2016 6 Hours Of The Glen

The 2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was a 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 the July 3, 2016. This race was the sixth round of The race was the sixth round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

Preview

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn Watkins Glen International circuit on July 3, 2016.

IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the GTD category. The Audi R8 LMS and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 received a larger air restrictor while the Dodge Viper GT3-R had a air restrictor reduction. The Ferrari 488 GT3 received a reduction in turbo boost pressure while BMW M6 GT3 received an increase in turbo boost pressure. The Porsche 911 GT3 R had its weight increased by .

Before the race, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 151 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi on countback with 151 points, and Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in third 147 points. With 162 points, PC was led by Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 3 points. In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 130 points, 12 points ahead of Earl Bamber and Frédéric Makowiecki in second. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 126 points; the duo held an eight-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Chevrolet and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Forty-one cars were officially entered for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, with most of the entries in the Prototype, Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM), and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories. Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) fielded one. Highway to Help entered one BMW-powered Riley MkXXVI. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars, and the Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ligier JS P2 chasis with Honda HR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engines. Panoz brought the DeltaWing car after skipping the previous round at Belle Isle. The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of seven Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsports. BAR1 Motorsports, CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each. GTLM was represented by ten entries from five different brands. In the list of GTD entrants, fourteen GT3-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers.

Practice

There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

In the first session, Negri set the fastest time in the No. 60 MSR Ligier with a time of 1 minute, 36.705 seconds, 0.387 seconds faster than Angelelli's No. 10 car. Dane Cameron was third fastest in the No. 31 AXR vehicle. The fastest PC class car was Colin Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car with 1 minute, 38.701 seconds, followed by Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 52 PR/1 entry. BMW paced GTLM with BMW Team RLL's No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Dirk Werner lapping 1:43.574, ahead of the two Ford GTs. Robin Liddell in the No. 6 Steven Audi R8 was fastest in GTD with a time of 1 minute, 46.147 seconds.

In the second practice session, Pla led with a lap of 1 minute, 36.155 seconds, ahead of Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. The seven-vehicle PC class was led by Starworks Motorsports No. 8 car, driven by Renger van der Zande with a time of 1 minute, 38.582 seconds. Ford occupied first and second in GTLM with Hand faster than his teammate Westbrook by less than one-tenth of a second. Aschenbach's No. 9 Steven Audi R8 led GTD, and Jens Klingmann in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, was second in class.

Derani led the final practice session in the No. 2 ESM car with a lap of 1 minute, 35.484 seconds. Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda was second-fastest. A 1:37.666 lap saw Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car lead PC. With a 1:42.129 lap, Westbrook led the GTLM class in the No. 67 CGR Ford GT, followed by Werner's No. 25 RLL BMW M6. Aschenbach led GTD with a time of 1:45.124.

Qualifying

Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM, PC, and Prototype had three separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM, and GTD cars.

Qualifying results

Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by .

* The No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 13.1.2 of the Sporting regulations (Ride height).
* The No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).
* The No. 540 Black Swan Racing Porsche was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).

Race

Post-race

With a total of 187 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's victory allowed them to retake the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship. The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith. Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 8 points as race winners Briscoe and Westbrook jumped to second place. Balzan and Nielsen's victory allowed them to extend their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Keen and MacNeil advanced from sixth to fifth. Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Ferrari became the leader of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships while Action Express Racing retook the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship with six rounds left in the season.

Race Results

Class winners are denoted in bold and .

Championship standings after the race

References

External links

{{6 Hours of Watkins Glen

2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season
6 Hours of The Glen
6 Hours of Watkins Glen
6 Hours of Watkins Glen