2021 6 Hours of The Glen

The 2021 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was an endurance 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 June 27, 2021. This race was the fifth round of the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2021 Michelin Endurance Cup.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2021 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in September 2020. It was the seventh year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.^[1] The 2021 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the fifth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2021 by IMSA, and it was the third of four races of the Michelin Endurance Cup (MEC).^[2] The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi (5.552 km) Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on June 27, 2021.^[3] The race marked IMSA's return to Watkins Glen after the previous year's edition of the event was canceled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the cancellation of the scheduled event at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park prompting the running of the WeatherTech 240, the six hour race became the first of two races in as many weeks at the track.^[4]

On June 18, 2021, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the event.^[5] In DPi, The Acura and Cadillac received slight fuel capacity reductions at one and two liters respectively, while the Mazda featured a 3.6 kW horsepower increase. The two GT classes saw minor adjustments, with the GTLM-class Porsche receiving a 10 kg weight reduction, while the Aston Martin received a 7.1 kW horsepower decrease and a two-liter fuel capacity decrease after winning the previous round at Belle Isle.

Before the race Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor led the DPi Drivers' Championship with 1398 points, ahead of Oliver Jarvis and Harry Tincknell with 1327 points, and Pipo Derani and Felipe Nasr with 1270 points.^[6] In LMP2, Scott Huffaker, Mikkel Jensen, and Ben Keating led the Drivers' Championship with 382 points, 32 points ahead of Ryan Dalziel, Dwight Merriman, and Kyle Tilley.^[6] With 715 points, Gar Robinson led the LMP3 Drivers' Championship, 25 points ahead of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun.^[6] Nicky Catsburg, Antonio García, and Jordan Taylor led the GTLM Drivers' Championship with 697 points, 41 points ahead of Cooper MacNeil followed by John Edwards, Augusto Farfus, and Jesse Krohn in third.^[6] With 920 points, the GTD Drivers' Championship was led by Bill Auberlen and Robby Foley, ahead of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn.^[6] 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.^[6]

A total of 38 cars took part in the event, split across five classes. 7 cars were entered in DPi, 5 in LMP2, 7 in LMP3, 5 in GTLM, and 14 in GTD. The pre-event entry list contained 40 entries, but both Sean Creech Motorsport and Forty7 Motorsports withdrew their LMP3 entries before the start of the weekend.^[7]

DPi featured the expected addition of the Ally Cadillac Racing #48 alongside the six full-season entries in the class.^[8] Four of the seven teams also elected to add a third driver to their lineups. In LMP2, United Autosports returned as part of their Michelin Endurance Cup schedule, while James French joined Tower Motorsport By Starworks for the first time in 2021.^[9] LMP3 featured a series of additions, including Marco Andretti's addition to the Andretti Autosport entry, United Autosports' IMSA LMP3 debut, and the long-awaited first IMSA SportsCar Championship appearance for Dawson Racing.^[10] GTLM saw the return of WeatherTech Racing after they missed the previous round at Detroit, while BMW Team RLL returned as part of their Endurance Cup campaign.^[8] In GTD, CarBahn with Peregrine Racing added another event to their Sprint Cup schedule,^[8] and NTE Sport returned after most recently appearing at Daytona in January.^[11] Wright Motorsports also announced prior to the event that Trent Hindman would replace Ryan Hardwick as Patrick Long's co-driver for the remainder of the season.^[8]

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted one hour on Friday while the second session lasted 75 minutes on Saturday.^[12]

The first practice session took place at 4:20 pm ET on Friday and ended with Oliver Pla topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:31.056, ahead of the No. 31 Cadillac of Mike Conway.^[13] Tristan Nunez was fastest in LMP2 with a time of 1:33.836.^[14] Oliver Askew set the fastest time in LMP3.^[15] The GTLM class was topped by the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R of Nick Tandy with a time of 1:42.517. Antonio García in the sister No. 3 Corvette Racing entry was second fastest and Jesse Krohn rounded out the top three.^[15] Jack Hawksworth was fastest in GTD.^[13] The session was red flagged twice. 7 minutes into the session, Kyle Tilley in the No. 18 Era Motorsports Oreca crashed at turn one after making contact with the No. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R of Simon Pagenaud.^[13] The final stoppage came when Matt Campbell's No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 suffered suspension damage after going airborne at the Inner Loop causing debris to be scattered onto the track.^[16]

