Action Express ends WTR's streak with Glen win

Wayne Taylor Racing's perfect season came to an end in the first corner on the opening lap of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, and from its misstep, the door opened for Action Express Racing to earn the first non-WTR win of 2017 in the Prototype class with Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Filipe Albuquerque behind the wheel.

The AXR team kept Cadillac's streak of Prototype perfection alive, however, as Barbosa chased down the upstart JDC-Miller Motorsports team to take the lead with nine minutes left on the clock. Despite coming close to earning the first victory for a WEC-spec LMP2 car with the No. 85 ORECA 07-Gibson piloted by Stephen Simpson, Barbosa pounced in traffic to eke out a 1.183s win in the No. 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

• Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen results

"We've been together for a long time and we ran really well here today," Fittipaldi said. "I'm so, so happy. More than that, we've won [here] three years in the last five. This is awesome."

Attrition played a huge role in how the Prototype race was settled, and the tiny JDC-Miller team was rewarded for running clean and smart to the finish. Simpson was particularly fast, but lost out to Barbosa who was far more aggressive in traffic and used those decisive moves to catch and pass the ORECA.

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"The team did a fantastic job, my teammates were fantastic," Simpson said. "I was determined to get the win for them today, but it just didn't quite work out today. I just got a little unlucky with the traffic."

Mazda completed the podium with a fine third (+8.546s) as Jonathan Bomarito chased the leaders home in his No. 55 RT24-P to give the brand its second consecutive podium – a first for the Mazda Prototype team.

Prototype was the one class to deliver constant drama on Sunday. WTR opened the account with unnecessary contact that ruined its chances of winning six in a row as Ricky Taylor clashed with Olivier Pla in the No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier JS P217-Gibson and damaged the right-side suspension on his car. Next, the PR1/Mathiasen Ligier went from leading the race with Pla to making extra pit stops after being unable to fill the fuel tank. Then, Scott Sharp clipped the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing GTD Mercedes-AMG GT3 and spun the No. 2 Nissan Onroak DPi into the barriers, which ended the pole-winning car's chances of winning.

The contending No. 31 AXR Cadillac left the pits under yellow without the right-rear wheel nut tightened; for reasons unknown, rather than continuing slowly back to the pits during the caution which would have minimized the time loss, Eric Curran stopped on track and lost numerous laps while the DPi-V.R was loaded onto a flatbed trailer. The No. 70 Mazda RT24-P was sidelined early for a turbo issue that eventually led to its retirement. The sister No. 22 Nissan coasted to a stop on the front straight with just over an hour left to go, and not to be outdone, the repaired No. 2 Nissan came a halt with a little more than 30 minutes remaining.

In the end, only four prototypes were left on the lead lap, and with the crashes and malfunctions, the championship-leading WTR Cadillac went from last to sixth overall after cutting its six-lap deficit to three.

Taking nothing away from the No. 5 AXR Cadillac, it's fair to say its win at Watkins Glen was made possible by reliability and clean driving, rather than outright pace. Pla's fastest lap in the Ligier – a full second faster than Derani's pole time from Saturday – and the near-win by the JDC-Miller ORECA serves as an indicator of how quick the WEC P2s have become with the Cadillacs slowed by Balance of Performance changes. The comparatively untouched Nissans, which are making great speed without the shackles of BoP, could have toppled the Cadillacs, but were let down by persistent reliability woes.

GT Le Mans was its usual ragged self as BMWs, Corvettes, Fords and Porsches shared the lead throughout the event.

After missing out on pole position, the BMW Team RLL M6s were the class of the field in race trim as Alexander Sims and Bill Auberlen led a significant portion of the race in the No. 25 and withstood intense pressure from Ford Chip Ganassi Racing's Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Ford GT (+4.416s) that faded in the final minutes.

A spate of cut left-front tires with both BMW M6s hampered the factory cars, but fortune swung back in the No. 25's favor with a pit stop that took place moments before a yellow flag.

"That was long overdue," Auberlen said. "It was always bad luck that took us out of it. We've done a lot of testing and development. That's the first win for the M6 GTLM and I'm so proud of this team.

"In racing, you need some luck. How much better could it have been that we had a flat tire, came into the pits, didn't lose any time, did a driver change, and then a yellow comes out and puts us back to P1. We're super fortunate, but grateful to be here."

Brand-new Porsche driver Gimmi Bruni served a drive-through penalty for passing under yellow, but was mercurial in the No. 912 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR and almost had third secured until he was forced to pit with two minutes remaining to tend to a left-front tire puncture. Bruni's misfortune promoted Antonio Garcia, who spun moments into the race, to third in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R (+5.227s).

PC experienced lesser drama to open the race as a spin by the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entry while avoiding the crashing WTR Cadillac initially gave BAR1 Motorsports the lead, but it didn't last long as the undefeated No. 38 entry recovered and won with immense ease.

Pato O'Ward, James French and Kyle Masson covered the No. 26 BAR1 entry by three laps at the checkered flag and had 19 laps over the sister BAR1 car that completed the PC field. The win also came while dealing with a failed air jack system during the final pit stops.

"All the guys did a great job," said team owner Brent O'Neill. "At the end of the day when the air jacks failed, nobody panicked. Everything worked out. It's awesome."

If Prototype was a crapshoot, GTLM was a constantly rotating affair up front, and PC was all but inevitable, GT Daytona gave fans a proper six-hour fight as the pole-winning No. 93 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 and second-place No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8 LMS GT3 were rarely more than a few feet from each other throughout the day. Only in the latter stages, where a tire problem took the Audi out of the podium hunt, did the battle boil down the No. 93 Acura and the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3.

Home state favorite Andy Lally would not be denied as he and Katherine Legge earned back-to-back victories for MSR and Acura as the No. 93 barely kept Alessandro Balzan and the No. 63 (-0.592s) behind at the finish line.

"That is the only way to do it," Lally said. "I don't know where those laps came from. Man, we're in Victory Lane in New York!"

Legge was impressed by her teammate's inspired drive.

"Huge thanks to Andy; he was a frickin' rock star there," she said. "We got another one. Two in a row; hard to believe it."

In defeat, Balzan found some solace in strengthening the GTD championship lead he holds with teammate Christina Nielsen.

"I want to be honest: I was going for the win," he said. "For today, P2 is good for the championship."

UP NEXT: Opening practice at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, Friday, July 7.