Grand-Am, Watkins Glen – Race Report
Barbosa Holds Off Gurney To Take The Win João Barbosa held off a determined Alex Gurney in a tight finish to capture the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the second round of the North American Endurance Championship. Barbosa caught Gurney in traffic with 20 minutes remaining and used lapped cars to his advantage to take the win by less than a quarter of a second. It was the second victory of the campaign for Barbosa and Darren Law in the #9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP, denying Gurney and Jon Fogarty their first victory of the year in the #99 Bob Stallings Racing Corvette DP. GT also went down to the wire, with Robin Liddell holding off Bill Auberlen by 1.340 seconds to give the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro co-driven by John Edwards its first victory of the season. Qualifying Scott Pruett claimed his first Daytona Prototype pole position in two years after setting a 1:41.309 in the final moments of the 15-minute qualifying session in the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley BMW. Antonio Garcia was the man bumped by Pruett, having previously headed the times in the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette DP that he was sharing with British racers Richard Westbrook and Oliver Gavin. João Barbosa would start third in the #9 Corvette. “It’s great to be back,” said Pruett. “It’s certainly been a long time for us at TELMEX/Ganassi. It was all we had. We wrung every little ounce we could out of the car.” Jordan Taylor claimed the GT pole with a 1:50.794 in the #75 Stevenson Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro GT.R; his second consecutive pole at the race after taking it in the #88 Autohaus Camaro (not competing in this race) last year. Frank Stippler gave the new Audi R8 Grand-Am its best qualifying run to date with a second-best GT time of 1:51.018 in the #52 APR car. Qualifying third was GT points co-leader Emil Assentato in the #69 FXDD Ferrari 458 Italia. Race Both pole-sitters held on to their leads at the start, with Pruett initially pursued by Garcia in DP, and Taylor by Robin Liddell who had made a great start in the sister #57 Stevenson Camaro in GT. João Barbosa soon found a way past into second in DP, but it wasn’t long before the yellow caution flags were being displayed (two caution periods fracturing the first hour of the race) after an electrical fire caused the luckless Magnus Racing Porsche to grind to a halt on Lap 14. John Potter got out safely, but the car had suffered race-ending damage. Alex Popow’s #2 Starworks Riley Ford had earlier had contact with the #41 Dempsey Racing Mazda of Charles Espenlaub causing both to pit, but neither was significantly delayed. Barbosa assumed the lead at the ensuing round of stops after slick work from Action Express got the #9 out before the #01 of Pruett, but the race went yellow again almost as soon as it had gone green after Max Angelelli’s #10 SunTrust Corvette shed some rear bodywork in pit exit. The DP positions remained unchanged, but Liddell had taken the GT lead and now had Sylvain Tremblay and Espenlaub between his car and Taylor’s. A spin for the Dempsey car soon afterwards moved the #75 back up to third and Taylor soon found a way past the #70 SpeedSource RX-8.  |
A third caution period early in the second hour saw the lead change again in both classes, with Memo Rojas heading DP in the #01, followed by Alex Gurney in the #99 Bob Stallings Corvette and Sebastien Bourdais in the #8 Starworks Riley. Things didn’t go so well for Robin Liddell during the caution as he lost out to Tremblay during the caution, and then was adjudged to have jumped the restart and was handed a penalty. This dropped the #57 down the order, while up ahead Jordan Taylor was retaking the lead in the other Stevenson GT.R. After such a caution-strewn start to the race, it was perhaps surprising that there now followed some three hours of green racing. The race for the lead remained close in both classes as the cars continued to cycle their drivers through and at the mid-way point of the race (93 laps complete) the order was: DP
Darren Law – #9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP
Scott Pruett – #01 TELMEX BMW/Riley
Ryan Dalziel – #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley
GT
Sylvain Tremblay – #70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8
Matt Bell – #75 Stevenson Chevrolet Camaro GT.R
