Watkins Glen chaos reshuffles IMSA championship leaders

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The IMSA Six Hours of Watkins Glen was a reminder of how unpredictable endurance racing can be.

What looked like a straightforward finish, in a messy race featuring 10 cautions, turned into a thriller in the final laps, due to the 10th and final caution with less than 10 minutes remaining.

Rather than most cars coming into pit for the final time under green, the caution meant some might be able to eek out the fuel and make the finish without stopping.

But, the two leaders, the class of the field all day, almost ran out of energy, having to pit on the penultimate lap, with the win falling to the team that managed their energy just right.

It wasn’t about who had the fastest car—it was about who could go, literally, the distance. And for several top contenders, that last lap was a stretch too far.

Bamber, Yelloly pit for fuel in closing laps

For Earl Bamber, it was his race to lose in the final hour. The #31 Whelen Cadillac, co-driven with Jack Aitken & Fredrik Vesti, was the class of the field in the last half of the race.

Strong on pace and sharp on strategy, they led comfortably heading into a late restart with just two laps to go. But the one enemy no one could outrun? Energy.

With two to go, Bamber’s Cadillac ran out of energy, having last pitted under yellow more than 38 laps ago, or just under an hour and 10 minutes.

A devastating end for what could’ve been a statement win, Cadillac's first of the year in either the FIA World Endurance Championship, or IMSA.

'The car was amazing. I can’t fault the team,' Bamber said. 'We had awesome pit stops and a good strategy called to get back to the front. Unfortunately, a car broke down and ended our run.'

That left Nick Yelloly in the pound seat. The Acura ace, fresh off victories in Detroit and at Le Mans in the LMP2 pro/am subclass, looked poised to pull off a heist for the ages. But one lap later, it was déjà vu. His #93 MSR Acura faltered. He, too, was out of energy, and had to pit with a couple of laps remaining.

Blomqvist steals win with 1% energy remaining

It was Tom Blomqvist who ended up stealing the show. The #60 Acura never led for long stretches, but it was in the right place at the right time—and had just enough energy to make it to the line with 1% remaining. He'd pitted under yellow on the same lap as Bamber and Yelloly, lap 130, during the second-to-last caution period.

But the Briton had saved more fuel than either of those ahead of him, eeking it out to make the finish with just 1% remaining.

A clinical, calculated win, pulled from the jaws of a chaotic final 5 minutes.

'To be honest, I was a bit lost in the last stint,' Blomqvist said in the post-race press conference. 'I asked for a drink at the next pit stop and they told me there was only 15 minutes to go in the race.

'I was a little bit out of sync with what the hell was actually happening in that race. But yeah, that yellow came, and my engineer came on the radio and said we're looking good. 

'Obviously I didn't have the instruction that the teammate car was going to pit just at the restart, but I wasn't really totally sure about the #31. But kind of the vibe on the radio call from the engineer, I could tell this is looking good for us.

'Obviously it was very nice to see those two cars peel off there and have a nice clear track ahead of me on the last lap, so very thankful and grateful for that.'

WTR continue to learn about Cadillac

Behind them, Wayne Taylor Racing capped off an impressive run of form. After qualifying fourth at Laguna Seca and nearly winning Detroit, they put both Cadillacs on the podium—second and third at Watkins Glen, a clear signal they’re very rapidly increasing their understanding of the Cadillac V-Series.R.

'It was a very nice race,' said Louis Deletraz after his second place finish. 'I think very happy with the podium and the double podium for WTR. At the end I didn't know so much where we were at. There was a lot of things going on. But I knew I had more fuel than the cars ahead of me, and I knew I had a shot to go forward.

'In the end the cars had pitted, but we were quite fast. But key to the race was really the early pit stop, get us out of sequence and have some pace.'

And while the Whelen-sponsored Action Express Cadillac came up short, no one’s questioning their pace. Bamber and Aitken were in a league of their own for much of the day.

'We had a really quick car today, probably the quickest,' said Aitken. 'I think the Acura was right there, too, but we were controlling the race from the front towards the end. The race threw a lot at us with mixed conditions at the start of the race that were really sketchy and tough to an air jack issue on pit lane. 

'But we managed to bring ourselves back to the front of the race, executed really well but unfortunately right at the end we were caught out with that yellow that created the perfect opportunity for the 60. It wasn’t quite long enough for us to make it on fuel. That’s just how it goes sometimes, and hopefully we carry this pace to Road America.'

