Mueller, Hand Give Ford Second GTLM Win of Season

Dirk Mueller held onto the lead to give Ford Chip Ganassi Racing its first win since Daytona in a closely-matched GT Le Mans field in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen on Sunday.

The German driver moved the No. 66 Ford GT into the class lead in the final pit stops and remained out front to take his and Joey Hand’s first win of the season.

Three different manufacturers were represented on the podium with Antonio Garcia finishing second in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R and Patrick Pilet third in his No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.

The advantage switched between the three marques during the course of the race after Ford had initially led 1-2 in the first two hours.

Porsche and Corvette Racing both had lengthy stints out front and Mueller put his Ford back into the lead with a quicker stop under caution after trailing Jan Magnussen’s Corvette for almost 20 laps.

Magnussen’s co-driver Garcia ultimately finished 1.5 seconds behind Mueller while Pilet crossed the line less than a second further back after sharing driving duties with Nick Tandy.

Laurens Vanthoor came home fourth in the sister No. 912 Porsche ahead of Tommy Milner’s No. 4 Corvette.

The pair of BMW M8 GTEs finished last in class, placed seventh and eighth, after a difficult run for the BMW Team RLL team.

The win moves Mueller and Hand into the championship lead with a one-point advantage over teammates Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook.

Turner Takes GTD Win as Land Penalized

Markus Palttala and Turner Motorsport inherited the GT Daytona class lead as troubles hit the leading Montaplast by Land Motorsport car in the final stages of the race.

The Finn took the No. 96 BMW M6 GT3 to the class win when the Land Audi R8 LMS GT3 retired in the late stages of the race after receiving two penalties from the class lead.

Sheldon van der Linde was initially given a 60-second stop-hold penalty after the team had been found to have worked on the No. 29 Audi while the pit lane was closed, and was later given a drive-through for failing to serve the penalty in time.

The German team elected not to serve either penalty but came into the paddock to retire shortly before the end of the race instead.

Palttala co-drove the Turner BMW with Don Yount and Dillon Machavern and the team scored its first class win since Road America in August.

Alvaro Parente finished second in the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 he shares with Katherine Legge while Bryan Sellers completed the podium for Paul Miller Racing.

Sellers and Madison Snow’s championship lead has been cut to one point over Legge who is solo in the points standings.

RESULTS: 6H Watkins Glen