Westbrook and Valiante win Six Hours of Watkins Glen
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| Westbrook and Valiante celebrate |
| Adriano Manocchia/AR1.com |
After long hours of green-flag racing, the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen came down to a pair of one-lap sprints. That was all Richard Westbrook needed to take the lead and give the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP its first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship victory.
Pole winner Alex Brundle was leading in the No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan/Nissan when racing resumed following the third caution period with only 12 minutes remaining. Westbrook got inside Brundle to take the lead on the Glen's back straight.
Moments later, Scott Pruett and Renger van der Zande crashed in Turn 6, scattering considerable debris on the circuit, but track crews managed to clear the incident in time for a final restart with only 20 seconds remaining in the race. Westbrook held off Brundle by 0.877 seconds to give the Florida-based team its biggest victory.
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I've always wanted a good result here, because I love driving here," said Westbrook, who was joined by Michael Valiante in the winning car. "We were racing the No. 42 the entire race. It was a classic battle and it could have gone either way. Without the yellow, we had the win in the bag – because we had enough fuel and the OAK car had to stop for a splash. The yellow gave them another chance. But I made a good restart, and I made it stick."
"That yellow made things complicated for us at the end because we were good on fuel and we just needed it to go green. But you know you can't count on that in racing. The yellow came, it was unfortunate for Alex (Brundle) as he got caught up with the 9 car on the restart so I got a really good run and I made it stick. Well done to Michael (Valiante), his stints were incredible, fast and still saving fuel. I'm just so thrilled for everyone on this Visit Florida team, it's just a massive achievement. We just needed a podium, it has taken a while, but we just want to make this a habit now like we did in 2012, finishing on the podium. I'm really proud to be part of this team. "
"I knew Richard would be great on the restart," said Valiante of what it was like to watch the final few laps. "I knew if he could get into turn one we would be ok. This whole race was just like qualifying laps. Our approach was to just keep the car safe and be in position to podium. We've had quick cars and the team has been doing a great job. The racing is really close in this series and we would like to keep this roll going with some more podiums."
"No I didn't!" said team owner Troy Flis when MRN Radio asked him if the race would return to green for the final lap. "But, you've got to be ready for it! Richard did it when he needed to do it. We didn't wait. He just put his head down. It's just great. It's a great team, a great effort by everybody, Visit Florida, all my supporters, everybody at Spirit of Daytona, just a great effort. Just want to get some more of these before the end of the year!"
The Spirit of Daytona and OAK Racing cars ran 1-2 in 139 of the 188 total laps.
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I feel like I got mugged on the restart," said Brundle, who got passed by the lap-down No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP of Burt Frisselle before Westbrook's winning pass. Brundle co-drove with another Glen newcomer, Ho-Pin Tung, and Gustavo Yacaman.
The merger between the Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patron gave a number of teams the opportunity to race at Watkins Glen International. Corvette Racing and SRT Motorsports took advantage of the opportunity, battling in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class as the two iconic American muscle cars swept the podium.
Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia took their third GTLM victory in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R. Marc Goossens and Dominik Farnbacher took second in the No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R, 0.185 seconds behind, closely followed by Viper teammates Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer in the team's No. 93.
Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and James Gue gave CORE autosport its fourth Prototype Challenge (PC) victory of the season in the No. 54 ORECA FLM09. The trio also has swept all three rounds of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup to date. The 'championship within a championship'� encompasses the four endurance races on the TUDOR Championship schedule at Daytona, Sebring, Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta.
It's safe to say Corvette Racing has hit its stride in the first year running the new Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.
With expected teething issues a thing of the past, Corvette Racing has gone on a tear in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, a tear that continued Sunday with a third straight TUDOR Championship victory in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International.
Antonio Garcia held off the No. 91 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R of Marc Goossens on a last-lap restart in the win, joining co-driver Jan Magnussen in victory lane for the third straight race in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R. The two also led at the halfway mark to score maximum points en route to a Round 3 victory in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.
