IMSA: The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen as it happened

By David Malsher-Lopez and Images: LAT | June 29, 2014 2:56 PM ET

For those of you who can’t be near a TV for the entire six hours of FOX Sports 1’s coverage of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, RACER is delighted to be able to keep you up to date with one of the most prestigious sports car events in the world.

The seventh round of United SportsCar’s TUDOR Championship is also the third round of the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

11.16 Green flag. Defending racewinner Fittipaldi grabs the lead for Action Express Racing, while Ricky Taylor grabs third.

11.19 Jan Magnussen has grabbed the GTLM lead for Corvette Racing after a fraught first lap that saw the cars running almost four-wide at times. They know this is a six-hour race, right?

11.21 Michael Valiante is running second at the moment in the Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP but he’s over three seconds behind leader Barbosa.

11.23 Renger van der Zande and Dane Cameron lead PC and GTD respectively.

11.25 So we have three Corvette DPs filling the top three slots overall, with Ricky Taylor trailing Fittipaldi and Valiante, and the polesitting OAK Racing Morgan Nissan of Alex Brundle currently runs fourth.

11.29 Tommy Milner’s Corvette is running second in GTLM, separated from teammate Magnussen by 7.5sec. In the middle of that gap is the Mazda SKYACTIV-D prototype.

11.32 As we say that, the Mazda pits.

11.39 Van der Zande has a healthy 11sec lead over John Martin in the PC category.

11.40 Battle for second in GTLM is really heating up, with Andy Priaulx’s polesitting BMW Z4 GTE just half a second off Milner’s Corvette.

Meanwhile Fittipaldi’s overall lead has stabilized at four seconds over the SoD Corvette of Valiante.

11.45 GTD top three is covered by little more than two seconds, with Cameron’s BMW leading Leh Keen’s Porsche 911 GT America and Spencer Pumpelly’s Audi R8 LMS. Fourth place is Ben Keating’s Viper GT3-R but it is 14sec back.

11.57 Van der Zande pits from the lead of PC and harnds over to Mirco Schultis.

11.59 Brundle has moved into third place overall and is all over Valiante’s Corvette DP for second place. It’s a thrilling battle demonstrating the strengths and weaknesses of the LMP vs DP relatively speaking. Then they both pit, as does leader Fittipaldi.

12.02 Following their pitstops, Spirit of Daytona Corvette #90 and OAK Racing Morgan Nissan remain close. So close that Brundle runs into the back of the DP. Damage doesn’t look heavy and doesn’t slow him down.

12.04 Flying Lizard Audi of Nelson Canache trailing to the pits with a left-rear tire down.

12.06 Race leader Fittipaldi returns the Action Express Corvette DP to pit road, handing the overall lead to Valiante who still has Brundle filling his mirrors.

12.08 David Block spins the GTD-class Aston Martin of TRG-AMR.

12.13 Confusion over who was the nominated starting driver of the No. 5 Action Express car is why IMSA punished the car with a drive-through. But it’s definitely Fittipaldi. And he’s definitely going to be seething. Still five hours to go.

12.15 Ferrari 51 of Jack Gerber spins at bus stop and limps to pits with a left-rear puncture. Not clear yet whether that was cause or effect.

12.16 Valiante’s 90 Spirit of Daytona car loses left-rear fender after a random act of violence from a PC car. Even so, he now has a four-second lead over Brundle’s OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.

12.21 Corvette Racing continues to run 1-2 with Antonio Garcia now piloting the No. 3. Milner in the No. 4 is 9.5sec behind and 4.5sec ahead of Richard Lietz in the No. 911 Porsche.

12.35 Ben Barker limps the No.81 GTD Porsche 911 GT America to the pits with a left-rear puncture.

12.38 Up at the front, Valiante’s lead over Brundle has shrunk to about 1.5sec. Ricky Taylor is 13sec behind, Burt Frisselle’s No. 9 Corvette DP runs just ahead of Christian Fittipaldi who’s trying desperately to overcome his earlier penalty, while Scott Pruett’s Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford Ecoboost-Riley runs sixth.

