Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen One-Hour Report
Weather At Watkins Glen International:
2:09 p.m. – Start of Race: Sunny/76 degrees Fahrenheit, 24 degrees Celsius.
Distance Completed:
34 laps/115.6 miles
Margin of Lead:
0.663 seconds (under yellow)
Overall Lap Leaders:
Scott Pruett, Laps 1-21; Michael Valiante, Laps 22-23; Ozz Negri, Lap 24; Christophe Bouchut, Lap 25; Timo Bernhard, Laps 26-34.
Full Course Caution Periods:
Lap 34 (No. 21 incident in Turn 4)
Lead Changes:
4 among 4 drivers/4 cars
Race: Top 5 Daytona Prototypes:
- Timo Bernhard/Romain Dumas, No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley
- Max Angelelli/Brian Frisselle, No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara
- Ricardo Zonta/Nic Jönsson, No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola
- Christophe Bouchut/Scott Tucker, No. 55 Supercar Life BMW Riley
- Memo Rojas/Scott Pruett, No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley
Race: Top 5 GT Cars:
- Dirk Werner/Leh Keen, No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3
- Wolf Henzler/Eric Lux, No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3
- Paul Edwards/Kelly Collins, No. 07 Pontiac/LRPG Pontiac GXP.R
- Sylvain Tremblay/Nick Ham/David Haskell, No. 70 Castrol Syntec/Mazda Mazda RX-8
- Robin Liddell/Andrew Davis, No. 57 Bryan Mark/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R
Notes:
- Lap 1 – No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley driver Scott Pruett leads the first lap from the pole position. Following are No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley driver Alex Gurney and No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara driver Max Angelelli.
- Lap 2 – No. 57 BryanMark Financial/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R driver Robin Liddell takes the GT lead. No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Lola driver Ricardo Zonta pits for fuel.
- Lap 3 – No. 40 Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8 driver Patrick Dempsey pits for fuel.
- Lap 5 – Daytona Prototype leaders already lapping GT cars. Top five overall – Nos. 01, 99, 10, 6 and 12.
- Lap 6 – No. 69 FXDD Mazda RX-8 driver Jeff Segal takes fourth in the GT class. Pruett's lead is 4.293 seconds.
- Lap 7 – No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley driver Timo Bernhard pits for fuel from fifth. No. 60 NYU/Stern Ford Riley driver Ozz Negri moves into fifth.
- Lap 11 – No. 55 Supercar Life/Edata Solutions BMW Riley driver Christophe Bouchut is running sixth.
- Lap 13 – No. 67 Construct Corp./No Fear Energy Drink Porsche GT3 driver RJ Valentine pits for fuel and Andy Lally gets in the car. No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 driver Dirk Werner takes the lead from Robin Liddell.
- Lap 15 – No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 driver Wolf Henzler takes second from Robin Liddell.
- Lap 19 – No. 09 AMA Porsche Coyote driver Guy Cosmo brings the Spirit of Daytona Racing entry behind the wall with what the team believes is a broken halfshaft (it is later said to be a broken ring and pinion). Jeff Segal has made the move to third in the GT class.
- Lap 20 – The top five overall – Nos. 01 (Scott Pruett), 6 (Michael Valiante), 99 (Alex Gurney), 10 (Max Angelelli) and 60 (Ozz Negri).
- Lap 22 – No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley driver Scott Pruett pits for fuel from the Daytona Prototype lead (Memo Rojas gets in). No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley driver Michael Valiante takes over the lead; he leads by more than seven seconds. No. 07 Pontiac/LRPG driver Paul Edwards pits from sixth in the GT class.
- Lap 23 – Pitting Daytona Prototypes included Alex Gurney in the No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley and Ryan Dalziel in the No. 22 Gatorade/TodayMD.com (Carlos de Quesada gets in).
- Lap 24 – Michael Valiante pits from the lead; John Pew gets in the car. Also pitting are Max Angelelli in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara, No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley driver JC France (Joao Barbosa is in), and the lead GT car – the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche GT3 of Dirk Werner.
- Lap 25 – Ozz Negri pits from the Daytona Prototype lead; Mark Patterson gets in and reenters the race in second. Christophe Bouchut picks up the lead. All cars have been said to have pitted before the 45-minute mark.
- Lap 26 – No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley driver Alex Gurney pits again for tires – he said he believes he endured a flat tire – and reenters outside the top 10. He pits again the next lap as well; the team pulls the rear cowling off the car and is checking the car's right rear corner. No. 77 McDonald's Ford Dallara driver Brad Jaeger brings the car behind the wall; the team believes there is a problem with the fuel pump.
- Lap 27 – The top five overall, after pit stops, are the Nos. 12, 10, 76, 55 and 6.
- Lap 29 – No. 01 TELMEX Lexus Riley driver Memo Rojas takes fifth from No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley driver John Pew.
- Lap 31 – No. 99 GAINSCO Pontiac Riley driver Alex Gurney pits for the fourth time; the team checks the front of the car.
- Lap 34 – No. 21 Battery Tender Pontiac GTO.R driver Jason Vinkemulder spins into the guardrail in Turn 4 and sustains right rear damage. He stops on the track, bringing out the first yellow flag.
Quotes:
- Andrew Davis, No. 57 BryanMark Financial/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R – (on find a good setup for the car): "We've just needed to stay calm and not start panicking. We just stuck to our plan and yes, we were a little behind, but by the time qualifying came around, we had a pretty good car. We made the car a little better this morning in the warm-up, and now you can see it's very good in the car so far."
- Spencer Pumpelly, No. 66 AXA/Mitchell Rubber Porsche GT3 – (on find the handle on the Porsche): "Well, we didn't get a lot of practice this weekend because of the abbreviated schedule, but it was pretty good. We've been working really hard to get the cars together. We've got John Potter and Craig Stanton on board this weekend, and you can't ask for a more consistent guy than Craig. Consistency has gotten us here, and hopefully that's what takes us all the way through."