Felipe Nasr And The #7 Porsche Penske Team Win A Wet And Wild 6 Hours Of Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen, NY (June 23rd, 2024)
Endurance racing is fraught with challenges that go beyond the pale. Over the course of the many hours of the race, men and machines would be tested in ways that would be unimaginable to most people. In the lead up to this years 6 Hours Of Watkins Glen, all the story lines pointed to exactly this happening. Would there be redemption for Porsche Penske after having last years win stripped because of a skid plate being less than a millimeter out of spec? Would Team RLL repeat their win improbable win from last year? Or would Louis Delatraz and his # 40 Wayne Taylor with Andretti Acura ARX-06 convert pole position into a win?
At one pm when the green flag dropped Delatraz and his # 40 Wayne Taylor with Andretti Acura ARX-06 led the fifty six car field into turn one and into the wild adventure that would be the next six hours. But Delatraz’s lead wouldn’t even last one lap. Renger van der Zande and his #01 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R would snatch the lead in the boot section of the 11 turn 3.4 mile circuit nestled in the finger lakes region of New York.
Phil Hanson in the #85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 muscled his into second place when the first full course caution happened. Era Motorsport, winner of the LMP 2 category at Daytona and Sebring would spin out and get stuck in the grass. On the restart Hanson would get his elbows out and muscle past van der Zande at the bus stop.
During the next full course caution caused by George Kurtz in the Crowdstrike by APR LMP2 that hit Roberto Lecorte’s Cetilar GTD Ferrari and put him into the fence at turn eight, the field dove into the pits for their first round of stops. At the restart Phillip Eng’s #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 was now leading the field.
At the start of the second hour Jack Aitken in the #31 Action Express Cadillac put a nifty move on Eng to lead the race. But that lead wouldn’t last long. During the second round of pit stops Pipo Derani would take over for Aitken. But a shunt at turn one damaged the hood of the Cadillac and caused an unscheduled pit stop to fix the damaged car and put the team down a lap.
At the halfway point of the race the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 with Nick Tandy behind the wheel was leading the race. Shortly after this, the first of the rain came through to shake things up. Tandy and Jordan Taylor driving the # 40 Wayne Taylor with Andretti Acura ARX-06 were able to get into the pits to change to rain tires while Cameron with slick’s on his Porsche overshot the pit entrance and had to do a slow lap around to get back to the pits.
In that time, Gianmarco Levorato and hisProton Ford Mustang crashed on the final corner and while trying to avoid the incident Zach Robichon spun his Aston Martin. During the ensuing caution, the rain stopped and those that went to wet weather tires dove into the pits to switch back to slicks. While teams were changing tires, Cameron and his Porsche never had to take that extra stop and grabbed the lead.
Just after the four hour mark, the heavens opened up and the ensuing deluge threw the already eventful race into total chaos. Multiple cars found the barriers or spun out . Even pit lane saw some action as both Porsche Penske cars overshot their pit boxes. Between cars offtrack and the terrible conditions, yet another full course caution was called and cars inched around the track behind the pace car in the treacherous conditions.
With the rain continuing and track conditions getting continually worse, IMSA made the wise call to red flag the race. When the cars made it into the pits the field would be led by the #40 Acura then the #10 Acura, and the #10 BMW. Over the next forty minutes, drivers and teams waited for the storms to pass to get back to racing.
Finally, with forty minutes left in the race drivers made their way to their cars and the race was able to get back underway. The field followed the safety car for several laps until the track was dry enough for the cars to make the switch back to slick tires. During the changeover, Delatraz in his #40 Acura lead the race out of the pits, but Felipe Nasr in the #7 Porsche Penske was the big winner as he was now in second.
With the field heading around the track and getting close to the start finish line and a green flag, disaster struck Ricky Taylor and the #10 Acura. The rear wheel came off the car leaving it stranded on course and unable to limp off the track. Due to the nature of the situation, the car would have to be hoisted onto a flatbed truck to be moved.
When the course was finally cleared and the field would get the green flag, and after everything that all the teams had been through, this six hour endurance classic would now come down to a sixteen minute sprint shootout.
As the field got the final green flag of the day, all the cars were hurtling down the main straight and heading into turn one. Nasr and the #7 Porsche were able to get their tires fired up quicker than Delatraz and his #40 Acura. With better grip he was able to dive through turn one and take the lead of the race. Just up the road in the esses section, van der Zande and Jaminet were able to slip by Delatraz.
