2021 6 Hours of The Glen
The 2021 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on June 27, 2021. This race was the fifth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup.
Background
The race marked IMSA's return to Watkins Glen after the previous year's edition of the event was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the cancellation of the scheduled event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park prompting the running of the WeatherTech 240, the six hour race became the first of two races in as many weeks at the track.[1]
On June 18, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event.[2] In DPi, The Acura and Cadillac received slight fuel capacity reductions at one and two liters respectively, while the Mazda featured a 3.6 kW horsepower increase. The two GT classes saw minor adjustments, with the GTLM-class Porsche receiving a 10 kg weight reduction, while the Aston Martin received a 7.1 kW horsepower decrease and a two-liter fuel capacity decrease after winning the previous round at Belle Isle.
Entries
A total of 38 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 7 cars were entered in DPi, 5 in LMP2, 7 in LMP3, 5 in GTLM, and 14 in GTD. The pre-event entry list contained 40 entries, but both Sean Creech Motorsport and Forty7 Motorsports withdrew their LMP3 entries before the start of the weekend.[3]
DPi featured the expected addition of the Ally Cadillac Racing #48 alongside the six full-season entries in the class.[4] Four of the seven teams also elected to add a third driver to their lineups. In LMP2, United Autosports returned as part of their Michelin Endurance Cup schedule, while James French joined Tower Motorsport By Starworks for the first time in 2021.[5] LMP3 featured a series of additions, including Marco Andretti's addition to the Andretti Autosport entry, United Autosports' IMSA LMP3 debut, and the long-awaited first IMSA SportsCar Championship appearance for Dawson Racing.[6] GTLM saw the return of WeatherTech Racing after they missed the previous round at Detroit, while BMW Team RLL returned as part of their Endurance Cup campaign.[4] In GTD, CarBahn with Peregrine Racing added another event to their Sprint Cup schedule,[4] and NTE Sport returned after most recently appearing at Daytona in January.[7] Wright Motorsports also announced prior to the event that Trent Hindman would replace Ryan Hardwick as Patrick Long's co-driver for the remainder of the season.[4]
Qualifying
Ricky Taylor secured overall pole for the event. Steven Thomas won the pole in LMP2, while Austin McCusker scored pole in LMP3. Antonio García started first in GTLM, and Kyle Kirkwood took pole in GTD.[8]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by 
.
| Pos. | Class | No. | Team | Driver | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 10 | Konica Minolta Acura | Ricky Taylor | 1:30.022 | _ | 1 |
| 2 | DPi | 60 | Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Dane Cameron | 1:30.141 | +0.119 | 2 |
| 3 | DPi | 01 | Chip Ganassi Racing | Renger van der Zande | 1:30.637 | +0.615 | 3 |
| 4 | DPi | 48 | Ally Cadillac Racing | Kamui Kobayashi | 1:30.671 | +0.649 | 4 |
| 5 | DPi | 31 | Whelen Engineering Racing | Pipo Derani | 1:30.824 | +0.802 | 5 |
| 6 | DPi | 55 | Mazda Motorsports | Oliver Jarvis | 1:31.075 | +1.053 | 6 |
| 7 | DPi | 5 | JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing | Tristan Vautier | 1:31.324 | +1.302 | 7 |
| 8 | LMP2 | 11 | WIN Autosport | Steven Thomas | 1:35.304 | +5.282 | 8 |
| 9 | LMP2 | 52 | PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Ben Keating | 1:35.322 | +5.300 | 9 |
| 10 | LMP2 | 18 | Era Motorsport | Dwight Merriman | 1:38.455 | +8.433 | 10 |
| 11 | LMP2 | 8 | Tower Motorsport by Starworks | John Farano | 1:38.481 | +8.459 | 11 |
| 12 | LMP2 | 22 | United Autosports | James McGuire | 1:39.510 | +9.488 | 12 |
| 13 | LMP3 | 2 | United Autosports | Austin McCusker | 1:40.404 | +10.382 | 13 |
