Complete IMSA Results: Porsche Penske Motorsport Takes Top Spot at Watkins Glen

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• BMW and RLL Racing’s heartbreak became a celebration for Porsche 963 drivers Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Porsche Penske Motorsport.

• After recovering from a pit road speeding penalty that wiped out a 15-second lead, Jack Hawksworth, Vasser Sullivan and Lexus celebrated an impressive double victory, sweeping the GT classes.

• In LMP3, Riley Motorsports won its fourth straight race with its Ligier JS P320 in a season that is a prelude to moving up to LMP2 next year.

What does BMW have to do to break into the winner’s column in GTP?

With the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team’s first pole in sight, rain cancelled qualifying for the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen. Leading for the final 90 minutes, traffic and a late caution caught out Connor De Phillippi’s M Hybrid V8 with less than four minutes remaining.

BMW and RLL Racing’s heartbreak became a celebration for Porsche 963 drivers Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Porsche Penske Motorsport. Moments before the final caution, Jaminet passed De Phillippi in heavy GTD car traffic in the boot portion of the Grand Prix circuit.

“I just gave it all,” said Jaminet, who is the co-leader in the points with Tandy. “It was every lap like a qualifying lap. So much risk taken, for sure. Even before I got in the car, the team told me, “It’s all in for the victory. We’re not thinking of the championship’. We wanted this race.”

Nick Yelloly, co-driver of the eventual runner-up No. 25 BMW, said the weekend showed “all the hard graft” being put in by the RLL team and BMW’s test team in Europe.

BMW’s day began with a crash on the opening lap of M Hybrid V8 driver Augusto Farfus that eliminated the No. 24 BMW from contention. What brought out the final caution that sealed yet another runner-up finish for BMW?

That yellow flew for the heavy crash and rollover of the BMW M 4 GT3 of Bill Auberlen, IMSA’s winningest driver. His M4 GT3 righted itself after contact with the wall at Turn 11 before a shaken Auberlen, who is 55, emerged and walked away. The BMW entry of Paul Miller Racing lost two laps in the GTD class with an electrical issue before clawing back to second place with pit strategy.

BMW was looking to become the fourth different manufacturer to win in this year’s new GTP hybrid category. Instead, Jaminet and Tandy became the first team in five races to win twice. BMW scored its third runner-up finish followed by the Cadillac team of Action Express Racing (Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken) and the Acura of Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian (Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun).

After stepping in for co-driver Nick Yelloly, De Phillippi worked his way to an eight-second lead. But the pit sequence for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team meant his final stint was almost a full hour on his Michelins. Jaminet closed the gap when the BMW began suffering with less grip off the corners, then pounced in traffic when De Phillippi chose an outside line around the winning GTD Pro car of Jack Hawksworth.

Lexus Scores First Double Victory

After recovering from a pit road speeding penalty on his final pit stop that wiped out a 15-second lead, Jack Hawksworth, Vasser Sullivan and Lexus celebrated an impressive double victory, sweeping the GT classes.

The GT double was the first for the team or Lexus, which relied on downforce through the high-speed turns and horsepower on the straights to overcome drag in the RC F GT3.