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

Robby Foley led the final 22 laps to close out a victory for the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW late Saturday afternoon in the Sahlen's 120 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

Foley teamed with starting driver Vin Barletta to capture the 2-hour race at the 3.4-mile road course for their second overall win in five IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge races this season. They also won at Sebring in March.

The race started about 50 minutes late because of a thunderstorm and included three cautions in the final 30 minutes. It ended up going 46 laps, with Foley grabbing the lead on a restart when Eric Filguerias made a final pit stop.

"It was a crazy race," Foley said. "Vin did a great job just to survive when it was very wet and get us to the middle of the race. We made some changes, anticipating this kind of weather with a wet setup, and the car was really good."

Robert Megennis and Cameron Lawrence gave Turner Motorsport a 1-2 showing with a second-place finish in the No. 95 BMW, 0.680 seconds behind the winning duo.

Turner Motorsport has three straight Pilot Challenge wins at WGI, with Bill Auberlen and Dillon Machavern winning for the team in 2021 and 2022.

Ted Giovanis and Owen Trinkler, in the No. 64 Team TGM Aston Martin Vantage GT4, finished third in the field of 35 cars that included 20 Grand Sport entrants.

Tim Lewis and Roy Block won the Touring Car class in the No. 5 KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering Alfa Romeo, placing 13th overall.

Rain cuts short Six Hours qualifying

Starting spots for the top Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class in Sunday's Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen were determined by points after rainy conditions sent multiple cars off the track, leading to an early finish for qualifying in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event.

Cars in the GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes completed qualifying before the combined LMP2/LMP3 session was cut short after a hard rain fell just as the session got going. The cars of Ari Balogh, Ben Keating and Anthony Mantella went off the course, leading to a red flag.

Nick Tandy, driving the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 along with Mathieu Jaminet, will start from the pole position to lead a race record-tying 57-car field.

“Everybody wants to run in qualifying, but in a six-hour race especially, it’s not the most important part of the weekend,” Tandy said. “But honestly, when I saw the cars going off in the LMP2 session before and saw the forecast that was likely coming – and has come – I wasn’t excited to go out there because the level of risk for something going wrong is massive."

More: Starting grid

Joining Tandy's car on the front row will be the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken.

Starting third will be the No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz. Taylor and Albuquerque are defending race winners.

The Six Hours of The Glen begins at 10:40 a.m. Sunday. Peacock Premium will provide flag-to-flag coverage, with USA Network picking up the race from 2 to 5 p.m.

Spinelli paced qualifying

Fastest of the Six Hours of The Glen qualifiers to put down a time was Loris Spinelli, who turned a lap of 1:44.430 in the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. His time was a track record for the GTD class.

“I’m really happy,” Spinelli said. “Thanks to the team for all their hard work. They deserve this position. It’s a good way to start the race.

Top qualifier in the GTD Pro class, and No. 2 overall, was Daniel Serra in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.

WGI, Sahlen extend partnership

Watkins Glen International announced this weekend a multiyear extension with Sahlen Packing Company to continue as title sponsor of the Six Hours of The Glen.

Sahlen Packing Company, based in Buffalo, has been title sponsor of the race since 2003.

In addition, Sahlen's was announced as title sponsor for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at the start of the race weekend.

"The Sahlen family's passion and enthusiasm for sports-car racing and Watkins Glen is unparalleled," Rob Roessel, director of corporate sales at WGI, said in a press release. "We thank them for their contributions over the past 20 years and we look forward to the future."

Weekend winners

Other race winners at Watkins Glen this weekend:

• Lamborghini Super Trofeo: Kyle Marcelli and Danny Formal won Friday's and Saturday's races, giving them four consecutive victories in the series in the No. 1 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport car.

• Porsche Deluxe Carrera Cup North America: Friday's race No. 1 went to Jason Hart in the No. 20 MDK Motorsports Porsche 992, his first career triumph. Saturday's weekend finale was taken by Will Martin in the JDX Racing No. 9 Porsche 992. He won for the second time this season.

• Mazda MX-5 Cup: Aaron Jeansonne captured Friday's first race in the Mazda MX-5 Cup in the No. 24 JTR Motorsports Engineering Mazda MX-5. Selin Rollan won Saturday's race in the No. 87 car for Hixon Motor Sports. A seven-car incident early in the race produced a lengthy caution.

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