The second and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:30.451. Ricky Taylor's No. 10 Acura was second fastest followed by Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Cadillac.^[19] Mikkel Jensen set the fastest time in LMP2.^[20] Felipe Fraga was fastest in LMP3 with a time of 1:39.937.^[21] The GTLM class topped by the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE of Connor De Phillippi with a time of 1:41.977. Antonio García in the No. 3 Corvette Racing entry was second fastest and John Edwards rounded out the top three.^[16] Kyle Kirkwood was fastest in GTD.^[20] The session saw one stoppage when Steven Thomas locked the No. 11 WIN Autosport Oreca 07's brakes at turn eight and hit the wall before collecting Zacharie Robichon's No. 9 Porsche.^[16][21]

Qualifying was broken into four sessions.^[12] The first was for cars in GTD class. Kyle Kirkwood qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 14 car for Vasser Sullivan Racing, beating Trent Hindman in the No. 16 Porsche by more than three-tenths of a second.^[24] Jaden Conwright in the No. 42 NTE Sport Audi was third followed by the No. 28 Mercedes-AMG of Daniel Morad, and The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW of Robby Foley rounded out the top five.^[25]

The second session was for cars in the GTLM and GTD classes. Antonio García qualified on pole in GTLM driving the No. 3 car for Corvette Racing, besting teammate Tommy Milner in the sister No. 4 Corvette Racing entry. Connor De Phillippi's No. 25 BMW was third, with the sister No. 24 car of John Edwards fourth. MacNeil rounded out the GTLM qualifiers.^[25] Jack Hawksworth set the fastest time in the GTD points paying session driving the No. 14 car for Vasser Sullivan Racing and earned 35 championship points. Hawksworth was 0.282 seconds clear of teammate Zach Veach in the sister No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing entry.^[26] Patrick Long was third in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche followed by Richard Heistand in the No. 39 Audi.^[25]

The third session was for cars in the LMP3 class. Austin McCusker qualified on pole for the class driving the No. 2 car for United Autosports. McCusker was 0.570 second clear of Jarett Andretti in the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier. Following in third was George Kurtz's No. 54 Ligier while The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 of Dan Goldburg was fourth.^[25]

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, beating Dane Cameron in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura by 0.119 seconds. Renger van der Zande's No. 01 Cadillac was third by Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 48 Ally Cadillac Racing, and Pipo Derani's No. 31 Cadillac rounded out the top five.^[27] Steven Thomas qualified on pole in LMP2 driving the No. 11 car for WIN Autosport, besting Ben Keating in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.^[28]

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

• ¹ The No. 55 Mazda Motorsports entry initially qualified sixth for the DPi class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the DPi field on the starting grid.
• ² The No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the LMP2 field as per Article 40.1.4 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting tires).^[34]
• ³ The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing initially qualified eighth for the GTD class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the GTD field on the starting grid.
• ⁴ The No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing entry was moved to the back of the GTD field as per Article 43.5 of the Sporting regulations (Change of starting driver).^[34]

Cameron and Pla advanced from sixth to fourth in the DPi Drivers' Championship. Magnussen and van der Zande dropped fourth to fifth.^[35] As a result of winning the race, Merrill, Nunez, and Thomas advanced from fourth to second in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship.^[35] With a total of 1090 points, Robinson's victory allowed him to increase his advantage over Bennett and Braun in the LMP3 Drivers' Standings.^[35] By finishing third place, De Phillippi, Eng, and Spengler advanced from fifth to third in the GTLM Drivers' Championship. Edwards, Farfus, and Krohn jumped from third to second while MacNeil dropped from second to fifth.^[35] With a total of 1296 points, Auberlen and Foley's victory allowed them to increase their advantage over De Angelis and Gunn in the GTD Drivers' Championship. Sellers and Snow advanced from fifth to third while Long dropped from third to fifth.^[35] Cadillac, Chevrolet, and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while WTR-Konica Minolta Acura, PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, Riley Motorsports, Corvette Racing, and Turner Motorsport kept their respective advantages in their respective Teams' Championships with seven rounds remaining in the season.^[35]

Class winners are denoted in bold and ‡.

• 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.