century, nearly winning the Indianapolis 500 with Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2025. Reinbold, who died earlier in June at the age of 65, was an important mentor to James ‘Sulli’ Sullivan, co-owner of the Vasser Sullivan team that serves as the factory-supported Lexus team in the WeatherTech Championship’s GTD and GTD PRO classes.


 

The team’s No. 12 GTD and No. 14 GTD PRO entries were fielded under the Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold banner at Watkins Glen, and Sulli gave an impassioned mid-race interview to NBC Sports during the Sahlen’s Six Hours. 


 

Sulli was later overcome with emotion when Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat broke a two-plus-year winless streak to claim GTD PRO honors in the No. 14 Lexus RC G GT3.


 

“A lot of people don’t know that Dennis was so instrumental in helping me get started as an owner in the sport,” Sullivan said. “Our partnership started for an IndyCar race at Baltimore with Jimmy (Vasser) and I look back on it as so instrumental for me. He was a partner before he was a friend.”


 

Reinbold and Sullivan later joined forces to field teams in RallyCross and X Games competition.


 

“So many memories,” Sulli reflected. “I don’t know the last time Dennis won a race, but we’re going to make sure it’s today, I think.”


 

Mission accomplished with the GTD PRO victory. Vasser Sullivan w/Dreyer & Reinbold narrowly missed a podium finish in GTD, with Aaron Telitz, Frankie Montecalvo, and Benjamin Pedersen taking fourth place after a late splash for fuel – ironically, the same issue that befell the same No. 12 GTD car in 2025.


 

Sports Car Racing’s Roll Isn’t Slowing 

The first clue came when leading racing journalist Marshall Pruett’s daily ‘Good Morning from…’ social media post featured an image of several lanes of fans queuing up to get into Watkins Glen International for the Sahlen’s Six Hours weekend.


 

At 7 o’clock Thursday morning.


 

Suffice to say the WeatherTech Championship’s popularity was on display for all to see at one of America’s most historic road courses from Thursday to Sunday, with campers packing the property from the Esses to the Boot (and above, on the traditional pre-race open grid walk). 


 

The strong turnout extended a record attendance streak for IMSA and comes on the heels of momentum-building recent news regarding top-class convergence with the FIA World Endurance Championship for 2030 and the introduction of a new LMP2 chassis and Gibson engine package to the WeatherTech Championship in 2029.


 

“We have been so fortunate since even before the beginning of the 2024 season where we had record attendance at each of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship events,” said IMSA President John Doonan. “We’re extremely proud of that. The grid walks are packed, and I think you’ll see that continue for the rest of the season all the way to the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.”


 

The GTP class now enjoys its first extended break of the season, allowing LMP2 to take top billing at the next round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – the July 10-12 Chevrolet SportsCar Classic at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. 

 

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