The 2017 Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen was an endurance race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the July 2nd, 2017. This race was the sixth round of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.[1]
Background edit
IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the 6 Hours of The Glen was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016.[2] It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2017 Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup.[3] The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi (5.552 km) Watkins Glen International circuit on July 2, 2017.[3] After the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic four weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 177 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 147 points, and Dane Cameron and Eric Curran with 143 points.[4] With 144 points, was led by James French and Patricio O'Ward with a twenty six-point advantage over Don Yount.[4] Antonio García and Jan Magnussen led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 124 points, ahead of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with 118 points.[4] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 150 points, ahead of Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 141 points.[4] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Riley Motorsports Team AMG each led their own Teams' Championships.[4]
Entries edit
A total of 38 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, 8 in GTLM, and 17 in GTD.[5] In P, Rebellion Racing missed the event due to logistical issues.[6] Olivier Pla joined José Gutiérrez in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.[7] Ed Brown missed the event due to injury and retired from prototype racing.[8][9] In PC, Starworks Motorsport were absent.[10] Buddy Rice and Daniel Burkett returned to the #20 BAR1 Motorsports entry. Brian Alder and Derek Jones joined Gustavo Yacamán in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Risi Competizione were forced to miss the event due to budgetary issues following the 24 Hours of Le Mans where the teams Ferrari 488 GTE was several damaged in an accident.[11][12] Gianmaria Bruni made his debut for Porsche joining Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche GT Team entry.[13] In GTD, Alex Job Racing, and Dream Racing Motorsport made their first appearances since the 12 Hours of Sebring. Michael Christensen and Michael de Quesada returned to Alegra Motorsports.[14]
Practice edit
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.[15]
Practice 1 edit
The first practice session took place at 11:05 am ET on Friday and ended with Stephen Simpson topping the charts for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:35.491.[16]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 85 | JDC-Miller MotorSports | Stephen Simpson | 1:35.491 | _ |
| 2 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM | Ryan Dalziel | 1:35.530 | +0.039 |
| 3 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing | João Barbosa | 1:36.813 | +1.322 |
| Source:[17] | ||||||
Practice 2 edit
The second practice session took place at 3:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Tequila Patrón ESM, with a lap time of 1:34.696.[18]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 2 | Tequila Patrón ESM | Pipo Derani | 1:34.696 | _ |
| 2 | P | 22 | Tequila Patrón ESM | Bruno Senna | 1:35.293 | +0.597 |
| 3 | P | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Olivier Pla | 1:35.377 | +0.681 |
| Source:[19] | ||||||
Practice 3 edit
The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Olivier Pla topping the charts for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:48.566.[20]
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | P | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Olivier Pla | 1:48.566 | _ |
| 2 | P | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing | Christian Fittipaldi | 1:49.281 | +0.715 |
| 3 | P | 90 | VisitFlorida Racing | Renger van der Zande | 1:50.769 | +2.203 |
| Source:[21] | ||||||
Qualifying edit
In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.[22][15]
The first was for cars in GTD class. Andy Lally qualified on pole for the class driving the #93 Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, beating Lawson Aschenbach in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports entry.[23]
The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Joey Hand qualified on pole driving the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry, besting Alexander Sims in the #25 BMW Team RLL entry by just over three tenths of a second.[24]
The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.[25]
The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Pipo Derani qualified on pole, besting Olivier Pla in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.[25][26]
