De Angelis, Braun Crash Out Under Safety Car in First Hour

Image: IMSA

The No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Valkyrie and No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 are out of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen after a bizarre crash while under the race’s second safety car.

Both GTP class entries pitted for a second time to top up energy under the yellow, which was initially called for debris at the 33-minute mark.

Braun and De Angelis were released from the pit lane and were nearly at full speed through the Esses before Braun appeared to check up on the No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of John Potter, who was running at normal safety car speeds.

It forced De Angelis, who was directly behind Braun, to brake hard and went into a spin, collecting the No. 60 Acura in the process.

The No. 81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Henrik Hedman was also involved and stopped on the side of the track, while the No. 28 RS1 Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Eric Lux was also seen near the incident but continued.

Extensive track cleanup was required and kept cars behind the safety car through the end of the opening hour.

The No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Fred Vesti led, after climbing aboard the pole-sitting car from Jack Aitken in the car’s first stop while under the second yellow.

Aitken paced the opening hour prior the first round of stops.

Laurens Vanthoor and Renger van der Zande ran second and third in their No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 and No. 93 MSR Acura, respectively.

Vanthoor’s teammate, Felipe Nasr, initially stayed out when all the GTP cars came in for their first service but took advantage of the extended yellow to pit as well.

Jeremy Clarke led from pole in LMP2 aboard his No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson, while quick pit work put the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Neil Verhagen out front in GTD Pro.

The class was led by pole-sitter Jack Hawksworth prior to the stops.

The 13 Autosport Corvette led GTD in the hands of Orey Fidani, who is due a pit stop.

The first yellow came out on Lap 8 for debris after contact between the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca of Naveen Rao and Jon Field’s No. 37 Intersport Racing entry led to Field spinning off into the Bus Stop.

Rao was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility.

There was drama for several GTD runners in the opening hour as well, including the No. 45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2, which made multiple pit stops with a left-rear wheel nut issue.

The No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo, which won the last IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup race at Sebring, meanwhile, had to serve a drive-through due to Antonio Fuoco lining up in the wrong column at the start.

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