IMSA Watkins Glen: Mazda carves through DPi pack for first win of 2021

The trio had to start their Mazda RT24-P at the back of the seven-car DPi field following a change of engine overnight. There was more frustration during the early stages when Jarvis found himself trapped behind Tristan Vautier’s Mustang Sampling/JDC Cadillac.

The team’s first slice of good fortune came after 19 laps when a slower car forced Vautier off-line at the Inner Loop, which enabled Jarvis to sweep past.

All three drivers then worked hard to get back into contention, and took the lead for the very first time following pit stops during the final full-course caution with an hour remaining after the decision was made to change only one tire – the right-front, which had caused some concerns earlier in the race.

To change any more would have negated the time saved by the short fuel-fill, due to the Mazda having been one of the final cars to take on service during the previous pit stop sequence.

The strategy enabled Tincknell to jump from third to first ahead of former Mazda teammate Olivier Pla, whose Meyer-Shank Acura took on fresh left-side tyres only, and the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Kevin Magnussen.

The race went green again with 38 minutes remaining, which meant the leaders needed to eke out their fuel in order to reach the finish without the need for an extra stop.

#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 Acura DPi: Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Alexander Rossi, #60 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian Acura DPi: Olivier Pla, Dane Cameron

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

The final stroke of good fortune came with the timing of the white flag signifying one lap remaining before time expired. If Tincknell had crossed the lap just a few seconds earlier, he would have been obliged to complete one extra lap of the classical 3.4-mile venue. This likely would have been one too many, as the Englishman ground to a halt – out of fuel – on his cool-down lap.

Pla and Dane Cameron had to be content with second after leading the majority of the 200-lap race, while pole-winners Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, joined for the long-distance event by Alexander Rossi, maintained their slender championship lead with a third-place finish in their Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.

All five classes kept the crown entertained on a warm summer’s day with the Corvette C8.R of Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor winning GTLM by less than a second from the BMW M8 GTE of John Edwards/Jesse Krohn/Augusto Farfus.

Steven Thomas/Tristan Nunez/Thomas Merrill won LMP2 by just over a second in their WIN Autosport Oreca-Gibson, while Felipe Fraga/Gar Robinson/Scott Andrews (Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320) took the LMP3 spoils by 1.635 seconds.

The competition was equally close in GTD, although veteran Bill Auberlen combined with Robby Foley and Aiden Read to complete another accomplished victory for the Turner Motorsport BMW team and extend their points lead.

IMSA 6 Hours of Watkins Glen results

Cla	Class	Num	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	DPi	55	Oliver Jarvis Harry Tincknell Jonathan Bomarito	Mazda DPi	6:00'04.522
2	DPi	60	Dane Cameron Olivier Pla	Acura DPi	6:00'05.487	0.965
3	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Alexander Rossi	Acura DPi	6:00'13.914	9.392
4	DPi	31	Felipe Nasr Mike Conway Pipo Derani	Cadillac DPi	6:00'22.790	18.268
5	DPi	48	Jimmie Johnson Kamui Kobayashi Simon Pagenaud	Cadillac DPi	6:00'57.738	53.216
6	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande Kevin Magnussen	Cadillac DPi	5:58'45.375	1 Lap
7	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier Loic Duval Sébastien Bourdais	Cadillac DPi	6:00'07.187	1 Lap
8	LMP2	11	Thomas Steven Tristan Nunez Thomas Merrill	ORECA LMP2 07	6:00'54.756	4 Laps
9	LMP2	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker	ORECA LMP2 07	6:00'55.895	4 Laps
10	LMP2	22	James McGuire Wayne Boyd Guy Smith	ORECA LMP2 07	6:01'13.730	7 Laps
11	GTLM	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor	Corvette C8.R	6:00'41.332	13 Laps
12	GTLM	24	John Edwards Jesse Krohn Augusto Farfus	BMW M8 GTE	6:00'42.177	13 Laps
13	GTLM	25	Connor de Phillippi Philipp Eng Bruno Spengler	BMW M8 GTE	6:00'53.541	13 Laps
14	GTLM	4	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Corvette C8.R	6:00'56.107	13 Laps
15	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Scott Andrews	Ligier JS P320	6:00'10.601	14 Laps
16	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett George Kurtz Colin Braun	Ligier JS P320	6:00'12.236	14 Laps
17	LMP3	91	Jim Cox Dylan Murry Jeroen Bleekemolen	Ligier JS P320	6:00'45.517	14 Laps
18	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti Oliver Askew Marco Andretti	Ligier JS P320	6:01'03.807	15 Laps
19	LMP3	2	Niklas Kruetten Edouard Cauhaupe Austin McCusker	Ligier JS P320	6:00'52.933	17 Laps
20	GTD	96	Bill Auberlen Robby Foley Aidan Read	BMW M6 GT3	6:00'31.981	21 Laps
21	GTD	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	6:00'37.728	21 Laps
22	GTD	23	Roman De Angelis Ross Gunn Ian James	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	6:00'43.285	21 Laps
23	GTD	42	Don Yount Jaden Conwright Markus Palttala	Audi R8 LMS GT3	6:00'50.931	21 Laps
24	GTD	28	Daniel Morad Michael de Quesada Billy Johnson	Mercedes-AMG GT3	6:00'51.502	21 Laps
25	GTD	14	Aaron Telitz Jack Hawksworth Kyle Kirkwood	Lexus RC F GT3	6:00'51.763	21 Laps
26	GTD	9	Zacharie Robichon Laurens Vanthoor Lars Kern	Porsche 911 GT3 R	6:00'52.123	21 Laps
27	GTD	16	Patrick Long Jan Heylen Trent Hindman	Porsche 911 GT3 R	6:00'52.410	21 Laps
28	GTD	39	Richard Heistand Jeff Westphal Tyler McQuarrie	Audi R8 LMS GT3	6:00'52.838	21 Laps
29	GTD	88	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Andrew Davis	Porsche 911 GT3 R	6:00'58.292	21 Laps
30	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo Zach Veach Robert Megennis	Lexus RC F GT3	6:01'03.180	21 Laps
31	LMP3	84	Theodor Olsen Dominic Cicero Ben Devlin	Ligier JS P320	6:00'36.041	22 Laps
32	GTD	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	Acura NSX GT3	6:00'55.833	53 Laps
33	LMP2	8	John Farano Gabriel Aubry James French	ORECA LMP2 07	4:56'28.257	54 Laps
34	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel	ORECA LMP2 07	3:30'25.582	115 Laps
35	GTD	19	Mikhail Goikhberg Franck Perera Tim Zimmermann	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	2:28'21.000	127 Laps
36	GTD	75	Kenny Habul Mikael Grenier Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG GT3	2:55'57.148	138 Laps
37	LMP3	38	Rasmus Lindh Mateo Llarena Dan Goldburg	Ligier JS P320	1:02'17.265	169 Laps
38	GTLM	79	Cooper MacNeil Mathieu Jaminet Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	5'44.335	197 Laps
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