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BMW team wins Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen after Porsche fails postrace inspection

andrew legare, elmira star-gazette
·4 min read

Mathieu Jaminet's late-race pass initially gave the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car a win Sunday in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International, but the car was assessed a post-race penalty that gave the victory to the BMW pairing of Connor De Phillippi and Nick Yelloly.

During inspection, the Porsche of Jaminet and co-driver Nick Tandy was found with a skid block that measured less than the permitted minimum thickness. Hours after the race finished, IMSA announced the ruling, which moved the car to the back of the finishing order.

That ruling gave the No. 25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW its first win in the modern Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) era of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship series.

De Phillippi won for the sixth time in the WeatherTech series. Yelloly claimed his first victory.

Porsche Penske Motorsports released a statement after the decision:

"Following post-race inspection at Watkins Glen International, IMSA has penalized the No. 6 entry in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen citing that the front skid wear of the No. 6 Porsche 963 was less than one millimeter outside the legal tolerance. The rear skid wear was noted to be well within the legal tolerance. Porsche Penske Motorsport plans to collect all of the data and follow the protest procedures.”

How race finished

After methodically but steadily closing the gap over several laps, Jaminet maneuvered past lapped traffic and race leader De Phillippi with six minutes on the clock. Two minutes after the pass, a crash that briefly sent Bill Auberlin's car upside down brought out a caution flag and Jaminet secured the apparent victory under yellow.

De Phillippi and Yelloly initially finished second out of a race record-tying 57 cars in the BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid. The field included nine cars in the top GTP class.

The Porsche penalty moved the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken to second place, followed by the Acura of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist in third for Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian.

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy leads the field during the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International. After taking the checkered flag, the team was moved to the back of the field for failing post-race inspection.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy leads the field during the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International. After taking the checkered flag, the team was moved to the back of the field for failing post-race inspection.

De Phillippi took the lead with just over 40 minutes remaining after Tandy made the final pit stop, turning over driving duties to Jaminet. De Phillippi led for 21 laps but saw Jaminet gain ground before the overtaking pass on the back straightaway.

With the large field, traffic in the four slower classes was expected to come into play and that's what happened. Jaminet trailed by more than seven seconds in the final stage of racing before getting within striking distance and making an inside pass as De Phillippi was slowed by two cars before splitting them as he dropped to second place.

The victory would have been the second in five races this season for Jaminet and Tandy. Their car started on the pole based on championship points after GTP qualifying was rained out Saturday.

More: Saturday recap from Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen weekend

Tough day for defending champs

The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz finished 47th at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.
The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz finished 47th at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Motorsport Konica Minolta Acura that won last year's race with drivers Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque ended up 46th on Sunday. The car lost its left rear tire at the 3:27 mark with Albuquerque behind the wheel. Earlier in the race, the car was black-flagged because of a low-pressure warning that led to a new left rear tire.

Louis Deletraz joined the duo for this year's race.

Other class winners

The No. 52 PR 1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin and Alex Quinn won the LMP2 class in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.
The No. 52 PR 1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Ben Keating, Paul-Loup Chatin and Alex Quinn won the LMP2 class in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.

LMP2: The trio of George Kurtz, Ben Hanley and Nolan Siegel topped the LMP2 class in the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR entrant, finishing sixth overall after the Porsche penalty.

LMP3: LMP3 winners in 12th overall were Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson and Josh Burdon for Riley Motorsports. Fraga and Robinson won at the track for the fourth time.

GTD: Frankie Montecalvo, Aaron Telitz and Parker Thompson were winners of the GTD class in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, placing 20th overall.

GTD PRO: Topping the GTD PRO class were Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, one spot behind their No. 12 teammates in the overall standings.

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy leads the field at the start of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports, Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet and Nick Tandy leads the field at the start of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen on June 25, 2023 at Watkins Glen International.

By the numbers

The four teams that finished on the lead lap completed 201 laps. There were 12 lead changes in the GTP class and five caution flags.

Follow Andrew Legare on Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare. You can also reach him at alegare@gannett.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today

This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly win Six Hours of The Glen