"I have to say, I am so pleased with how things have gone for the team this year, with the (No.) 3 car especially," said Magnussen, who picked up his 40th win in North American professional sports car racing. "We're developing a new car and we keep finding new things to do with it. I just saw that all the fastest race laps for all the GTLMs were all within three tenths (of a second). It is a very competitive category. You have to be on your best game for everything you do. There is no room for any mistakes."�
Limiting mistakes is one of the reasons Corvette Racing has been so strong over the summer months. In addition to the team's success in North America in the TUDOR Championship, the team finished second in GTE Pro at the 24 Hours of Le Mans two weeks ago with Magnussen, Garcia and Jordan Taylor.
Goossens and co-driver Dominik Farnbacher finished second in the return of the red-and-white liveried Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R. The team's No. 93 Dodge Viper SRT GTS-R driven by Jonathan Bomarito and Kuno Wittmer finished third to round out the podium.
Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner drove the No. 4 Corvette C7.R to a fourth-place finish, while Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet finished fifth in the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.
The TUDOR Championship next heads to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park on July 13 for the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance (FOX Sports 1, live at 2 p.m. ET). The two-hour, 45-minute race will feature the Prototype, GTLM and GTD classes.
Results
| Pos | CPos | Class | No | Drivers | Laps | Diff | Make | Status |
| 1 | 1 | P | 90 | Westbrook/(Valiante*) | 191 | -.— | Corvette DP | Running |
| 2 | 2 | P | 42 | Yacaman/(Brundle*)/Tung | 191 | 0.877 | Nissan Morgan | Running |
| 3 | 3 | P | 5 | (Barbosa)/Fittipaldi*/Bu.Frisselle | 191 | 1.587 | Corvette DP | Running |
| 4 | 4 | P | 9 | Br.Frisselle/(Bu.Frisselle)/Fogart | 191 | 36.067 | Corvette DP | Running |
| 5 | 5 | P | 10 | (R.Taylor*)/J.Taylor/Angelelli | 190 | 1 Laps | Corvette DP | Running |
| 6 | 1 | PC | 54 | Bennett/Braun*/(Gue) | 186 | 5 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 7 | 2 | PC | 88 | Bielefeld/Plowman*/(D.Cheng) | 186 | 5 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 8 | 3 | PC | 52 | (Montecalvo)/Jeannette* | 186 | 5 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 9 | 4 | PC | 38 | Ostella*/(Hedlund) | 186 | 5 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 10 | 5 | PC | 7 | Fuentes/(Jo.Martin*) | 185 | 6 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 11 | 1 | GTLM | 3 | (Magnussen*)/Garcia | 185 | 6 Laps | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Running |
| 12 | 2 | GTLM | 91 | D.Farnbacher*/(Goossens)/Bom | 185 | 6 Laps | Dodge Viper SRT | Running |
| 13 | 3 | GTLM | 93 | Bomarito*/(Wittmer)/Goossens | 185 | 6 Laps | Dodge Viper SRT | Running |
| 14 | 4 | GTLM | 4 | Gavin/(Milner*) | 185 | 6 Laps | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R | Running |
| 15 | 5 | GTLM | 911 | (Tandy)/Lietz*/Pilet | 185 | 6 Laps | Porsche 911 RSR | Running |
