Yahoo Autos Wayne Taylor Racing, Acura Win the Six Hours of Watkins Glen
With Mazda leaving IMSA last season and both BMW and Porsche not ready to join the grid until now cars are introduced to the soon-to-be GTP class in 2023, the 2022 IMSA season is just Cadillacs racing Porsches for overall wins. Occasionally, that means some tracks are Cadillac tracks and others are Acura tracks. Watkins Glen seemed to be an Acura track, which put the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing and No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acuras in position to fight amongst themselves late in today's Six Hours of the Glen. That battle was briefly delayed by an hour-long red flag for lightning in the area, but the final stretch run under green was worth the wait.
Filipe Albuquerque, the closing driver in the No. 10 WTR car, had to save fuel on the final stint. He also ran second, which meant he needed to find a way to both hit his fuel number and run down the No. 60 car. When Albuquerque got a run heading down toward the Glen's bus stop chicane, he knew he needed to use it. he darted outside, making a pass stick in a narrow gap, and held the lead despite heavy pressure from Tom Blomqvist in the Meyer Shank Acura throughout the final 15 minutes of racing. Albuquerque also hit his fuel number, allowing he and co-driver Ricky Taylor to take yet another win.
WTR now takes the championship lead over Meyer Shank Racing, with both Acuras well ahead of the top Cadillac in third. With less than half a season remaining in the final year of DPi as we know it, the four full-time Cadillacs are running out of time to catch the leading Acuras.
In GTD Pro, the No. 25 Rahal-Letterman Lanigan BMW M4 GT3 held on to win after both the No. 9 Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R and No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F required late splashes for fuel from second and third. Those two contenders fell to fourth and fifth respectively, leaving spots on the podium for the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin and No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari. The No. 3 Corvette, the lone Corvette running full-time in IMSA this season, finished seventh after being forced to pit with a flat shortly after the race resumed. The No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes took the win in the pro-am GTD category, finishing an impressive second among all GT cars.
PR1 Mathiasen's No. 52 Oreca took the win in LMP2, helped in no small part by a late penalty to the No. 81 Dragonspeed entry being shared by Juan Pablo Montoya and his son Sebastian for pit equipment leaving the box. The No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry took a narrow win in LMP3, thanks to driver Felipe Fraga holding off a charge by Colin Braun in the final corners.
IMSA returns next weekend at Mosport, the first race at the long-time Canadian sports car venue since 2019. The GT categories will also race at Lime Rock two weeks after that.
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