The 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was an

endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, stamina, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a ...

sports car race sanctioned by the

International Motor Sports Association The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida, under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive dir ...

(IMSA). The race was held at

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track in the Northeastern United States, northeastern United States, located in Dix, New York, just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, Watkins Glen, at the ...

Watkins Glen, New York Watkins Glen is a village and census-designated place in and the county seat of Schuyler County, New York, Schuyler County, New York (state), New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,829. Watkins Glen lies between the ...

on June 25, 2023. The race was the fifth round of the

2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship) was the 53rd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1 ...

, and the third round of the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup.

Background

's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the

(IMSA SCC) in August 2022. It was the ninth year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the fifth of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 by IMSA, and it was the third of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC). The race was held at the eleven-turn

on June 25, 2023. On June 3, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining

Balance of Performance In sports car racing, balance of performance (BoP) is a regulation and mechanism that maintains parity between competing vehicles by adjusting the limits and parameters of a vehicle such as horsepower, weight, engine management, and aerodynamics ...

for the GTD and GTD Pro classes. A number of changes were made to the minimum weights of cars in the two classes, including 20 kg weight breaks for the

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

, and Mercedes. The

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

also received a 30 kg weight reduction, while the

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

was handed a five kg reduction. The Corvette and

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

also received horsepower increases following adjustments to the size of the cars' air restrictors. Finally, the Lexus received a three-liter fuel capacity increase, while the maximum fuel for the

Acura Acura is the luxury and performance division of Japanese automaker Honda, based primarily in North America. The brand was launched on March 27, 1986, marketing luxury and performance automobiles. Acura sells cars in the United States, Canada, M ...

was reduced by the same amount. On June 14, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining BoP for the GTP class. A number of changes were made to the minimum weights of the cars. The

ran on 1053 kilograms of weight, the

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

ran on 1043 kg, the

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

ran on 1038 kg and the

Cadillac Cadillac Motor Car Division, or simply Cadillac (), is the luxury vehicle division (business), division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Its major markets are the United States, Canada and China; Cadillac models are ...

ran on 1037 kg. The maximum power output had been changed to 515 kilowatts of power for the Porsche, and 513 kW for both the BMW and Cadillac. The Acura remained on 520 kW. After the Motul Course de Monterey one month earlier,

Nick Tandy Nicholas Tandy (born 5 November 1984) is a professional British racing driver currently racing for Porsche Motorsport as a factory driver in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. Tandy is the only person to have completed the Grand Slam of overal ...

and

Mathieu Jaminet Mathieu Jaminet (born 24 October 1994) is a French racing driver. He is currently employed by Porsche as a factory driver and participates primarily in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Career Jaminet originally began pursuing a career in ...

led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 1307 points, ahead of

Pipo Derani Luís Felipe "Pipo" Derani (born 12 October 1993) is a Brazilian race car driver who is currently a factory driver for the Genesis Magma Racing program. He is an overall winner of the 2016 24 Hours of Daytona and the 2016, 2018, 2019, and 2023 ...

and Alexander Sims with 1282 points, and

Filipe Albuquerque Filipe Miguel Delgadinho Albuquerque (born 13 June 1985) is a Portuguese people, Portuguese professional racing driver, currently driving an Acura ARX-06 in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, and an Oreca 07 in the Europea ...

and

Ricky Taylor Ricky Scott Taylor (born August 3, 1989) is an American professional racing driver, most notably in the International Motor Sports Association, IMSA IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. His career highlights include an ...

with 1241 points. With 730 points, the LMP2 Drivers' Championship was led by Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas with a sixty-three point advantage over

Paul-Loup Chatin Paul-Loup Chatin (born 19 October 1991) is a French professional Auto racing, racing driver. He has had notable successes within the LMP2 class, winning the European Le Mans Series in 2014 and 2019, as well as pole positions at the 2018 24 Hours o ...

and

Ben Keating Benjamin Edward Keating (born August 18, 1971) is an American racing driver and business owner operating out of Victoria, Texas. Keating is the owner of 30 car auto dealerships across Texas, The Keating Auto Group. Since starting auto racing in ...

. In LMP3, the Drivers' Championship was led by

Josh Burdon Josh Burdon (born September 5, 1992) is an Australians, Australian Auto racing, racing driver. He currently drives the No. 74 Oreca LMP2 for Riley Technologies, Riley Motorsports in the IMSA SportsCar Championship, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar C ...

, Felipe Fraga, and Gar Robinson with 380 points.

