2021 WeatherTech 240 at The Glen



The 2021 WeatherTech 240 at The Glen was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on July 2, 2021. This race was the sixth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2021 WeatherTech Sprint Cup.

The race featured a 46-minute weather-enforced red flag period, and was won by the Whelen Engineering Racing duo of Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr.

Background
The race was a late addition to the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship calendar, after travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the second consecutive year. With the round scheduled for the July 4th weekend, the WeatherTech 240 was run less than a week after the 2021 6 Hours of The Glen, creating a veritable double header at Watkins Glen.

On June 30, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event. The lone change occurred in DPi, where the Cadillac DPi-V.R received a one-liter fuel capacity increase after finishing fourth through seventh in class the previous weekend.

Before the race, Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 1733 points, ahead of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell in second with 1701 points, and Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr with 1576 points. In LMP2, Scott Huffaker, Mikkel Jensen, and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 702 points, ahead of Thomas Merrill, Tristan Nunez, and Steven Thomas. With 1090 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 50 points ahead of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun. Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García, and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 1082 points, 81 points ahead of John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, and Jesse Krohn followed by Connor De Phillippi, Philipp Eng, and Bruno Spengler in third. With 1296 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, ahead of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn. Cadillac, Chevrolet, and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Turner Motorsport each led their own Teams' Championships.

Entries
A total of 30 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 6 cars were entered in DPi, 3 in LMP2, 6 in LMP3, 3 in GTLM, and 12 in GTD. The pre-event entry list featured 31 cars, but was reduced to the final tally of 30 following the #16 Wright Motorsports entry's withdrawal.

The only change from the previous round in DPi was the absence of Ally Cadillac Racing, while LMP2 saw a reduced three full-season entries after Era Motorsport announced their intention to scale back their 2021 program. The Michelin Endurance Cup entry from United Autosports was also absent, as was their entry in LMP3. BMW Team RLL's absence saw the return of the three-car GTLM field, while GTD featured a host of changes owing to the round only paying points towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Pfaff Motorsports and Magnus Racing withdrew, as they had done at Detroit, while Gradient Racing and Compass Racing replaced them as part of their Sprint Cup-only campaigns. Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports also made their IMSA SportsCar Championship debut at this event, bringing the GTD class tally to 13.

Practice
There was one practice session preceding the start of the race on Friday, taking place on Thursday afternoon.

Practice 1
The first and only practice session took place at 9:20 am ET on Thursday and ended with Olivier Pla topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:48.813, ahead of the No. 01 Cadillac of Renger van der Zande. Gabriel Aubry set the fastest time in LMP2. Oliver Askew was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:59.440. The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:59.440, ahead of teammate Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Corvette. Robby Foley was fastest in GTD. The session was red flagged three times for on-track incidents. Kevin Magnussen crashed the No. 01 Cadillac at turn five and sustained rear end damage. Oliver Jarvis's Mazda came to a stop on an out lap causing the session to be stopped. The final stoppage came when Jarett Andretti spun the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier.

Qualifying
Qualifying was broken into four sessions. The first was for cars in GTD class. Madison Snow qualified on pole driving the No. 1 car for Paul Miller Racing, beating Frankie Montecalvo in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing by less than five tenths of a second. Richard Heistand was third in the No. 39 Audi followed by the No. 66 Acura of Till Bechtolsheimer, and Jeff Kingsley rounded out the top 5.

The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Jordan Taylor qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Nick Tandy in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry. Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session and earned 35 championship points.

The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Mateo Llarena qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 38 car for Performance Tech Motorsports. Llarena was more than seven-tenths clear of Jon Bennett in the No. 54 CORE Autosport entry followed by Jarett Andretti in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport car in third.

The final session of qualifying was for cars in the DPi and LMP2 classes. Ricky Taylor took overall pole for the event driving the No. 10 car for WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, besting Oliver Pla in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian. Following in third was the No. 01 Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen, with the No. 31 Cadillac of Pipo Derani in fourth. The Mazda Motorsports entry and JDC-Mustang Sampling Racing entries rounded out the DPi field. Ben Keating qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. Keating was 0.423 seconds clear of Steven Thomas in the WIN Autosport entry followed by John Farano in the No. 8 Tower Motorsport By Starworks car.

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


 * The No. 84 D3+ Transformers-Dawson Racing entry was moved to the back of the LMP3 field as per Articles 40.1.4 and 40.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires) and (Engine change).
 * The No. 91 Riley Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the LMP3 field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).

Post-race
The result kept Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor atop the DPi Drivers' Championship with 2068 points. Magnussen and van der Zande advanced from fifth to fourth while Cameron and Pla dropped from fourth to fifth. With a total of 1087 points, Jensen and Keating's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over Nunez and Thomas in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship to 35 points. With a total of 1468 points, Robinson's victory allowed him to increase his advantage over Bennett and Braun in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship to 96 points. By finishing second place Milner and Tandy advanced from fourth to second in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. MacNeil jumped from fifth to third while the absent Edwards, Farfus, and Krohn dropped from second to fourth. GTD drivers, teams, and manufactures did not score full season points due to the event only counting towards the WeatherTech Sprint Cup. Cadillac and Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, and Corvette Racing kept their respective advantages in the their respective of Teams' Championships with six rounds remaining in the season.

Race results
Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

Standings after the race

 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
 * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
 * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.


 * Note: Only the top five positions are included for all sets of standings.
 * ‡: Points count towards WeatherTech Sprint Cup championship only.