IMSA: Porsche win rained out pole at The Glen
Mother Nature played a key role in determining pole position for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen.
Steady rain arrived Saturday afternoon at Watkins Glen International during a chaotic qualifying session for the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) classes, forcing abandonment of that session and the one to follow for the top Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class due to extreme track conditions. Per IMSA regulations, the starting order for the GTP, LMP2 and LMP3 classes for Sunday’s six-hour race was determined by WeatherTech Championship entrant point standings.
As a result, Nick Tandy will lead the 57-car field (including nine GTPs) to the green flag in the class-leading No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 he shares with co-driver Mathieu Jaminet. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing V-Series.R driven by Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken will start from the outside of the front row.
The second row will consist of the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 and the No. 01 Cadillac run by Chip Ganassi Racing.
“Everybody wants to run in qualifying, but in a six-hour race especially, it’s not the most important part of the weekend,” said Tandy, who along with Jaminet will be seeking their second win of the season. “But honestly, when I saw the cars going off in the LMP2 session before and saw the forecast that was likely coming – and has come – I wasn’t excited to go out there because the level of risk for something going wrong is massive.
“It’s a very treacherous set of conditions, and it’s obviously a shame that the people here didn’t get to see the cars run flat out,” he continued. “But I’m proud enough to be (the pole sitter), because up to now, we’ve done the work to be able to lead the championship. This is another pat on the back to the team.”
LMP2, LMP3 Cars Slip, Slide Away before Session Halted
Even though the LMP2 and LMP3 qualifying session was eventually abandoned, it still proved dramatic. An instant after the two classes were green-flagged for what had been declared a dry session, a deluge swept across portions of the Watkins Glen circuit. Not surprisingly, chaos ensued.
Fortunately, none of the drivers were injured, but officials had no choice but to red-flag and eventually abandon the session. With the starting grid set by team championship points, the No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA and No. 74 Riley Ligier will start from pole in LMP2 and LMP3, respectively.
GTD Pole
The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 entry with Daniel Serra at the wheel captured the GTD Pro pole today for tomorrow’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen race for the IMSA WeatherTech Championship.
Serra clocked a fastest qualifying lap time of 1:44.829 at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course and ran a total of seven laps in the 15-minute qualifying session. The GTD Pro field has eight class entries and a 28-car field.
Serra is paired with Italian Davide Rigon, both Ferrari factory drivers. The duo finished second in last year’s Six Hours of the Glen race and went on to win the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup (IMEC) Championship for 2022.
Daniel Serra, qualifying driver No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3:
“It was very nice but a little tricky. The front track was very dry and the backstretch was wet, so the track was evolving every lap. The car was very nice to drive. The team did a great job with the set up. We are now thinking about the race.”
Qualifying Results
To follow…..