AXR Cadillac Leads at Halfway After Early Porsche 1-2

Action Express Racing led the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at the halfway mark to claim maximum Michelin Endurance Cup points despite Porsche Penske Motorsport running in front for most of the early stages.

The No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R strategically cut one of its stints short to leave Alexander Sims at the head of the field at the three-hour mark, yielding a maximum of five points towards the Endurance Cup.

The British driver, who is sharing the wheel with Pipo Derani and Jack Aitken, held a 40-second lead over Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche 963 at the midway point.

Porsche was the strongest of the GTP manufacturers in the early stages of the race as Nick Tandy led away from pole with his teammate Matt Campbell in second.

A well-timed pit stop for Campbell’s No. 7 Porsche 963, moments before a full course caution period caused by an accident for LMP2 driver Steven Thomas, vaulted the Australian driver ahead of Tandy for the restart.

Campbell kept Tandy around two seconds behind him until the pair jumped out of their respective cars not long before the two-hour mark, however the lead changed early in the next stint when Jaminet powered past Felipe Nasr into Turn 1.

The gap between the Porsches then started to increase until Nasr dramatically pulled his No. 7 car behind the wall due to a hybrid system issue.

That first GTP retirement of the race occurred on the opening lap when Augusto Farfus rotated the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 into the barriers as he exited Turn 1.

Another key incident in the top class was a spin for Sebastien Bourdais, whose Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac was struck by BMW driver Connor De Phillippi, resulting in damage to both cars and a short caution early in the second hour.

Nasr’s misfortune promoted Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport to second, only for the No. 10 Acura ARX-06’s left-rear wheel to detach. That was swiftly followed by a drive-through penalty for Filipe Albuquerque speeding as he left the pits.

Services for Jaminet, Meyer Shank Racing’s Tom Blomqvist and BMW M Team RLL’s Nick Yelloly then promoted Sims to the head of the field at the three-hour mark.

Blomqvist’s No. 60 Acura actually emerged from the pits ahead of Jaminet, but the Porsche driver powered past out of the esses on warmed-up Michelin tires.

Tire pressures were a key theme of the opening three hours as several cars in different classes received mechanical black flags to change over to new Michelins.

Notable cars that were affected included the Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s from Iron Dames and Forte Racing by US RaceTronics, which were running first and third in GTD at the time.

The WTR Andretti Acura, the factory Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD and the Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 were also impacted.

The enforced stops for the Lamborghinis elevated the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 to the lead of GTD, however a pit stop shortly before the halfway mark handed maximum Endurance Cup points to the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

Iron Lynx’s No. 63 Lamborghini led the GTD Pro class after a battle with the No. 14 Lexus in the early running.

CrowdStrike Racing by APR led in LMP2 with Nolan Siegel at the wheel, ahead of Paul-Loup Chatin for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

The PR1/Mathiasen Oreca 07 Gibson recovered after Ben Keating was spun around by Salih Yoluc at the final corner, which caused Thomas’ accident that caused the second yellow.

Riley Motorsports claimed maximum Endurance Cup points in LMP3, with Josh Burdon leading from AWA driver Nico Varrone by just over 50 seconds.

Positions After Three Hours