2017 6 Hours of The Glen



The 2017 Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen was an endurance race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the July 2nd, 2017. This race was the sixth round of the 2017 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Background
IMSA's president Scott Atherton confirmed the 6 Hours of The Glen was part of the series' schedule for the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship at Road America's victory lane in August 2016. It was the fourth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2017 Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2017 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi Watkins Glen International circuit on July 2, 2017. After the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic four weeks earlier, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 177 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi with 147 points, and Dane Cameron and Eric Curran with 143 points. With 144 points, was led by James French and Patricio O'Ward with a twenty six-point advantage over Don Yount. Antonio García and Jan Magnussen led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 124 points, ahead of Joey Hand and Dirk Müller with 118 points. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Ben Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen with 150 points, ahead of Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 141 points. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Riley Motorsports Team AMG each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries
A total of 38 cars took part in the event split across 4 classes. 10 cars were entered in P, 3 in PC, 8 in GTLM, and 17 in GTD. In P, Rebellion Racing missed the event due to logistical issues. Olivier Pla joined José Gutiérrez in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry. Ed Brown missed the event due to injury and retired from prototype racing. In PC, Starworks Motorsport were absent. Buddy Rice and Daniel Burkett returned to the #20 BAR1 Motorsports entry. Brian Alder and Derek Jones joined Gustavo Yacamán in the #26 BAR1 Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Risi Competizione were forced to miss the event due to budgetary issues following the 24 Hours of Le Mans where the teams Ferrari 488 GTE was several damaged in an accident. Gianmaria Bruni made his debut for Porsche joining Laurens Vanthoor in the #912 Porsche GT Team entry. In GTD, Alex Job Racing, and Dream Racing Motorsport made their first appearances since the 12 Hours of Sebring. Michael Christensen and Michael de Quesada returned to Alegra Motorsports.

Practice
There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 11:05 am ET on Friday and ended with Stephen Simpson topping the charts for JDC-Miller MotorSports, with a lap time of 1:35.491.

Practice 2
The second practice session took place at 3:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Pipo Derani topping the charts for Tequila Patrón ESM, with a lap time of 1:34.696.

Practice 3
The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Olivier Pla topping the charts for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, with a lap time of 1:48.566.

Qualifying
In Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying, each category had separate 15-minute sessions. Regulations stipulated that teams nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each class' starting order. IMSA arranged the grid to put Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM and GTD cars.

The first was for cars in GTD class. Andy Lally qualified on pole for the class driving the #93 Meyer-Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, beating Lawson Aschenbach in the #57 Stevenson Motorsports entry.

The second session of qualifying was for cars in the GTLM class. Joey Hand qualified on pole driving the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry, besting Alexander Sims in the #25 BMW Team RLL entry by just over three tenths of a second.

The third session of qualifying was for cars in the PC class. James French set the fastest time driving the #38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry.

The final session of qualifying was for the P class. Pipo Derani qualified on pole, besting Olivier Pla in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.

Qualifying Results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.


 * The No. 26 BAR1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the PC field as per Articles 43.5 and 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver) and (Change of starting tires).
 * The No. 14 3GT Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).
 * The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.6 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Post-race
The result kept Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship. Goikhberg and Simpson moved to third after being fourth coming into Watkins Glen. In the PC Drivers' Championship, French and O'Ward extended their points lead to thirty points over Yount, while Yacamán advanced from seventh to fifth. In the GTLM Drivers' Championship, Garcia and Magnussen further increased their gap to eighteen points ahead of Müller and Hand. Auberlen and Sims advanced from fourth to third while Pilet and Werner dropped to fifth. By finishing second in GTD, Balzan and Nielsen took the lead of the GTD Drivers' Championship while Lally and Legge moved from sixth to third. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and Mercedes-AMG continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Performance Tech Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships with six rounds remaining. Scuderia Corsa took the lead of the GTD Teams' Championship going into the next race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park.

Results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Statistics
Fastest Lap - #52 Oliper Pla - 1:33.314

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.