John Edwards – #57 Stevenson Chevrolet Camaro GT.R It wasn’t rouble-free running for all cars, however. The #51 APR Motorsport Audi R8 of Dion von Moltke had to go behind the wall to have a broken hub replaced, while the #99 Corvette DP developed the same power-steering issue that had struck at Mid-Ohio. Richard Westbrook, meanwhile, had to pit the #90 Spirit of Daytona Corvette with a puncture shortly before the three-hour mark, after contact with the AF-Waltrip Ferrari 458 of Rui Aguas. The Italian would soon have further contact – this time with the Extreme Speed Ferrari of Johannes van Overbeek – but this was also ruled a racing incident. But things weren’t getting any better for the SunTrust Corvette, which has seen nothing but wretched luck recently. Ricky Taylor pitted the car on Lap 91 for work on the rear end, but the car was pushed behind the wall for good after 100 laps had been completed, with suspension damage. Despite its handling problem, the #99 Red Dragon was able to stay in the fight for the lead and pushed Ryan Dalziel’s #8 Starworks Riley hard during the Scottish driver’s stint at the head of the race during the fourth hour. When Dalziel pitted, Fogarty briefly took over in P1. In GT things were just as close. The #57 and #75 Camaros continued to battle with the #70 Mazda, but by now the #94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, the #69 AIM Ferrari 458 and the #59 Brumos Porsche were fully embroiled in the tussle. The green-flag period ended on Lap 140 after Eric Foss planted the #70 Horton Autosport Porsche in the Turn 8 gravel and had to be recovered. And this caution period was quickly followed by Full Course Yellow number 5 as Ben Keating struck the back of Dane Cameron’s #42 Team Sahlen Mazda and then struck the pitwall; the throttle of the #66 TRG Porsche then sticking open causing Keating to cross the track and eventually come to rest in the tyre wall, fortunately without injury or striking anyone else. The Mazda was able to continue after repairs. The caution ended on Lap 149, just before the end of Hour 5, with the restart seeing a collision between the #77 Doran Racing Dallara of Paul Tracy and the #2 Riley of Alex Popow that saw the Canadian racer spinning and continuing. The Venezuelan was deemed at fault by the officials and handed a ten-second stop/go. Also having to serve a penalty was Richard Westbrook, who was adjudged to have jumped the previous restart and who would subsequently be obliged to drive through the pitlane as a result. As the race entered its final 60 minutes, the order was: DP
Alex Gurney - #99 Bob Stallings Corvette DP
Sebastien Bourdais – #8 Starworks Motorsport Ford/Riley
João Barbosa – #9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP
GT
Robin Liddell – #57 Stevenson Chevrolet Camaro GT.R
Bill Auberlen – #94 Turner Motorsport BMW M3
Ronnie Bremer – #75 Stevenson Chevrolet Camaro GT.R Almost immediately, the sixth and final caution period began as Martin Ragginger abruptly pulled up the #17 Burtin Racing Porsche as smoke and flames forced him out. A full 17 minutes later (the caution period having been extended in order to reset the field) the green flags were waved and the race to the flag could begin. Gurney immediately tried to put some space between himself and his pursuers, but could only eke out a tenth or so from Bourdais in the opening laps after the restart. In the process he caused the top three to break away from the main pack. In GT, it was the opposite situation as things began to close up – Leh Keen had led from Jeff Segal, Robin Liddell, Bill Auberlen and Ronnie Bremer at the restart, but very soon found himself chased by a Camaro and a BMW as Segal quickly lost two places; and Liddell was soon making significant inroads into the Porsche’s four-second advantage. With 30 minutes to go, the top three in DP were covered by 0.783s and the top three in GT by 2.374s. Keen, however, hadn’t pitted during the recent caution and was now obliged to do so, dropping to seventh in class as a consequence. This left Liddell and Auberlen fighting fiercely for the lead, with the Scot having to be very assertive to hold the American back. On Lap 167, Barbosa saw a gap at Turn 1 and snatched second from Bourdais, leaving him a clear run at the leader. Scott Pruett had by now closed up on the lead battle in fourth and this caused Bourdais to have to defend, which in turn took the pressure off the Portuguese. Barbosa held on to the Red Dragon’s tailpipes as the two cars worked their way through the traffic and, on Lap 67, pounced down the inside at Turn 7 to retake the lead. The #9’s lead quickly