| 16 | 6 | GTLM | 56 | (Müller*)/J.Edwards | 185 | 6 Laps | BMW Z4 GTE | Running |
| 17 | 7 | GTLM | 62 | Fisichella/(Kaffer*) | 185 | 6 Laps | Ferrari F458 Italia | Running |
| 18 | 6 | P | 31 | Curran*/(Said)/Cosmo | 184 | 7 Laps | Corvette DP | Running |
| 19 | 8 | GTLM | 912 | (P.Long)/Christensen*/Pilet | 184 | 7 Laps | Porsche 911 RSR | Running |
| 20 | 9 | GTLM | 17 | Henzler/(Sellers*) | 184 | 7 Laps | Porsche 911 GT3 RSR | Running |
| 21 | 10 | GTLM | 55 | Auberlen/(Priaulx*) | 184 | 7 Laps | BMW Z4 GTE | Running |
| 22 | 6 | PC | 85 | (C.Miller)/Simpson/Drissi | 181 | 10 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 23 | 7 | PC | 8 | Schultis/(van der Zande*) | 180 | 11 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Not Running |
| 24 | 7 | P | 60 | (Pew)/Negri Jr.* | 179 | 12 Laps | Ford EcoBoost/Riley | Running |
| 25 | 1 | GTD | 94 | (Cameron*)/Palttala | 178 | 13 Laps | BMW Z4 | Running |
| 26 | 2 | GTD | 555 | Sweedler/(To.Bell*) | 178 | 13 Laps | Ferrari 458 Italia | Running |
| 27 | 3 | GTD | 44 | (Potter)/Lally*/Asch | 177 | 14 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 28 | 4 | GTD | 27 | Dempsey/(A.Davis*)/Foster | 177 | 14 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 29 | 5 | GTD | 63 | Balzan*/(Westphal)/B.Davis | 177 | 14 Laps | Ferrari 458 Italia | Running |
| 30 | 8 | P | 01 | (Pruett*)/Rojas/Karam | 175 | 16 Laps | Ford EcoBoost/Riley | Not Running |
| 31 | 6 | GTD | 30 | Nielsen/(Giermaziak*) | 175 | 16 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 32 | 7 | GTD | 35 | Neiman/von Moltke*/(Pumpelly) | 175 | 16 Laps | Audi R8 LMS | Running |
| 33 | 9 | P | 07 | Joel.Miller*/Nunez/(Vautier) | 175 | 16 Laps | Mazda Prototype | Running |
| 34 | 8 | PC | 08 | Cumming/(Tagliani)/Mitchell | 174 | 17 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Not Running |
| 35 | 11 | GTLM | 57 | Krohn*/(Jonsson) | 174 | 17 Laps | Ferrari F458 GT | Running |
| 36 | 8 | GTD | 48 | Haase/(B.Miller*) | 173 | 18 Laps | Audi R8 LMS | Running |
| 37 | 9 | GTD | 81 | Barker/Faulkner*/(Avenatti) | 171 | 20 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 38 | 9 | PC | 09 | (Ende)/Junqueira*/Lewis | 170 | 21 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Not Running |
| 39 | 10 | GTD | 46 | Espenlaub/Putman/(Bonanomi*) | 170 | 21 Laps | Audi R8 LMS | Running |
| 40 | 10 | P | 1 | (Sharp*)/Dalziel | 168 | 23 Laps | HPD ARX-03b | Running |
| 41 | 11 | GTD | 007 | Carter/Davison*/(Block) | 168 | 23 Laps | Aston Martin V12 Vantage | Running |
| 42 | 11 | P | 2 | (Brown)/van Overbeek*/Lazzaro | 160 | 31 Laps | HPD ARX-03b | Running |
| 43 | 10 | PC | 25 | (Lux)/Rayhall/Kimber-Smith* | 158 | 33 Laps | ORECA FLM09 | Running |
| 44 | 12 | GTD | 22 | MacNeil/(Keen*)/Frommenwiler | 156 | 35 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 45 | 13 | GTD | 58 | Snow/(Heylen*) | 149 | 42 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 46 | 14 | GTD | 45 | (Canache Jr.)/Pumpelly*/Sandbe | 141 | 50 Laps | Audi R8 LMS | Running |
| 47 | 15 | GTD | 18 | (Madsen)/Ludwig*/Calvert-Jones | 137 | 54 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Running |
| 48 | 16 | GTD | 23 | (James)/M.Farnbacher* | 124 | 67 Laps | Porsche 911 GT America | Not Running |