IMSA Watkins Glen: Mazda carves through DPi pack for first win of 2021
The #55 Mazda Motorsports team of Oliver Jarvis, Harry Tincknell and Jonathan Bomarito secured its first win of this year's IMSA SportsCar Championship at the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen.
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
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 |
View full results |
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