Qualifying Results edit
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 2 |  Tequila Patrón ESM
|
 Pipo Derani
|
1:34.405 | _ | 1 ‡ |
| 2 | DPi | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
|
 Olivier Pla
|
1:34.567 | +0.162 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 5 | Mustang Sampling Racing
|
Christian Fittipaldi
|
1:35.306 | +0.901 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 10 | Wayne Taylor Racing
|
Ricky Taylor
|
1:35.496 | +1.091 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 22 | Tequila Patrón ESM
|
Johannes van Overbeek
|
1:35.637 | +1.119 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing
|
Eric Curran
|
1:36.103 | +1.698 | 6 |
| 7 | DPi | 90 | VisitFlorida Racing
|
 Renger van der Zande
|
1:36.129 | +1.724 | 7 |
| 8 | DPi | 85 | JDC-Miller MotorSports
|
 Misha Goikhberg
|
1:36.799 | +2.394 | 8 |
| 9 | DPi | 55 |  Mazda Motorsports
|
Tristan Nunez
|
1:36.886 | +2.481 | 9 |
| 10 | DPi | 70 | Mazda Motorsports
|
Joel Miller
|
1:36.981 | +2.576 | 10 |
| 11 | PC | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports
|
James French
|
1:40.049 | +5.644 | 11 ‡ |
| 12 | PC | 20 | BAR1 Motorsports
|
Don Yount
|
1:42.125 | +7.720 | 12 |
| 13 | GTLM | 66 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
|
Joey Hand
|
1:42.507 | +8.102 | 14 ‡ |
| 14 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL
|
 Alexander Sims
|
1:42.813 | +8.408 | 15 |
| 15 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL
|
 Martin Tomczyk
|
1:42.881 | +8.476 | 16 |
| 16 | GTLM | 67 | Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
|
Richard Westbrook
|
1:42.884 | +8.479 | 17 |
| 17 | GTLM | 911 | Porsche GT Team
|
Patrick Pilet
|
1:43.140 | +8.735 | 18 |
| 18 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing
|
Tommy Milner
|
1:43.189 | +8.784 | 19 |
| 19 | GTLM | 912 | Porsche GT Team
|
 Laurens Vanthoor
|
1:43.192 | +8.787 | 20 |
| 20 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing
|
 Antonio García
|
1:43.243 | +8.838 | 21 |
| 21 | PC | 26 | BAR1 Motorsports
|
Brian Alder
|
1:43.575 | +9.170 | 131 |
| 22 | GTD | 93 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
|
Andy Lally
|
1:46.051 | +11.646 | 22 ‡ |
| 23 | GTD | 57 | Stevenson Motorsports
|
Lawson Aschenbach
|
1:46.271 | +11.866 | 23 |
| 24 | GTD | 15 | 3GT Racing
|
Jack Hawksworth
|
1:46.724 | +12.319 | 24 |
| 25 | GTD | 86 | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
|
Jeff Segal
|
1:46.816 | +12.411 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 27 | Dream Racing Motorsport
|
 Paolo Ruberti
|
1:47.490 | +13.085 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport
|
Justin Marks
|
1:47.551 | +13.146 | 27 |
| 28 | GTD | 16 | Change Racing
|
Corey Lewis
|
1:47.774 | +13.369 | 28 |
| 29 | GTD | 48 | Paul Miller Racing
|
Madison Snow
|
1:47.826 | +13.421 | 29 |
| 30 | GTD | 14 | 3GT Racing
|
Sage Karam
|
1:48.058 | +13.653 | 382 |
| 31 | GTD | 63 | Scuderia Corsa
|
 Christina Nielsen
|
1:48.098 | +13.693 | 30 |
| 32 | GTD | 33 | Riley Motorsports – Team AMG
|
Ben Keating
|
1:48.282 | +13.877 | 31 |
| 33 | GTD | 75 |  SunEnergy1 Racing
|
Boris Said
|
1:48.778 | +14.373 | 32 |
| 34 | GTD | 73 | Park Place Motorsports
|
Matt McMurry
|
1:48.895 | +14.490 | 33 |
| 35 | GTD | 28 | Alegra Motorsports
|
Michael de Quesada
|
1:49.131 | +14.726 | 34 |
| 36 | GTD | 50 | Riley Motorsports – WeatherTech Racing
|
Cooper MacNeil
|
1:49.878 | +15.474 | 35 |
| 37 | GTD | 23 | Alex Job Racing
|
Townsend Bell
|
1:50.647 | +16.242 | 36 |
| 38 | GTD | 54 | CORE Autosport
|
Jon Bennett
|
1:50.973 | +16.568 | 373 |
| Sources:[27][28][29] | |||||||
- 1 The No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the PC field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).[22]
- 2 The No. 14 3GT Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
- 3 The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).[22]
Race edit
Post-race edit
The result kept Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Goikhberg and Simpson moved to third after being fourth coming into Watkins Glen.[30] In the PC Drivers' Championship, French and O'Ward extended their points lead to thirty points over Yount, while Yacamán advanced from seventh to fifth.[30] In the GTLM Drivers' Championship, Garcia and Magnussen further increased their gap to eighteen points ahead of Müller and Hand. Auberlen and Sims advanced from fourth to third while Pilet and Werner dropped to fifth. By finishing second in GTD, Balzan and Nielsen took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship while Lally and Legge moved from sixth to third.[30] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with six rounds remaining.[30] Scuderia Corsa took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship going into the next race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.[30]
Results edit
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.
