Penske Racing

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Race Report - Watkins Glen

July 1, 2019

Track: Watkins Glen International
Race: Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen
Date: June 30, 2019


No. 6 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Dane Cameron/Juan Pablo Montoya

Start: 2nd
Overall Finish: 3rd
Class Finish: 3rd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 211/211

Recap:

  • Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya continued their strong run of late by scoring a third-place, podium finish in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International. The finish gives the duo the lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the first time this season.

  • Cameron qualified the No. 6 Acura DPi Prototype on Saturday afternoon, narrowly missing out on the team’s third pole position of the year before settling with a second place starting position for the six-hour endurance event.

  • Unfortunately for the No. 6 team they were put in a hole before the race began when it was discovered they had a left-front tire going down just after the pre-race ceremonies concluded. This resulted in them having to start at the end of the field and also serve a pass-through penalty when the race began for changing the tire.

  • After serving the penalty, Cameron started the team’s arduous climb back through the field from the 29th position, but just prior to the two-hour mark of the race both Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya had driven up to the fourth position.

  • Montoya restarted from the lead on lap 169, at the four hour and 53-minute mark, following a lengthy caution and despite saving fuel he was able to hold off the eventual race winning teams from Mazda Team Joest well into the final hour of the race.

  • Unable to hold the two competitors behind, Montoya eventually settled in to ensure the team brought home a podium finish and the solid points that come with it.

  • The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series will next visit Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Sunday, July 7 for the Sports Car Grand Prix presented by Acura, a rare back-to-back for the series.

Quote:

"Apart from the late-race contact when we were saving fuel it was a good day for the No. 6 Acura team. We didn’t hit anything and had a pretty smooth day. After the contact with the Mazda we were going through the ‘bus stop’ and something flew off and hit the front of our car again, which didn’t help us. We had good pace today, but the Mazdas were in their own league. For us, it was a solid result and good for the championship."
- Juan Pablo Montoya

 

No. 7 Acura ARX-05 DPi – Helio Castroneves/Ricky Taylor

Start: 3rd
Overall Finish: 5th
Class Finish: 5th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 211/211

Recap: 

  • The No. 7 Acura DPi team of Helio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor looked to be heavy competition for the race-winning Mazda Team Joest duo early in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen on Sunday afternoon, but mid-race contact shuffled the team back in the top five, resulting in a fifth-place finish.

  • Taylor gave the team a great starting position by clocking in with the third-fastest lap in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, just behind their teammates in the No. 6 Acura Prototype.

  • When the race began, Taylor quickly settled into the second position after the penalty administered to the No. 6 team. He would drop to the third position just prior to the one-hour mark after fighting a bit of rear-tire degradation.

  • As the race moved toward the halfway point, Taylor and Castroneves had the No. 7 Acura solidly in the top-four positions as they raced with the No. 6 Acura to chase down the leaders. Unfortunately, at the 3:34 mark of the six-hour race, Castroneves made contact with the No. 52 LMP2 entry in Turn 1 causing both cars to spin and continue. This allowed the No. 6 to move past as Castroneves dropped to fifth, the position in which they would finish.

  • The fifth-place result allowed the No. 7 Acura team to remain third in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship points, five points behind their teammates with the next race at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on Sunday, July 7.

Quote:  

"It was another good day for Acura Team Penske. We collected a lot of points and were pushing as hard as we could. We had a little incident in Turn 1 with an LMP2 car and I thought that he saw me, but obviously not. That probably cost us a fourth-place finish. The 6 car did a good job battling back from adversity and at the end of the day we collected points. We will keep digging and see if we can get our win."
- Helio Castroneves

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