Ben Barnicoat Ben George Barnicoat (born 20 December 1996) is a British racing driver, who competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Vasser Sullivan and in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Akkodis ASP; he serves as a factory driver for Lexus. ...

and

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 1415 points ahead of

Jules Gounon Jules Jean-Louis Gounon (born 31 December 1994 in Aubenas) is an Andorran-based French people, French professional racing driver. He is best known for his victories in the Spa 24 Hours, 24 Hours of Spa in 2017 24 Hours of Spa, 2017 and 2022 24 Ho ...

and

Daniel Juncadella Daniel Juncadella Pérez-Sala (born 7 May 1991) is a Spanish racing driver who currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for TF Sport. He is son of Xavier Juncadella and nephew of José María Juncadella, Alex Soler-Roig and Lui ...

with 1374 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by

Bryan Sellers Bryan Sellers (born August 19, 1982 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American racing driver. Sellers won the title in the U.S. F2000 in 2002 and later competed in the Atlantic Championship and in racing sports cars. Racing career Bryan Sellers first co ...

and

Madison Snow Madison Snow (born December 26, 1995) is an American race car driver who currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship. In 2018 he became the only second driver in IMSA history to win two championships in the same year, winning both the W ...

with 1244 points, ahead of

Brendan Iribe Brendan Trexler Iribe (; born August 12, 1979) is an American game programmer, entrepreneur and co-founder of Oculus VR, Inc. and Scaleform. He is the managing partner at BIG Ventures, an early-stage venture fund. Early life and education Iri ...

and Frederik Schandorff with 1182 points.

, and

were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche Penske Motorsport,

TDS Racing TDS Racing (Top Drive Services, formerly known as Pouchelon Racing) is a French auto racing team, currently competing in the European Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. History Eurocup Mégane Trophy ...

Riley Motorsports Riley Technologies LLC is an American auto racing constructor and team specializing in the design and manufacture of complete race cars, as well as prototype development for racing and manufacturing applications. The team currently fields the N ...

Vasser Sullivan Racing Vasser Sullivan is an American motorsports racing team. It was founded in 2010 by James “Sulli” Sullivan as SH Racing to compete in motocross. In 2011, the team partnered with KV Racing Technology to form KVSH Racing. Following a two-year h ...

, and

Paul Miller Racing Paul Miller Racing is an American auto racing team that is part of Paul Miller Auto Group and associated with former racing driver . The team has operations that are headquartered in Buford, Georgia; the Racing team also has operations in Pars ...

each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries

In LMP2,

AF Corse AF Corse is an Italian auto racing team founded by former racing driver Amato Ferrari in 1995 in Piacenza. Strongly linked to the Maserati and Ferrari brands, AF Corse currently competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship, GT World Chal ...

ran the No. 88

Oreca 07 The Oreca 07 is a Le Mans Prototype built by French manufacturer Oreca to meet the 2017 FIA and ACO LMP2 regulations. It made its official race debut in the opening round of the 2017 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 24 Hours of Dayt ...

machine with

Nicklas Nielsen Nicklas Ganshorn Nielsen (born 6 February 1997) is a Danish racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Ferrari AF Corse, driving a Ferrari 499P in the Hypercar class. He won the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans together with ...

Luis Pérez Companc Luis Pérez Companc (born 2 January 1972) is a Rallying, rally and racing driver. He competed at the World Rally Championship from 2001 to 2008, claiming a fifth place at the 2007 Rally Japan, a sixth at the 2004 Rally Argentina, and seventh at ...

, and

Lilou Wadoux Lilou Chloé Perrine Wadoux-Ducellier (born 10 April 2001) is a French people, French professional racing driver. She is the first woman to ever win an FIA World Endurance Championship race and the first woman to drive a Le Mans Hypercar, having ...

. Additionally, Tower Motorsport's

John Farano John Farano (born 8 December 1959) is a Canadian businessman and racing driver currently competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship with Tower Motorsports Capone Motorsports is an American auto racing team that currently competes in the ...

was replaced by

Salih Yoluç Ahmet Salih Yoluç (born 22 August 1985, Istanbul) is a Turkish racing driver. As a bronze-ranked competitor, Yoluç has taken notable accolades in sportscar racing, including the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2020 LMGTE Am class victory at Le Mans ...

in the #8 entry as Farano continued to recover from an injury suffered in a crash at

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

earlier in the season. In GTD Pro, MDK Motorsports withheld their planned GTD Pro entry for an additional round after forgoing the

12 Hours of Sebring The 12 Hours of Sebring is an annual motorsport Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for Sports car racing, sports cars held at Sebring International Raceway, on the site of the former Hendricks Army Airfield World War II air base in S ...

due to BoP concerns. While the concerns had long since been addressed, team principal

Mark Kvamme Mark David Kvamme (born February 20, 1961) is an American venture capitalist at the firm Drive Capital in Columbus, Ohio, a sports car racing driver and team owner of MDK Motorsports. Business career Kvamme founded Drive Capital with Chris Olsen ...

elected to focus on the team's

GT World Challenge America The GT World Challenge America is a North American auto racing series launched in 1990 by the Sports Car Club of America. It has been managed by the SRO Motorsports Group since 2018, and has been sanctioned by the United States Auto Club since 20 ...

program, which had completed a race event at

Virginia International Raceway Virginia International Raceway (VIR) is a race track located in Alton, Virginia, near Danville. It is less than a half-mile from the North Carolina/Virginia border just outside Milton, North Carolina, on the banks of the Dan River. VIR hosts ...

the previous weekend. After missing Sebring,

Andrea Caldarelli Andrea Caldarelli (born 14 February 1990) is an Italian racing driver who currently competes in IMSA in the GTP class for Lamborghini- Iron Lynx in the Lamborghini SC63 Hypercar alongside Matteo Cairoli and former Formula One driver Romain Gro ...

returned to

Iron Lynx Iron Lynx Motorsport Lab is an Italian auto racing team founded by Andrea Piccini, Deborah Mayer, Claudio Schiavoni and Sergio Pianezzola. The team is based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. They primarily participate in sports car racing, and are a sis ...