12.46 Alex Brundle pits the Morgan-Nissan and hands over to Ho-Pin Tung. The OAK Racing entry was just a couple of tenths behind leader Valiante when Alex pitted.

Ther following lap, Valliante pits from the lead and gives the No. 90 to Richard Westbrook. Scott Pruett also stops to give the Ganassi Ford to Memo Rojas.

12.49 Cooper MacNeil’s GTD No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche is carrying damage and creeping to the pits. Replays show he lost it under braking/downchanging.

Meanwhile Valiante tells FOXSports1 that he’s been working hard, running qualifying laps out there to keep ahead of the Morgan-Nissan. Doesn’t sound that sorry to hand over to Westbrook.

12.54 Joao Barbosa, who really is in the driving seat of the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette now, is running third, about 10sec off Tung in the Morgan-Nissan who in turn is four seconds off the lead held by Westbrook’s Spirit of Daytona car.

*** 1.00 First full-course caution. Rojas’ No. 01 Ganassi Riley-Ford has made hard contact with the wall in the final turn after contact with the No. 73 GTD Porsche of Jaap van Lagen. ***

Rojas keeps engine running and limps into the pits with a car that looks like it backed into Godzilla’s jaws. The Porsche stops where it is and will need removal.

So it’s 1.10, we’re under yellow. Class leaders –

P – Westbrook (#90 Corvette DP), Tung (#42 Morgan-Nissan), Barbosa (#5 Corvette DP), Angelelli (#10 Corvette DP), Brian Frisselle (Corvette DP)

PC – all ORECA FLM09-Chevrolets – #52 Jeannette, #09 Junqueira, #38 Ostella

GTLM – Magnussen (#3 Corvette), Gavin (#4 Corvette), Kuno Wittmer (#93 Viper), Edwards (#56 BMW), Bryan Sellers (#17 Porsche).

GTD – Marcus Palttala (#94 BMW), Brandon Davis (#63 Ferrari 458), Dion von Moltke (#35 Audi R8 LMS)

1.22 GREEN

But it’s not easy being green, as the No. 2 ESM Racing HPD proves as it grinds to a halt on track. Johannes van Overbeek is at the wheel, but going nowhere. Then it goes Full Course Yellow as GTD collision between two Porsches and a Ferrari sees two more cars hobbling to the pits.

Under yellow, several teams have grabbed the opportunity to pit, in the course of which Max Angelelli has gotten No. 10 Corvette DP ahead of the similar No. 5 car. However, he’s been given a 60sec stop-and-go penalty for going-and-not-stopping at the red light on pit lane.

1.40 GREEN

1.42 Martin Fuentes has a spin at Turn 10 that causes some sphincter twitches in the pack, but all scrap through with minor delays.

1.45 DeltaWing of Katherine Legge is traveling slowly.

1.55 Mirco Schultis spins the fast Starworks PC No.8 car after getting together with Auberlen’s BMW Z4 GTE. He rejoins right in front of a terrific scrap between GTLM Porsches of Bryan Sellers and Michael Christensen. When all three encounter a GTD car, sixth place goes Christensen’s way.

1.58 Tung pits the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan from second place. Race leader Westbrook pits the followng lap.

2.15 We’re at half distance. Your class leaders, are Barbosa (No. 5 Action Express Corvette DP), Jan Magnussen (No. 3 Corvette C7.R), Chris Cumming (No. 08 ORECA), Markus Palttala (No. 94 BMW Z4). Bonus 5 points for Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup.

2.20 Both Corvettes have stopped, so the two Vipers have assumed lead of GTLM.

2.26 Vipers stop too.

2.27 Max Angelelli hands over the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette to Jordan Taylor. Then Joao Barbosa pits from the lead, and the Action Express team turn it around and send Fittipaldi out in third position. However, Taylor uses a GTD car to pass the No. 5, but it is a lap down.

