2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen

The 2023 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 25, 2023. The race was the fifth round of the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, and the third round of the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup.

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president John Doonan confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2022.^[1] It was the ninth year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2023 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the fifth of eleven scheduled sports car races of 2023 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 on June 25, 2023.^[3]

On June 3, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining Balance of Performance for the GTD and GTD Pro classes.^[4] A number of changes were made to the minimum weights of cars in the two classes, including 20 kg weight breaks for the Lamborghini, McLaren, and Mercedes.^[5] The Ferrari also received a 30 kg weight reduction, while the Corvette was handed a five kg reduction. The Corvette and Lexus also received horsepower increases following adjustments to the size of the cars' air restrictors. Finally, the Lexus received a three-liter fuel capacity increase, while the maximum fuel for the Acura was reduced by the same amount. On June 14, 2023, IMSA released the latest technical bulletin outlining BoP for the GTP class.^[6] A number of changes were made to the minimum weights of the cars. The Acura ran on 1053 kilograms of weight, the Porsche ran on 1043 kg, the BMW ran on 1038 kg and the Cadillac ran on 1037 kg. The maximum power output had been changed to 515 kilowatts of power for the Porsche, and 513 kW for both the BMW and Cadillac. The Acura remained on 520 kW.^[7]

After the Motul Course de Monterey one month earlier, Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet led the GTP Drivers' Championship with 1307 points, ahead of Pipo Derani and Alexander Sims with 1282 points, and Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor with 1241 points.^[8] With 730 points, the LMP2 Drivers' Championship was led by Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas with a sixty-three point advantage over Paul-Loup Chatin and Ben Keating.^[8] In LMP3, the Drivers' Championship was led by Josh Burdon, Felipe Fraga, and Gar Robinson with 380 points.^[8] Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth led the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship with 1415 points ahead of Jules Gounon and Daniel Juncadella with 1374 points.^[8] In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 1244 points, ahead of Brendan Iribe and Frederik Schandorff with 1182 points.^[8] Cadillac, Lexus, and BMW were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Porsche Penske Motorsport, TDS Racing, Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing each led their own Teams' Championships.^[8]

In LMP2, AF Corse ran the No. 88 Oreca 07 machine with Nicklas Nielsen, Luis Pérez Companc, and Lilou Wadoux. Additionally, Tower Motorsport's John Farano was replaced by Salih Yoluç in the #8 entry as Farano continued to recover from an injury suffered in a crash at Laguna Seca earlier in the season.^[9] In GTD Pro, MDK Motorsports withheld their planned GTD Pro entry for an additional round after forgoing the 12 Hours of Sebring due to BoP concerns. While the concerns had long since been addressed, team principal Mark Kvamme elected to focus on the team's GT World Challenge America program, which had completed a race event at Virginia International Raceway the previous weekend.^[10] After missing Sebring, Andrea Caldarelli returned to Iron Lynx's GTD Pro lineup alongside Jordan Pepper.^[11] Furthermore, the No. 61 Ferrari 296 GT3 entered, with drivers Miguel Molina, Ulysse de Pauw, and Simon Mann. In GTD, The No. 42 NTE Sport car returned with Jaden Conwright and Luke Berkeley.^[12]

There were two practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, one on Friday and one on Saturday. The first session lasted 90 minutes on Friday while the second session on Saturday lasted 105 minutes.^[13]

The first practice session took place at 4:30 pm ET on Friday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:33.563.^[14]

The second and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Colin Braun topping the charts for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, with a lap time of 1:32.311.^[16]

Qualifying was broken into three sessions. The first was for cars in the GTD Pro and GTD classes. Daniel Serra qualified on pole in GTD Pro driving the No. 62 Risi Competizione entry and the No. 78 Forte Racing powered by US RaceTronics entry driven by Loris Spinelli set the fastest time among all GTD cars.^[18][19]

The second session was for cars in the LMP2 and LMP3 classes. Steven Thomas and Gar Robinson were handed pole position for LMP2 and LMP3, respectively after the session did not reach minimum time to be declared official after cars aquaplaned off the track. Ari Balogh, driving the No. 30 Jr III Motorsports entry, spun into the inside wall of turn 7 before stopping alongside the tire barriers. Moments later, Ben Keating, driving the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry, aquaplaned off at turn 7 and hit the Jr III Motorsports Ligier. Not long afterwards, Anthony Mantella, driving the No. 17 AWA entry, also aquaplaned off the track at turn 7 and hit the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca. The red flag was thrown and caused the session to be abandoned. Championship points were not awarded and starting positions were set by teams' championship standings.^[19][20]

The final session of qualifying was for the GTP class. Nick Tandy was handed pole position after the session was cancelled due to poor weather conditions. Championship points were not awarded and starting positions were set by teams' championship standings.^[20][19]

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

As a result of being disqualified, Tandy and Jaminet dropped from first to third in the GTP Drivers' Championship. De Phillippi and Yelloly advanced from fifth to second while Derani and Sims took the championship lead.^[23] Hanley and Kurtz advanced from fourth to first in the LMP2 Drivers' Championship.^[23] Burdon, Fraga, and Robinson extended their advantage in the LMP3 Drivers' Championship over Boyd, Mantella, and Varrone to 124 points.^[23] In the GTD Pro Drivers' Championship, Barnicoat and Hawksworth extended their lead to 113 points over Gounon and Juncadella while García and Taylor moved from third after being fourth coming into Watkins Glen.^[23] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship while Montecalvo and Telitz advanced from fourth to second.^[23] Cadillac, Lexus, and BMW continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Riley Motorsports, Vasser Sullivan Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in their respective of Teams' Championships. Whelen Engineering Racing and CrowdStrike Racing by APR took the lead in their respective Teams' Championships with six races left in the season.^[23]

Class winners are 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.