| 14 | GTLM | 3 | Corvette Racing | Antonio García | 1:40.944 | +10.922 | 20 |
| 15 | LMP3 | 36 | Andretti Autosport | Jarett Andretti | 1:40.974 | +10.952 | 14 |
| 16 | GTLM | 4 | Corvette Racing | Tommy Milner | 1:41.318 | +11.296 | 21 |
| 17 | GTLM | 25 | BMW Team RLL | Connor De Phillippi | 1:41.357 | +11.335 | 22 |
| 18 | LMP3 | 54 | CORE Autosport | George Kurtz | 1:41.501 | +11.479 | 15 |
| 19 | LMP3 | 38 | Performance Tech Motorsports | Dan Goldburg | 1:41.798 | +11.776 | 16 |
| 20 | GTLM | 24 | BMW Team RLL | John Edwards | 1:41.932 | +11.910 | 23 |
| 21 | LMP3 | 84 | Dawson Racing | Theodor Olsen | 1:42.256 | +12.234 | 17 |
| 22 | GTLM | 79 | WeatherTech Racing | Cooper MacNeil | 1:42.363 | +12.341 | 24 |
| 23 | LMP3 | 74 | Riley Motorsports | Gar Robinson | 1:43.100 | +13.078 | 18 |
| 24 | LMP3 | 91 | Riley Motorsports | Jim Cox | 1:43.263 | +13.241 | 19 |
| 25 | GTD | 14 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Kyle Kirkwood | 1:45.539 | +15.517 | 25 |
| 26 | GTD | 16 | Wright Motorsports | Trent Hindman | 1:45.849 | +15.827 | 26 |
| 27 | GTD | 42 | NTE Sport | Jaden Conwright | 1:45.853 | +15.831 | 27 |
| 28 | GTD | 28 | Alegra Motorsports | Daniel Morad | 1:45.997 | +15.975 | 28 |
| 29 | GTD | 96 | Turner Motorsport | Robby Foley | 1:46.051 | +16.029 | 29 |
| 30 | GTD | 12 | Vasser Sullivan Racing | Frankie Montecalvo | 1:46.265 | +16.243 | 30 |
| 31 | GTD | 39 | CarBahn Motorsports with Peregrine Racing | Tyler McQuarrie | 1:46.294 | +16.272 | 31 |
| 32 | GTD | 1 | Paul Miller Racing | Corey Lewis | 1:46.512 | +16.490 | 32 |
| 33 | GTD | 9 | Pfaff Motorsports | Zach Robichon | 1:46.550 | +16.528 | 33 |
| 34 | GTD | 19 | GRT Grasser Racing Team | Misha Goikhberg | 1:47.070 | +17.048 | 34 |
| 35 | GTD | 75 | SunEnergy1 Racing | Mikaël Grenier | 1:47.087 | +17.065 | 35 |
| 36 | GTD | 23 | Heart of Racing Team | Ian James | 1:47.500 | +17.478 | 36 |
| 37 | GTD | 88 | Team Hardpoint EBM | Rob Ferriol | 1:48.563 | +18.541 | 37 |
| 38 | GTD | 44 | Magnus Racing with Archangel Motorsports | John Potter | 1:48.909 | +18.887 | 38 |
| Sources:[9][10][11][12] | |||||||
Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and .
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- The #48 Ally Cadillac Racing entry received a 35-second time penalty for failing to serve a drive-through penalty. This demoted the entry from fourth to fifth in class.
References
- "WeatherTech 240 At The Glen Set for Friday, July 2". imsa.com. April 7, 2021. Retrieved July 6, 2021.
- "TB-IWSC-21-21-WGI-6hr-BoP-Tables-06182021.pdf" (PDF). imsa.com. June 18, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- Dagys, John (June 25, 2021). "Watkins Glen Friday Notebook". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "40 Car Entry For 6 Hours Of The Glen". dailysportscar.com. June 17, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- Allaway, Phil (June 22, 2021). "Entry List: Sahlen's Six Hours at the Glen". frontstretch.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- Dagys, John (June 15, 2021). "D3+ Transformers Set for Long-Awaited Debut". sportscar365.com. John Dagys Media. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- Pruett, Marshall (June 21, 2021). "IMSA reveals entry list for Six Hours of The Glen". racer.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- Ryan, Nate (June 26, 2021). "Wayne Taylor Racing Acura on pole in IMSA starting lineup for Six Hours of Watkins Glen". motorsports.nbcsports.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying - LMP2-DPi Position - Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying - LMP3 Position - Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Points - GTLM - Position - Points.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "03_Results_Qualifying - GTD Position.PDF" (PDF). results.imsa.com. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
- "03_Results_Race_Official.PDF" (PDF). June 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.