With the clocking winding down, Nasr was able to build his lead and capture the race with Dane Cameron and his #01 Cadillac coming in second and the #6 Porsche Penske filling out the podium in third. Afterwards, Nasr would say “It was pretty wild out there, I have to say that these mixed conditions always make our life a lot harder to read track grip. But I knew I was going to have one chance, and that one chance came right at the restart. I could see as soon as we got the ‘get-go’ at the last corner the car ahead of me struggle and I said, ‘Man, I’m going for it.’ Made the move stick, and then it was all about managing the traffic. You have to make smart moves.”
Van der Zande would relate “It was one of those typical IMSA races where everything can happen. I think we were doing OK until the rain came. But after the restart, it was very clear from the get-go every time I went to the power, I didn’t have the power to attack. I’m not complaining, because we’re taking a load of points home to go into the final rounds of the championship.”
For the drivers in the LMP 2 class, this would be the first time the cars had faced action since the 12 Hours Of Sebring, so the teams were eager to get back on track. So eager in fact that during the start, pole winner PJ Hyett in the AO Racing Oreca incurred a drive through penalty for a start infringement. This would be the first of many penalties that would affect several of the front running teams.
But one team out of the thirteen car field made every step and call right. The #88 Richard Mille AF Corse squad driven by Luis Perez Companc, Nicklas Nielsen and Lilou Wadoux never made a wrong move to capture the team’s first WeatherTech Championship victory. They were even on the right tires and had full fuel when the race was red flagged so when the race was restarted they were able to drive away from the field. They came away with a dominating victory over the #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR ORECA by 38.453 seconds. But the Crowdstrike team was hit with a drive time penalty that handed second place to the 74 Riley ORECA and drivers Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon.
In the GTD Pro class the trio of Tommy Milner in the #4 Corvette, Ross Gunn in the Heart of Racing Aston Martin, and Marvin Kirchhofer’s Pfaff McLaren 720S were all in slicks when the red flag stopped the race. So when the race was able to resume those drivers were able to stay out on course and pull away from everyone.
But Gunn and his Heart Of Racing squad knew that Milner had been on track for a long time without stopping for fuel. Gunn would strategically press Milner over the last laps of the race throwing out any fuel saving strategy that Milner had hoped to use. It even came down to Milner having to dive into the pits to grab a dash of fuel when the white flag came out.
This last second pit stop caused Milner to finish in sixth place. His co-driver Nicky Catsburg went on to say, “Tommy did an amazing job late in the race in holding off the Aston Martin. I knew he had it and we were hoping the fuel would work out, but then that got snatched away. It’s tough. This style of racing makes some of these races a lottery.”
The final podium saw Ross Gunn and co-driver Alex Riberas # 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo take the win, Marvin Kirchhoefer, and co-driver Oliver Jarvis in second place in the # 9 McLaren, and Antonio Garcia that he co-drives with Alexander Sims in third-place finish in the # 3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Philip Ellis, driver of the winning GTD # 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 told everyone after the race “It was a very chaotic race, A lot of mixed weather conditions, very heavy rain coming down at times, then just a bit of drizzle. But for the most part we were always on the right tires at the right time. To be honest, we were a bit lucky with the red flag coming out when it did, and we rolled the dice that we’d have enough fuel to make it to the end. Then it was just up to me to keep the other cars behind.”
Indeed it was a chaotic race for the GTD class as well. Not only did the weather add to this, but so did the racing. Which didn’t stop until the end. The # 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3, driven by Parker Thompson was right on the tail of Ellis from the moment the final green flag came out. With the race winding down Thompson attempted to make move on the Mercedes approaching the Inner Loop. Neither driver would back off and they even made contact. But Ellis would come out on top and he would make the corner, Thompson didn’t and as a result he would drop down the order.
The final podium in the GTD class would be Philip Ellis and Russell Ward in the # 57 Winward Mercedes winning the class, Manny Franco, Albert Costa Balboa, and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli in the Conquest Racing # 34 Ferrari 296 GT3 in second, and John Potter, Andy Lally and Spencer Pumpelly in the # 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo in third place. A final note, the # 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, was relegated from second to the rear of the finishing order for a minimum drive-time violation.
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