The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is about to get fast and furious.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on June 30 launches the annual summer stretch of five races over the course of nine weekends which undoubtedly will shape the championship picture heading into the final rounds this fall.
What’s more, the six hours marks the third of four rounds of the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup, officially making it “go time” for any serious contenders for that prestigious title.
The entry list for the 2019 rendition of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen includes 37 cars across the four competing classes. There will be 11 entries in the lead Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class, two in LMP2, eight in GT Le Mans (GTLM) and 16 GT Daytona (GTD) entries.
The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen will be televised in the U.S. on NBCSN at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 30, with live streaming of the race in its entirety that day on the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com at 9:30 a.m. ET.
IMSA Radio also will have live coverage throughout the weekend on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, with race coverage airing on SiriusXM Radio (Sirius channel 218, XM 202, Streaming 972).
Tickets are available now on TheGlen.com.
Here’s a closer look at this year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen field. You can see the entry list here.
· No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R driver Joao Barbosa and No. 44 Magnus Racing Lamborghini Huracán driver Andy Lally are the winningest active drivers in this year’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen field with four victories each.
· All four of Barbosa’s victories were overall wins in the Six Hours. He won back-to-back GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series races in the top Daytona Prototype (DP) class in 2012 and 2013 and claimed overall and Prototype (P) class wins in the WeatherTech Championship in 2016 and 2017. He’s tied with Scott Pruett for most overall victories in the prestigious endurance race.
· Lally’s first Six Hours victory came in 2004 in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Super Grand Sport (SGS) class, and he added a pair of GRAND-AM GT wins in 2007 and 2010. His most recent victory came in the WeatherTech Championship GTD class in 2017.
· Ford Chip Ganassi Racing is the winningest active team in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with a total of six victories. The team’s record includes four GRAND-AM DP/overall wins starting in 2004 and including three consecutive in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The team’s other two victories came in the WeatherTech Championship GTLM class in 2016 and last year, when Joey Hand and Dirk Mueller co-drove the team’s No. 66 Ford GT to victory. If either the No. 66 or the team’s No. 67 entry shared by Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe – who won the Six Hours in 2016 – wins this year, the team will move into a tie with Brumos Racing for most all-time team wins in the Six Hours.
· No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 driver Bill Auberlen has the most pole positions at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with three, the most recent coming in the GRAND-AM GT class in 2004. He also won back-to-back poles in IMSA GTS-3 in 1997 and USRRC GT3 in 1998.
· Eight drivers on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen entry list were podium finishers in last weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, led by GTE Am class winner Patrick Lindsey, who returns to the cockpit of his No. 73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R in the GTD class at Watkins Glen.
· All four classes at Watkins Glen have at least one Le Mans podium-finishing driver. The DPi class includes Mike Conway in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi, who finished second at Le Mans for Toyota in the LMP1 class. The LMP2 class at Watkins Glen includes French driver Gabriel Aubry in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry, fresh from a second-place run in LMP2 at Le Mans. In GTLM, No. 911 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR co-drivers Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy and No. 912 Porsche driver Earl Bamber finished third in GTE Pro at Le Mans. In addition to Lindsey, the GTD class also includes No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 co-drivers Cooper MacNeil and Toni Vilander, who finished third for WeatherTech Racing in GTE Am at Le Mans.
Previous Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Winning Drivers in 2019 Field (29)
Andy Lally (4) – GRAND-AM SGS – 2004; GRAND-AM GT – 2007, 2010; GTD – 2017
Joao Barbosa (4) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012, 2013; P/Overall – 2016, 2017
Bill Auberlen (3) – GRAND-AM GT – 2002, 2004; GTLM – 2017
Richard Westbrook (3) – P/Overall – 2014, 2015; GTLM – 2016
Spencer Pumpelly (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2007, 2010
John Edwards (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2012, 2013
Renger van der Zande (2) – PC – 2015, 2016
Dirk Werner (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2009
Ricky Taylor (1) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011
Andrew Davis (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2011
Tristan Nunez (1) – GRAND-AM GX – 2013
Jon Bennett (1) – PC – 2014
Colin Braun (1) – PC – 2014
Antonio Garcia (1) – GTLM – 2014
Jan Magnussen (1) – GTLM – 2014
Dane Cameron (1) – GTD – 2014
Bryan Sellers (1) – GTLM – 2015
Ryan Briscoe (1) – GTLM – 2016
Christina Nielsen (1) – GTD – 2016
Filipe Albuquerque (1) – P/Overall – 2017
Kyle Masson (1) – PC – 2017
Katherine Legge (1) – GTD – 2017
Misha Goikhberg (1) – P/Overall – 2018
Chris Miller (1) – P/Overall – 2018
Stephen Simpson (1) – P/Overall – 2018
Joey Hand (1) – GTLM – 2018
Dirk Mueller (1) – GTLM – 2018
Dillon Machavern (1) – GTD – 2018
Don Yount (1) – GTD – 2018
Previous Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Pole-Winning Drivers in 2019 Field (13)
Bill Auberlen (3) – IMSA GTS-3 – 1997; SCCA USRRC GT3 – 1998; GRAND-AM GT – 2004
Andy Lally (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2005; GTD – 2017
Jordan Taylor (2) – GRAND-AM GT – 2011, 2012
Colin Braun (2) – PC – 2014; P/Overall – 2018
Richard Westbrook (2) – GTLM – 2016, 2018
Joao Barbosa (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2002
Dirk Werner (1) – GRAND-AM GT – 2009
Ricky Taylor (1) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011
Renger van der Zande (1) – PC – 2016
Mario Farnbacher (1) – GTD – 2016
Pipo Derani (1) – P/Overall – 2017
Joey Hand (1) – GTLM – 2017
Jack Hawksworth (1) – GTD – 2018
Previous Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Winning Teams in 2019 Field (13)
Chip Ganassi Racing (6) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010; GTLM – 2016, 2018
Action Express Racing (4) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2012, 2013; P/Overall – 2016, 2017
Turner Motorsport (2) – GTD – 2014, 2018
Starworks Motorsport (2) – PC – 2015, 2016
Wayne Taylor Racing (1) – GRAND-AM DP/Overall – 2011
CORE autosport (1) – PC – 2014
Corvette Racing (1) – GTLM – 2014
Riley Motorsports (1) – GTD – 2015
Scuderia Corsa (1) – GTD – 2016
Performance Tech Motorsports (1) – PC – 2017
BMW Team RLL (1) – GTLM – 2017
Meyer Shank Racing (1) – GTD – 2017
JDC-Miller Motorsports (1) – P/Overall – 2018
Previous Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen Winning Manufacturers in 2019 Field (6)
Porsche – 53
Chevrolet – 18
Ford – 14
BMW – 11
Ferrari – 7
Mazda – 4
Lexus – 3
Acura – 1
Cadillac – 1
Nissan – 1
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