WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — The 94th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier in June featured a margin of victory of 10.913 seconds.
It was the closest finish in the French endurance classic since 1969, when Jacky Ickx’s JW Automotive Ford GT40 crossed the line 120 meters ahead of Hans Herrmann’s Porsche 908 – a time gap quaintly (if not precisely) documented as “a few seconds.”
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International has been staged 43 times since 1968, joining Le Mans as one of the most famous and lasting international sports car endurance races. While obviously shorter, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours has developed its own unique trademark – close finishes. And we’re talking closer than “a few seconds.”
Eleven of the last 13 editions of the Sahlen’s Six Hours – set for June 25-28 as the next round of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup – have ended with the overall margin of victory of less than two seconds.
Of the two races that didn’t meet that standard, one ended under caution (2015) and the other had an original margin of victory of 2.12 seconds before the Porsche that crossed the line ahead of the BMW that was declared victor was put to the back of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class field due to a technical infringement.
Taking a wider look, 16 of the 19 Sahlen’s Six Hours since 2006 (there were no races at The Glen during the pandemic year of 2020) have ended with a margin of victory of 7.069 seconds or less.
It’s difficult to pinpoint why Watkins Glen produces such close finishes. Maybe it’s the nature of the full 3.4-mile Grand Prix circuit – wide, high-speed and flowing, with nothing remotely resembling a truly slow corner.
Weather is occasionally a factor, as pop-up showers are a frequent occurrence throughout the hilly and scenic Finger Lakes region of upstate New York during summer months. Or perhaps it’s the traditional late June date, with many competitors enjoying a respite from the grueling week of the preceding Le Mans race and its associated activities.
In any case, close IMSA finishes at The Glen are a real thing. Since 2012, sub-2-second victory margins have resulted through four technical eras for IMSA’s top class – Daytona Prototype (DP), Prototype (P), Daytona Prototype International (DPi), and the current GTP.
As we wait to see what this year brings, here are a few of the most memorable finishes in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen:
2012 – Daytona Prototypes brought a new level of robustness to top-level sports cars, allowing for plenty of what announcers like to call “argy-bargy.” Joao Barbosa forced his Corvette DP fielded by Action Express Racing (AXR, known today as Cadillac Whelen) past Alex Gurney in the similar GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing “Red Dragon” Corvette DP as they weaved through traffic with 16 minutes remaining. Gurney made a final charge but fell short at the line by 0.238 seconds.
2013 – Another Sahlen’s Six Hours classic, and another Corvette DP victory for AXR and Barbosa, this time teamed with Christian Fittipaldi instead of Darren Law. AXR’s No. 5 was tipped into a spin by the No. 3 8Star Motorsports Corvette DP shared by Michael Valiante, Stephane Sarrazin, and Enzo Potolicchio with about two hours to go. The No. 3 received a 60-second stop and hold penalty but aided by a late race shower that caused chaos for some, Valiante made a furious comeback that left him just 0.265 seconds behind Fittipaldi at the flag. Valiante claimed the Watkins Glen win a year later by 0.877 second over Alex Brundle when a late caution created a one-lap shootout.
2016-18 – If you’re sensing a theme, AXR, Barbosa, and Fittipaldi triumphed again at The Glen in 2016 and ’17 with a total margin of victory of 1.892 seconds. Their Corvette DP crossed the line 0.709 second ahead of AXR’s second entry driven by Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, and Filipe Albuquerque in 2016. A year later, the gap was 1.183 seconds over a Prototype-class ORECA LMP2 07 fielded by JDC-Miller MotorSports. The JDC-Miller car with drivers Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson, and Chris Miller won at Watkins Glen over a similar CORE Autosport ORECA in 2018 by 1.954 seconds.
2019 – Mazda scored its memorable first DPi class victory at Watkins Glen in 2019, with Harry Tincknell, Jonathan Bomarito, and Olivier Pla completing a Mazda 1-2 by 0.353 seconds over the pole-starting car shared by Timo Bernhard, Oliver Jarvis, and Tristan Nunez.
2022 – Tom Blomqvist led in a Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-05 when the race was red-flagged at the three-quarter mark due to lightning proximity. When action resumed on a damp track with 21 minutes to go, Albuquerque, driving another Acura prepared by Wayne Taylor Racing, made an audacious move to seize the lead from Blomqvist on the outside of the entry to the Bus Stop chicane and held on to win by 0.861 seconds.
2025 – Blomqvist’s GTP-class Acura ARX-06 ran third, 11 seconds behind leader Earl Bamber’s Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R with 10 minutes remaining. A caution bunched the field, and when the green flag flew for a two-lap sprint, second-place runner Nick Yelloly pitted his Acura for fuel. Then as the field came around to take the white flag, Bamber also stopped for energy, leaving Blomqvist and Colin Braun to win by 1.88 seconds over a pair of Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs.
Incidentally, the inaugural Watkins Glen 6 Hours in July 1968 was won by Jacky Ickx in the same Ford GT40 that he would drive to the longtime record Le Mans finish with Jackie Oliver 11 months later. Ickx and Lucien Bianchi’s 1968 margin of victory at The Glen over JW Automotive’s second Ford driven by David Hobbs and Paul Hawkins was 8.09 seconds.
