- Multiple Authors
- Jul 14, 2025
- 7 min read
IMSA - Storms, Strategy and Shakeups see Acura triumph in Watkins Glen
A rain-soaked, incident-filled race sees Meyer Shank Racing claim overall victory, GTD battles went down to the wire, and championship standings get a major reshuffle ahead of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
Contributions by Olly Shakesby and Charlie Thornton
QUALIFYING
Qualifying for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen featured tight battles across all four classes as teams fought for pole position, when in GTD, Zach Robichon secured pole position for the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo with a 1:44.788, edging out ahead of the #36 DXDT Racing Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the #32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. GTD Pro qualifying saw a flurry of improvements in the closing minutes, with the #9 Pfaff Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 driven by Andrea Caldarelli gradually lowering the benchmark to a 1:44.595, to take pole ahead of the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 Evo of Dan Harper, and the #4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 of Nicky Catsburg.
LMP2 qualifying was just as intense, with George Kurtz in the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR entry briefly leading the session, before several changes happened at the top, with Ben Keating, Ben Hanley, and then finally P.J. Hyett in the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07 trading fastest times, and Hyett clinched pole position with a 1:35.878. Steven Thomas in the #11 TDS Racing and Daniel Goldburg in the #22 United Autosports USA rounded out the top three.
In GTP, the pace was relentless from the start, with Dries Vanthoor briefly posting a time good enough for pole position in the #24 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8, just before he was quickly beaten by his teammate Sheldon van der Linde in the #25 BMW. The lead then changes hands multiple times, culminating in a storming 1:31.558 lap by Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura ARX-06. He secured pole ahead of Jack Aitken’s #31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, and Colin Braun’s #60 Acura ARX-06.
RACE
As the race got underway, the rain immediately began to influence the race, with the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca 07 LMP2 car stopped early, and a United Autosports car spun at the final corner as the showers intensified. Incidents also came in quick succession, with Louis Delétraz running off in the Bus Stop, Renger van der Zande locked up, but held the lead briefly, and a three-way scrap saw Felipe Nasr, Romain Grosjean, and Dries Vanthoor fan out down the straight. The lead battle was also relentless, with Aitken and Nasr swapping the top spot multiple times before a heavy downpour caused chaos in the pit lane, triggering further incidents and shuffling of the order.
Cautions punctuated the race from the start to finish, when a full course yellow was called when the #45 Wayne Taylor Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 of Graham Doyle crashed at turn one, and the restart led to even more drama, with multiple cars including the #04, #11 and #70 going off track, while United Autosports reported contact damage. Pit lane penalties further complicated many teams’ strategies, with the #31 Cadillac, who was an early contender, was jumped by the #93 Acura during the pit cycle, and later dropped to the back of the class after a stop-and-go penalty.
As the track switched between wet and dry conditions, the timing of tyre changes played a major role, as more drama followed when the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini of Misha Goikhberg spun at the Bus Stop, and a major collision involving the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, #11 TDS Racing and #8 Tower Motorsports left one of them without a windscreen. Meanwhile, the #60 Acura received multiple penalties, and the championship leading #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo disappeared into the garage before rejoining later on, but multiple laps down, and seriously out of major contention.
Throughout the middle hours, the GTD classes delivered intense battles when Ben Barnicoat and Laurin Heinrich dueled for GTD Pro supremacy in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 and #77 AO Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R respectively, while Antonio García and Max Hesse cycled through to the front in the #3 Corvette and the #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW. The #63 Automobili Lamborghini Squadra Corse Lamborghini SC63 lost major ground in the pits, and the #14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus suffered a loose wheel that forced an unscheduled stop.
As the race wore on, full course yellow’s continued to interrupt the rhythm, as the #25 BMW hit the wall at the horseshoe, while track limit violations plagued multiple entries. The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW and the #73 Pratt Miller Motorsports Oreca 07 were hit with drive-through penalties, the latter for jumping at a restart, and in the final stretch, the green flag waved once more before a final full course yellow closed out the six-hour marathon.
Despite the chaos, the race ran its full duration, with the race resuming with just a couple minutes to go, leaving just a couple of laps for the leaders to complete, which saw a couple break off into the pits, and the #60 Acura ARX-06 from Meyer Shank Racing with Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun come out on top and victorious over the two Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs. The #40 of Louis Delétraz and Jordan Taylor finished second, while the #10 entry of Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor rounding out the overall podium.
PODIUMS IN EACH CLASS
GTP: #60 - Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian, Acura ARX-06 - Tom Blomqvist & Colin Braun
LMP2: #22 - United Autosports USA, Oreca 07 - Dan Goldburg, Rasmus Lindh & Paul di Resta
GTD Pro: #48 - Paul Miller Racing, BMW M4 GT3 Evo - Dan Harper & Max Hesse
GTD: #27 - Heart of Racing Team, Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo - Tom Gamble, Zacharie Robicon & Casper Stevenson
CHAMPIONSHIP IMPLICATIONS
With another round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship completed, the standings have been very much shaken up, as a second race in a row sees Porsche Penske go winless, while Acura and Cadillac have seemed to improve their race pace and score some very deserved podiums and victories.
After an incredibly hard-hit and subsequent retirement from the race for the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport crew of Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, they have dropped to second position in the championship standings, with their sister #6 Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet inheriting the top position with 2028 points, ahead by just twelve points. Meanwhile, the #93 Acura, with their victory in Detroit and a solid performance in Watkins Glen, have found themselves in third position in the championship with 1766 points, 262 points behind the leaders. Elsewhere in the GTP standings, the winning crew of the #60 Acura have jumped up into sixth position, while the Cadillac’s and BMW’s have seemed to do a bit of swapping positions too. - In the Michelin Endurance Cup standings, the #7 Porsche continues to hold firm control of the championship with 35 points, while the #60 Acura and #6 Porsche continue to fill the second and third positions.
In LMP2, the winning #22 United Autosports USA crew have taken lead of the championship with 1023 points, just ninety-four points ahead of the #74 Riley crew, while the #99 AO Racing car, more affectionately known as ‘Spike’, has jumped from sixth to third with 912 points. A similar pattern has emerged in the Michelin Endurance Cup standings, with the #22 United Autosports jumping up to the top spot, while the #43 Inter Europol Competition team fall to second, and #99 AO Racing once again into third.
After a couple rough races for the #77 AO Racing Porsche 992 GT3 R crew, they have dropped to second in the GTD Pro standings, while the #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports crew jumped to first with 1632 points, fifty-two points ahead of ‘Rexy’. DragonSpeed’s #81 Ferrari 296 GT3 climbs a single position to third in the class with 1518 points, with the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports crew a single point behind in fourth, while the winning #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW crew of Dan Harper and Max Hesse jump to fifth with 1510 points. Equally, Paul Miller Racing continue to lead a 1-2 in the Michelin Endurance Cup with the #1 ahead of the #48 with 34 and 30 points respectively.
Despite a poor result at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo crew continue to lead the GTD standings with 1550 points, while the winning Heart of Racing #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo crew moved into second with 1490 points, just sixty points behind the leaders. Vasser Sullivan’s #12 Lexus moves from second to third in the standings, and is just a handful of points behind the Aston Martin crew. - The Heart of Racing crew have vaulted themselves from sixth to the top of the Michelin Endurance Cup standings with 27 points, equal to the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 and #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 crews.
CANADIAN TIRE MOTORSPORT PARK AWAITS
The next round of the 2025 IMSA SportsCar Championship heads to the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park near Toronto, Canada on the 12th - 13th July, where three classes, LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD will compete for honours in the LMP2’s headline race of the season.
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