's GTD Pro lineup alongside

Jordan Pepper Jordan Lee Pepper (born 31 July 1996) is a South African racing driver, currently competing in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. He is the son of former South African Touring Car driver Iain Pepper and younger brother of W Series (champions ...

. Furthermore, the No. 61 Ferrari 296 GT3 entered, with drivers Miguel Molina,

Ulysse de Pauw Ulysse, the French spelling of Ulysses, is a masculine French given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ulysse Adjagba (born 1993), French basketball player *Ulysse Bozonnet (1922–2014), French ski mountaineer *Ulysse Chevalier (1841 ...

, and

Simon Mann Simon Francis Mann (26 June 1952 – 8 May 2025) was a British officer in the Special Air Service (SAS), and later a mercenary. He trained to be an officer at Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Scots Guards. He later became a member of t ...

. In GTD, The No. 42 NTE Sport car returned with Jaden Conwright and Luke Berkeley.

Practice

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 105 minutes.

Practice 1

The first practice session took place at 4:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with

Colin Braun Colin James Braun ( "brown"; born September 22, 1988) is an American auto racing, racing driver. He is the 2014 and 2015 IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion and currently drives the No. 60 M ...

topping the charts for

Meyer Shank Racing Meyer Shank Racing (MSR; formerly Michael Shank Racing) is an American motorsport organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and the IMSA SportsCar Championship. History Atlantic Championship Michael Shank, co-owner of Meyer Shank Racing ...

with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:33.563.

Final Practice

The second and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with

topping the charts for

with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:32.311.

Qualifying

Qualifying was broken into three sessions. The first was for cars in the GTD Pro and GTD classes.

Daniel Serra Daniel Gardano Serra (born 24 February 1984) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 29 Chevrolet Cruze for Eurofarma-RC and is also a Ferrari Factory Driver. He won 3 tim ...

qualified on pole in GTD Pro driving the No. 62

Risi Competizione Risi Competizione is an Italo- American auto racing Ferrari factory-backed team formed by Giuseppe Risi in 1997. Initially, the team had a partnership with Doyle Racing using the name Doyle-Risi Racing, but soon Giuseppe Risi took full control of ...

entry and the No. 78 Forte Racing powered by

US RaceTronics US RaceTronics (USRT) is an auto racing team based in Buttonwillow, California, that competes in the Atlantic Championship. It was founded by former Dorricott Racing Team Manager Shane Seneviratne. Seneviratne and the Dorricott Racing organizatio ...

entry driven by

Loris Spinelli Loris Spinelli (born 30 December 1995) is an Italian racing driver. He currently competes in the IMSA SportsCar Championship for Forte Racing. Since 2024, Spinelli has been employed as a factory driver for Lamborghini's GT3 program. Career Sp ...

set the fastest time among all GTD cars. The second session was for cars in the LMP2 and LMP3 classes. Steven Thomas and Gar Robinson were handed pole position for LMP2 and LMP3, respectively after the session did not reach minimum time to be declared official after cars aquaplaned off the track. Ari Balogh, driving the No. 30 Jr III Motorsports entry, spun into the inside wall of turn 7 before stopping alongside the tire barriers. Moments later,

, driving the No. 52

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports is an American sports car racing team that currently competes in the LMP2 class of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. History American Le Mans Series PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports began e ...

entry, aquaplaned off at turn 7 and hit the Jr III Motorsports Ligier. Not long afterwards, Anthony Mantella, driving the No. 17 AWA entry, also aquaplaned off the track at turn 7 and hit the

Oreca. The red flag was thrown and caused the session to be abandoned. Championship points were not awarded and starting positions were set by teams' championship standings. The final session of qualifying was for the GTP class.

was handed pole position after the session was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Championship points were not awarded and starting positions were set by teams' championship standings.

Qualifying results

Pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

s in each class are indicated in bold and by .

Race

Post-race

As a result of being disqualified, Tandy and Jaminet dropped from first to third in the GTP Drivers' Championship. De Phillippi and Yelloly advanced from fifth to second while Derani and Sims took the championship lead. Hanley and Kurtz advanced from fourth to first in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship. Burdon, Fraga, and Robinson extended their advantage in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship over Boyd, Mantella, and Varrone to 124 points. In the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship, Barnicoat and Hawksworth extended their lead to 113 points over Gounon and Juncadella while García and Taylor moved from third after being fourth coming into Watkins Glen. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Montecalvo and Telitz advanced from fourth to second. Cadillac, Lexus, and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships. Whelen Engineering Racing and CrowdStrike Racing by APR took the lead in their respective Teams' Championships with six races left in the season.

Results

Class winners are in bold and .

Standings after the race

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings. * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.

Notes

References

{{6 Hours of Watkins Glen Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen 6 Hours of Watkins Glen