extended to three seconds after Gurney was held up by slower cars, but once clear the #99 started to come back. On Lap 174 Barbosa's lead was 3.495s; on Lap 176, 1.838s; and by Lap 181, with the white flag flying, it was just 0.837s. But the damage had been done and despite his best efforts Alex Gurney fell just 0.238 seconds short of his and Jon Fogarty’s first win of the season. Bourdais held off Pruett to take third for Starworks. “Obviously, I was able to use traffic to my advantage," said João Barbosa. "Gurney did a great job. When I saw my opportunity, I knew it was probably my best shot and I had to go. I’m glad everything worked out.” "We analyzed the strategies of other teams over the last couple of years – the other winners – and how they broke up their driver pairings," said Darren Law. "It really came down to having whoever finished the race be as fresh as possible. It's such a long race, you really get worn out. So it paid off to have João fresh at the end. "There was a lot of strategy through the whole race. We did fuel with no tires at the beginning, so that gave us track position. Then at the very end, we played a strategy call on the final pitstop, as well. We came in for fuel only, but we came in with an hour left in the race and there was no way we were going to make it on fuel. It was a gamble – we needed a yellow [caution period] to get us through. Luckily, it worked out that way." “It feels good to be back in victory lane,” said Alex Gurney. “It’s a long race, so it shows the team can do it and we can be reliable, but I am definitely disappointed not to win. We were in good shape most of the day, worked our way to the front, and at the end of the race we were leading for a while but I caught a GT car at really the worst place on the track for me. It was a corner where I didn’t feel like we were very hooked up and João was, he got a good run and got by me. I managed to claw back and get right behind him in at least the last few corners but couldn’t get close enough to make the pass. “It’s a great result for the team that we certainly needed and these six-hour races are tough. There’s a lot of strategy and pit stops, you have got to do everything right, and today we were almost perfect.” “We are just really happy to be back on the podium,” said Jon Fogarty. “The GAINSCO guys have been working hard all year and we have just had a lot of things not go our way. We came up a little bit short today but after the kind of season we have had, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. We had a great car, we didn’t qualify very well, but we kind of made wholesale changes between qualifying and the race and luckily dialled it in this morning in the half-hour warm-up session. It was just a good race and pretty exciting there at the end, but a good clean race, happy to be on the podium but disappointed not to win.” "It was a nice weekend and a lot of fun," said Sebastien Bourdais. "These guys are crazy! I fit right in with them. I’ve heard a lot about Watkins Glen, and seen it a lot on TV, but I never had the opportunity to race here. Then I got an email from Peter Baron on Monday, and I decided to do it. It’s interesting. It’s a real man’s track. The Daytona Prototype package makes sense. The class is very competitive, and it’s good, hard racing.” Robin Liddell’s tenure of the GT lead had been no less comfortable than Barbosa’s had been in DP, but the #57 Camaro held on and crossed the line 1.340 seconds ahead of the Turner BMW of Bill Auberlen to take a first win of the season for himself and John Edwards. Jeff Segal took third in class for AIM, in the process denying Extreme Speed their first Grand-Am podium appearance. "What an amazing job the whole Stevenson Motorsports team did this weekend,” said Robin Liddell. “It was a two car effort and between us we pretty much dominated the weekend. “After the start we quickly moved up to second behind Jordan in the pole-sitting #75. We then went ahead of him after the first pit stop to lead the race but traded places once more after the second pit stop. Grand-Am then made a poor call on a restart after a yellow and penalized me for a jump start! It was clearly evident that I was only taking evasive action as there was clearly an incident ahead of me with cars jamming on their brakes and making contact. “Ironically I got back into the lead by the end of that lap, but then had to come into the pits to serve an undeserved stop/go penalty which then shuffled us to dead last. I was a bit upset about that so I set about making up as many