2.38 American muscle in full force in GTLM – Corvettes run 1-2 and 16sec back, Vipers run 3-4.

2.45 As Tung and Westbrook pit, Christian Fittipaldi smoothly moves into the lead. Tung hands over to Gustavo Yacaman, Westbrook hands back to Valiante.

2.56 Fittipaldi leads by 15sec ahead of Valiante, with Yacaman just 2.4sec behind the Spirit of Daytona machine. Meanwhile the GTLM battle is heating up, as Jonathan Bomarito has slashed the gap to the Corvette of Ollie Gavin as the No. 4 Vette has slipped 11sec behind its class-leading stablemate.

3.03 The No. 09 PC car of Ryan Lewis gets struck by the No. 46 GTD Audi of Marco Bonanomi, necessitating pit stops for both. This is massively unfortunate for RSR because that ORECA was (maybe still is) a victory contender.

And Bonanomi will get a stop and hold penalty of 75sec for his misjudgment.

3.10 And then Bonanomi gets a penalty for a pit speeding violation. Insult, meet injury.

3.17 No. 5 Action Express car pits, but no driver change so onward Christian soliders, now third, 38sec behind the lead battle where Valiante’s Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP leads Yacaman’s Nissan-Morgan by just 2sec.

3.33 Yacaman pits, stays in OAK Racing’s Nissan-Morgan.

3.36 The Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 that has been leading GTD for almost the whole distance pits and Dane Cameron takes over after a really superb couple of stints by amateur Markus Palttala.

4.05 Just 70mins to go and Valiante has the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP at the front just 2.5sec ahead of Yacaman with Barbosa and Fogarty third and fourth at 30sec intervals behind.

Colin Braun (54) heads PC ahead of John Martin (7) and Alex Tagliani (08).

Corvettes still own GTLM with Vipers 3-4 behind, but now with the 91 ahead of the 93, Marc Goossens and Kuno Wittmer in the driving seats, respectively.

In GTD, BMW leads Ferrari leads Porsche as Cameron heads Townsend Bell by 19sec and Lally.

4.10 And Yacaman is on full attack and has taken the lead from the No. 90 and swiftly pulls out a 4.5sec lead.

4.20 Yacaman pits, Alex Brundle leaps back in. This race is turning into a thriller.

But not for the No. 4 Corvette which gets a stop ’n’ go penalty for a very debatable incident with a GTD Audi.

4.30 Spirit of Daytona #90 stops, which triggers Barbosa to pit the Action Express Racing. This is just in time, because the Krohn Ferrari 57 is into the tire-wall at the final turn after contact with a PC No. 85 car. This happens right in front of Brundle but he clears it without hurt.

4.34 Krohn managed to get going again, and so there was no full-course caution. Brundle is now absolutely flying because he will have to make another fuel stop so needs a large margin. He’s well under the 1min40sec barrier whenever he gets a clear lap.

4.40 Townsend Bell’s Ferrari has pared the gap to Dane Cameron’s BMW to 20sec in the battle for GTD honors. Neither should need to stop again.

4:52 Full course caution.

GTD Porsche collides with Tagliani’s 3rd place PC car at final turn. It’s been a horrible weekend for RSR car No. 08.

5.06 GREEN

Burt Frisselle unlaps himself from Alex Brundle on the restart, and Brundle’s loss of momentum means the superior straightline speed of the DPs allow Westbrook to draft up and pass the Morgan Nissan.

Brundle desperately tries to retaliate but can’t get it done. Then there’s a reprieve, as Pruett’s Ganassi Riley Ford collides with a PC car, which brings out a yellow.

5:08 Full course caution.

5:16 GREEN – ONE LAP

Spirit of Daytona No. 90 Corvette DP wins Prototype class in the hands of Richard Westbrook / Michael Valiante.

CORE autosport No. 54 wins PC driven by Colin Braun, Jon Bennett, James Gue

Corvette Racing No. 3 wins GTLM with Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen.

Turner Motorsport’s BMW Z4 wins GTD thanks to Dane Cameron and Markus Palttala.