DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With the 24 Hours of Le Mans “break” in the rearview mirror, competitors now focus on the meat of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship menu.
The first course, so to speak, is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at venerable Watkins Glen International.
The official entry list for Sunday’s six-hour tilt features all five classes — Grand Touring Prototype (GTP), Le Mans Prototypes 2 and 3 (LMP2 and LMP3), GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD).
While those who competed in the French classic faced the physically and mentally grueling challenges associated with the event, the bulk of their competitors were getting ready for what figures to be a hectic slate of sports car racing in July and August (and what remains of June).
Despite the break, when the green flag waves at Watkins Glen for Friday’s opening round of practice, the crews and drivers won’t have any issues dusting the rust off their collective performance as most have not been idle. Time spent on the test track, in wind tunnels and simulators and racing in other series around the world will have produced gains of their own — at least that’s the hope.
Based on their performance in the opening rounds of the season, the Acura ARX-06s of Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport and Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian may be considered the GTP favorites.
Whether the Acuras continue to enjoy a performance edge at The Glen, or the knowledge gleaned from a week’s worth of pounding ‘round the Circuit de la Sarthe will enable the Cadillacs and Porsches to close that gap, remains to be seen.
Of the other GTP runners who stayed stateside, you can bet JDC-Miller MotorSports has learned much from what amounted to a three-day test in the debut of its No. 5 Porsche 963 at the Motul Course de Monterey Powered by Hyundai N in May, and will look to put that experience to good use this weekend.
Similarly, will BMW M Team RLL’s recent test at The Glen enable it to take the fight even more to Acura, Cadillac and Porsche and secure the manufacturer’s first GTP victory?
Few teams enjoyed a more productive or encouraging Le Mans than Corvette Racing.
Down two laps in the early hours owing to a damper failure, the No. 33 Corvette clawed its way back to win in the GTE Am class. Two of the drivers — the evergreen Ben Keating and talented Nico Varrone — are racing at The Glen this weekend, albeit in an LMP2 and LMP3, respectively.
Both will surely arrive on Cloud Nine. Keating looks to translate Le Mans success into a second consecutive Glen win in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2, although the class-leading No. 11 TDS Racing ORECA (among others) may have something to say about that.
Varrone, meanwhile, rejoins the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 team where he was an LMP3 winner in January at the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Talk about rested and ready: the LMP3 class makes its return to competition after a very long layoff, having last run in anger in March at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
At the end of those dozen hours, Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon stood atop the podium and their No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320 was coated in champagne and confetti befitting the winning car. If those names sound familiar, it’s because the No. 74 Riley, Robinson and Fraga are the defending LMP3 winners at The Glen.
In the GT3 classes, the Heart of Racing Team is chasing a repeat sweep of the GTD PRO and GTD wins from last year at The Glen. But with the depth and strength of each field — nine cars in GTD PRO and 20 in GTD — that will be no simple feat.
Keep an eye on Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 in GTD PRO. They’re driving to extend a streak of eight consecutive podium finishes.
All things considered, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is virtually guaranteed to be equal parts unpredictable and entertaining.