spots as possible and think I worked my way back up to fourth or fifth. John then took over and drove superbly, getting us back up into the lead as well as saving enough fuel to get us back on target for the fuel strategy to the finish. “It was hot in the car due to the a/c and helmet blower failing but John soldiered on for around 2.5 hours which gave me an easier time for the last stint. We had a couple of hairy moments on restarts but essentially it came down to a battle between us and the BMW in the last hour whilst saving fuel and trying to avoid tripping over some slower GT cars or losing too much time with the faster DP's lapping us. Fortunately I held on and we came across the line in first place with just half a gallon of fuel left in the tank! “Finally!” said a delighted John Edwards. “The Stevenson Team has been on top of its game from the very beginning of the season, but a win has eluded us so far for one reason or another, but we got a victory at what is probably the second biggest race of the season, next to the Rolex 24. We made up ground in the championship, and we are also now leading the NAEC side of the championship, which comes with a nice bonus if we can hang on at Indianapolis. “I don't think I've ever seen a Rolex race go as long without any cautions as it did during the middle of the 6 Hour, which gave me green running for my entire 2.5 hour stint. Considering ambient temps were close to 90 degrees and our helmet blower failed halfway through my stint, it was a hard day's work! However, the car was working very well and I saved fuel throughout my entire stint so that we could make the race on only one more stop. A caution during Robin's final stint made us pit a little earlier than planned though, so Robin was very close to running out of fuel, which made his last lap the most nervous I've ever been watching a race! It was a big moment of relief to see him come out of the last corner under power and take the flag. I'm looking forward to carrying this momentum forward as we have the best shot at challenging the Ferrari for the championship in the next five races.” "Every time Liddell got slowed down by lapped traffic, I got a big run on him and then I got slowed down by the same lapped traffic," said Bill Auberlen. "One clear shot through and I could have gone by! We were side by side a few times; it was great racing right up until the very end. "Normally things deviate from the plan in a six-hour race, but it went flawlessly, not an extra second in the pits, driver changes were perfect, every driver did a perfect job. This is what it took to finish on the podium. It went exactly to plan." “It was a really, really difficult race,” said Jeff Segal. “With the hot weather, we knew the race was going to be tough from the onset, and with where we sit with the points right now, we just needed to have a clean race. Everybody knew that was the plan, and I knew it more than anybody, but I was the one at the wheel when we had an incident with another car. I feel really bad about it but it was just an unavoidable deal, we were struggling on top speed this weekend anyway, and that didn’t help anything. “We didn’t give up. We had a battered race car, and we didn’t have good track position, and we just took it one pass at a time, one pit stop at a time. The guys were stellar in the pits and we just kept leap-frogging people and making passes where we could. At the end that clever strategy played out. We finished with no gas in the tank, starving for fuel on the cool-down lap, and that’s exactly how it should be done.” The unofficial points situation after Watkins Glen was as follows: North American Endurance Championship DP: Action Express Racing, 28; Starworks Motorsport, 26; Chip Ganassi Racing, 25; Michael Shank Racing and Bob Stallings Racing, 24 GT: Stevenson Motorsports, 29; Magnus Racing, 24; Brumos Racing, 23; SpeedSource, 22; TRG, 21. Rolex Series DP: Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas, 233; Enzo Potolicchio/Ryan Dalziel, 230; Darren Law, 226; David Donohue, 220; Ozz Negri/John Pew and Richard Westbrook, 216. GT: Jeff Segal/Emil Assentato, 250; Robin Liddell, 234; Paul Dalla Lana, 221; Sylvain Tremblay/Jonathan Bomarito, 217; Leh Keen/Andrew Davis and Jordan Taylor, 200. Having seen four races in the space of a month, things are a little more relaxed in July for the Rolex Series runners, with just a two-day test on the 6th/7th and The brickyard Grand Prix (third and final round of the NAEC) on the 27th – both at the Indianapolis Speedway – to come. MH | 
