Continental Tire Watkins Glen Post-Race Notebook

Photo: Jake Galstad/IMSA

***JDC-Miller Motorsports’ victory in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen not only marked the team’s first overall win in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship but also the first for an ORECA-badged prototype in the joint history of IMSA/ALMS (not counting standalone PC or PC/GTD races).

***Additionally, it was only the second win for a LMP2 car since the debut of the joint DPi/LMP2 class in 2017. Silver-rated Misha Goikhberg and Chris Miller, meanwhile, became the first designed ‘am’ drivers to win overall since John Pew’s victory at Petit Le Mans in 2016.

***It also marked a momentous occasions for the team’s primary sponsor GAINSCO, which returned to victory lane for the first time since Circuit of The Americas 2013 when Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney claimed victory in a Bob Stallings Racing-run Corvette DP in Grand-Am competition.

***Juan Pablo Montoya and co-driver Dane Cameron combined to lead a race-high 124 of the 202 laps although were forced to settle for third in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05, which was the only DPi that managed to contend with the LMP2 cars over the weekend.

***The No. 7 Penske Acura DPi, which led in the hands of Helio Castroneves, fought gearbox issues in the third hour, which put the Brazilian and Ricky Taylor six laps down and en route to a 12th place finish overall.

***Mazda Team Joest worked until 10 p.m. on Saturday to rebuild the No. 77 Mazda RT24-P following Rene Rast’s accident in final practice. The car, however, faced an issue with its throttle position sensor, which ultimately resulted in two trips to the garage, before stopping on track with less than 10 minutes to go in the race.

***A broken roll bar for the GT Le Mans pole-sitting No. 67 Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe saw the duo faded to a sixth place finish in class, in a day that saw its sister entry take class honors. “It’s a little hard to take because the weekend promised so much,” Westbrook said. “But when it comes down to it, lady luck wasn’t with us.”

***The win unofficially moves Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand into the points lead with a one-point advantage over Briscoe and Westbrook with six races remaining. 

***It was a race to forget for BMW Team RLL, with struggles for both of its BMW M8 GTEs, including electrical issues for the No. 24 car, which lost more than 25 laps in the second hour.

***The No. 3 Corvette C7.R of Jan Magnussen escaped a potential penalty after the Dane dashed into the pits just prior to the race’s fourth and final full-course caution with 49 minutes to go. On-board footage showed the Corvette already committed to the pit lane at the time of the caution, with the timely pit stop ultimately putting he and Garcia in position to finish second in class.

***Montaplast by Land Motorsport, which also pitted within the same time period, was handed a stop-and-hold plus 60-second penalty for entering a closed pit, a penalty the German squad had protested. A second penalty was issued for not serving the first penalty, with Sheldon van der Linde ultimately taking the then-GT Daytona class-leading Audi R8 LMS to the garage with 15 minutes to go, in protest.

***Land had rebounded from a fuel pump issue in the second hour that saw van der Linde stop on track and drop a lap down to return to the class lead in the closing stages. 

***Turner Motorsport claimed its first class victory in nearly a year, with the legitimate Pro-Am lineup of Markus Palttala, Dillon Machavern and Don Yount. “It’s a real accomplishment to beat some of the best drivers in the world with up-and-coming race drivers that just did a fantastic job,” said team owner Will Turner

***A pit stop miscue and fuel pump issues denied podium finishes for the Nos. 15 and 14 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3s, which started the weekend in strong form with GTD class pole by Jack Hawksworth. The No 15 Lexus finished fourth in class.

***Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow kept their podium-finishing streak alive, taking third in class in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, but have seen their points lead reduced to a single point over Meyer Shank Racing’s Katherine Legge, who finished second in class on Sunday alongside Alvaro Parente.

***Both the No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi and No. 51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Ferrari 488 GT3 were moved to the back of the GTD class results after drive-time violations. Andy Lally missed the drive time by three minutes, while Daniel Serra completed only 1 hour and 24 minutes of the minimum 1 hour and 30 minutes required for all GTD drivers.

Continental Tire Challenge

***Carbahn Motorsports’ fourth place finish in Saturday’s Continental Tire 240 was all the more impressive considering Tyler McQuarrie and Jeff Westphal had to start at the back of the GS class field due to missing the pre-grid.

***An up and down day for the No. 76 Compass Racing McLaren 570 S GT4 of Paul Holton and Matt Plumb ended early due to a suspected fuel pump issue. Holton made an impressive start to the race with a daring move to the outside in Turn 1, only to be penalized for jumping the start. Holton and Plumb had driven their way back to second by the time they fell out of the race.

***Al Carter and Eric Lux were early contenders but saw their race go awry during the third full course caution period of the race. Carter was forced into a closed pit lane to take emergency service in the No. 99 Automatic Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and were later penalized for running a red light at the end of pit lane. They ultimately finished 14th in class.

***The No. 21 Bodymotion Racing Porsche Cayman of Max Faulkner and Jason Rabe missed out on a chance to win in ST when Faulkner was penalized for speeding on pit road in the final hour while leading. They ultimately finished third.

***Both WeatherTech Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge competitors are back in action this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, with official on-track action getting underway on Friday.

Ryan Myrehn contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John