Statistics edit
Fastest Lap - #52 Oliper Pla - 1:33.314[33]
Standings after the race edit
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
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- Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
References edit
- ^ "Watkins Glen 6 Hours 2017". RacingSportsCars.com. 2017-07-02. Archived from the original on 2020-11-21. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ Dagys, John (August 5, 2016). "2017 WeatherTech Championship Schedule Released". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Dagys, John (November 15, 2016). "2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule released". foxsports.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e "00_Champoinship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (June 21, 2017). "39 Entries for Watkins Glen, Third Round of TPNAEC". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 7, 2017). "Rebellion to Skip Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 20, 2017). "Pla Joins PR1/Mathiasen for Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (June 29, 2017). "Injury forces Patron ESM's Brown out of final drive". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake (June 26, 2017). "Brown Retires from Prototypes; Replaced by Derani". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 29, 2017). "Watkins Glen Thursday Notebook". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (June 22, 2017). "Risi to miss at least three IMSA races". racer.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ "Risi vows return to IMSA grid in 2017". racer.com. June 23, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Pruett, Marshall (June 27, 2017). "Bruni ready for Porsche GT Team debut". racer.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 21, 2017). "Christensen Set for Return to Alegra for Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Dagys, John (June 29, 2017). "Continental Tire Keys to the Race: Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 30, 2017). "Simpson, JDC-Miller Top Opening Practice at Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (June 30, 2017). "Derani Leads ESM Nissan Sweep on Friday at Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. June 30, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (July 1, 2017). "Pla Quickest in Mixed-Condition Practice 3". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ "03_Results.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. July 1, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "2017 IMSA Sporting Regulations & Series Supplementary Regulations of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship sanctioned by IMSA" (PDF). IMSA. April 10, 2017. pp. 39, 81–83, 125. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 6, 2022. Retrieved August 6, 2022.
- ^ Malsher-Lopez, David (July 1, 2017). "Watkins Glen IMSA: Nissan, Ford and Acura take poles". us.motorsport.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (July 1, 2017). "Hand Snags Watkins Glen GTLM Pole". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Pruett, Marshall (July 1, 2017). "Derani's lap record earns Glen IMSA pole". racer.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ Dagys, John (July 1, 2017). "Derani, ESM on Pole for 6H Watkins Glen". sportscar365.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ "Watkins Glen 6 Hours 2017 Photo Gallery - Qualifying Times". RacingSportsCars.com. 2017-07-02. Archived from the original on 2020-11-22. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Qualifying Results" (PDF). IMSA WeatherTech SportsCars Championship. 1 July 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ "01_Starting Grid - Official.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 13, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "00_Championship Points - Official.pdf" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 16, 2023.
- ^ "Watkins Glen 6 Hours 2017 Photo Gallery - Race Results". RacingSportsCars.com. 2017-07-02. Archived from the original on 2020-10-17. Retrieved 2020-09-14.
- ^ "Race Results - 2017 Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen". Racing-Reference.info. Archived from the original on 2021-06-30.
- ^ "IMSA - Timing Results". imsa.alkamelsystems.com. Archived from the original on 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2022-03-07.