(Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Rain set in over Watkins Glen International during qualifying for the WeatherTech Championship, which led to the abandonment of the sessions for the three prototype classes. IMSA set the lineup for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen based on team points, meaning the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car driven by Nick Tandy and Matthieu Jaminet will start from the pole position on Sunday.
“I’m proud enough to be here because we’ve done the work up to now to be in the lead of the championship. It’s another pat on the back for the team and the teamwork that we’ve done so far,” Tandy, the GTP driver, said of the pole award. “Starting in the front, it’s another key point in qualifying just to try to stay out of trouble … what we don’t know is if it’s wet tomorrow, relative pace with the competition in the rain, which is something we would have perhaps found out if we were able to run the session today.
“The [GTP] cars actually look pretty even. They’re all pretty close. There’s a few teams that did test here quite recently, us included, which that does help when we have these wet/dry sessions … it might be a case of cars that are strong at the start of the stint and cars that are better toward the end of the stint.”
The LMP2 and LMP3 classes attempted to qualify, and as soon as they got onto the track, the rain picked up. IMSA had declared the track as dry, so most teams were on dry-weather tires. Entering Turn 7, three cars, nearly consecutively, hydroplaned while entering the corner and crashed. The No. 30 Jr lll Racing LMP3 car driven by Ari Balogh spun into the Armco barrier before piling into the tire wall. Seconds later, Ben Keating and the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen LMP2 car missed the corner and smashed into Balogh before the No. 17 AWA LMP3 car driven by Anthony Mantella also piled in. According to an IMSA spokesperson, all three drivers were treated and released from the infield care center.
Because of the incidents, IMSA abandoned the session and set the starting grid for LMP2 and LMP3 based on team points. The No. 11 TDS Racing car driven by Steven Thomas, Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker will start on the pole in LMP2, while the No. 74 Riley LMP3 car driven by Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon will start on the pole in LMP3.
Robinson had gotten onto the track with wet-weather tires but said that IMSA made the right decision by abandoning qualifying.
“I think it was definitely a safe and great decision to call it,” Robinson said. “It was definitely treacherous. It was deteriorating out there. We made the split decision right as everyone left to change to wet [tires]. I think that was definitely a good decision.
“We got six hours to figure out if we’re gonna be still in the front or not in the front. It would’ve been the same conclusion whether we were starting from mid-pack or the back anyway.”
Alternatively, Thomas was on slick tires and agreed that IMSA made the right call by canceling the rest of the qualifying session.
(Photo: Cornnell Chu | The Podium Finish)
“I think IMSA made the right decision there,” Thomas said. “Sometimes, when there’s a red flag, they’ll extend out. I think the rule is if we don’t get in a certain amount of time … at least by the time I came in, that was not a safe track on rain tires.
“I came out, I try to go as fast as I can, get heat in the tires. And then they come on and say it’s raining hard in Turn 9. Then I’m going up the back straight and it’s raining pretty good. By the time I got to [Turn] 7, though, I thought it was still manageable. And when I came out of [Turn] 8, it was really raining. Most of the time in the car after that was the engineer in my ear screaming ‘slow down, slow down, slow down,’ and I would go slower.”
Between part of Practice 1 in the wet and the abandoned qualifying session in the rain, Thomas said he was able to learn about how the track might react should it rain on Sunday.
“I think I learned where the rivers can be,” Thomas said. “You really see where the water was puddling, where it was running down, so that was helpful. And we had some — in [Practice 1], we had quite a bit of wet running and learned quite a bit, too. I think that if it’s wet, as long as it’s not rivers, the track is actually pretty drivable.”
Before the rain came, GTD and GTD Pro managed to complete qualifying sessions. Daniel Serra won the pole in GTD Pro for the No. 62 Risi Competizione team with a time of 1:44:829. The quickest time in GTD, however, outpaced GTD Pro. Loris Spinelli of the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT team got the pole in GTD with a time of 1:44:430. Spinelli got a new track record in the class, which was previously set by Jack Hawksworth in 2018.
Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is set for 10:40 a.m. ET on Peacock. USA Network will have live coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET.