Lamborghini continue to improve with beleaguered SC63

Elsewhere, Roman Grosjean made headlines of his own. The former F1 driver continues to impress in the Lamborghini SC63, charging from 11th to 4th in just four laps during his opening stint.

Later, pit strategy even put them in the lead for a time, most of the second hour in fact. Lamborghini may not be ready to win just yet—but with Grosjean and Daniil Kyvat behind the wheel, they're definitely getting there.

Championship hopes take a beating at the Glen

While some celebrated, others staggered away from Watkins Glen licking their wounds—especially championship contenders.

The beloved #77 AO Racing Porsche, affectionately known as 'Rexy', had a shifting issue in one of Klaus Bachler’s stints. Once that was resolved and they were back in contention, Heinrich was struck in the rear, damaging the diffuser. They held on for sixth in GTD Pro, but it was a race full of what-ifs.

'We had to start the race from second-to-last in our class,' said Laurin Heirinch, Klaus Bachler's teammate in Rexy.

'Then we got lucky: the rain really played in our favour, highlighting the strengths of the Porsche 911 GT3 R. We pushed our way up the field and even led the class at times, which was a fantastic feeling! As the track dried, reality set in. Pure performance alone didn’t leave us with many options.

'We tried to make up ground again with a bold strategy, but we had to conserve too much fuel. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough safety car periods for us to reach the finish without an extra stop. That was a real shame.'

Winward Racing’s #57 Mercedes of Russell Ward was involved in a heavy crash, forcing a trip behind the wall. They returned to finish 16th in class—but the damage to their title hopes might be harder to fix.

Elsewhere GTD, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus was poised to make a move. Jack Hawksworth was in the hunt for the championship lead and the class win—until the car stopped on track with energy issues in the final lap. A heartbreaking DNF dropped them to 12th in class.

But no one had a worse Sunday than the #7 Porsche Penske GTP team. Nick Tandy and Felipe Nasr came in leading the points and left with a DNF and their worst finish of the year. Tandy’s off-track excursion in turn 1 destroyed the car’s front end—and their points lead.

Porsche's lack of pace in the hot weather, after the rain and cooler weather, meant Tandy was pushing hard to keep up with those ahead, who shortly before had overtaken him with ease at a recent restart.

'It was an unfortunate end to a tough day for us. The most important thing is that Nick is okay,' said Felipe Nasr, Tandy's co-driver in the #7 car.

'That was a really nasty accident. Up until that point, things weren’t looking too bad. We were on course to score enough points to maintain our lead in the drivers’ championship, and a top-5 finish was well within reach. With three races remaining, we’re keeping the pressure on and are fully focused on winning the title.'

The updated title pictures now look a whole lot tighter, with three of four driver championships changing hands.

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GTP championship standings (post-Watkins Glen):

1. Jaminet/Campbell – 2,028 pts (⬆ 1)
2. Nasr/Tandy – 2,016 pts (⬇ 1)
3. Yelloly/van der Zande – 1,766 pts (⬆ 1)
4. Vanthoor/Eng – 1,753 pts (⬇ 1)
5. Albuquerque/Taylor – 1,749 pts (↔)

LMP2 Top 5:

1. Goldburg/Di Resta/Lindh – 1,023 pts (⬆ 1)
2. Fraga/Robinson/Burdon – 929 pts (⬇ 1)
3. Cameron/Edgar/Hyett – 912 pts (⬆ 3)
4. Kurtz/Jakobsen/Sowery – 866 pts (⬆ 4)
5. Garg/Dillman – 857 pts (⬇ 2)

GTD Pro Top 5:

1. Garcia/Sims – 1,632 pts (⬆ 1)
2. Bachler/Heinrich – 1,570 pts (⬇ 1)
3. Harper/Hesse – 1,510 pts (⬆ 3)
4. Rockenfeller/Priaulx – 1,507 pts (⬇ 1)
5. Costa – 1,498 pts (⬇ 1)

GTD Top 5:

1. Ellis/Ward – 1,550 pts (↔)
2. Stevenson – 1,490 pts (⬆ 2)
3. Hawksworth/Thompson – 1,474 pts (⬇ 1)
4. Adelson/Skeer – 1,362 pts (⬆ 1)
5. Gallagher/Foley – 1,329 pts

Feature image: Meyer Shank Racing