Crowdstrike Racing by APR triumphs at Watkins Glen

Two Acura ARX-06s and nine ORECA 07s competed in the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, the fifth round of an intense season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

After winning the LMP2 Pro-Am class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, CrowdStrike by APR went on to win the LMP2 class in a hard-fought race full of twists and turns! The championship-leading team of Ben Hanley, Nolan Siegel and George Kurtz leads the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07 and the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports.

While TDS Racing’s #35 avoided the pitfalls to snatch fourth place, the French team’s sister car #11 saw its podium hopes dashed in the very first hour of the race. While Salih Yoluc of Tower Motorsports was battling with Ben Keating of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, the latter spun, sending Steven Thomas’s #11 ORECA 07 into the tires. While the #11 was forced to retire, Tower Motorsport’s #8 managed a top 5 finish ahead of AF Corse’s #88 ORECA 07.

Two other cars were forced to retire: the #20 High Class Racing ORECA 07, hit by a GTP early in the race, and the #51 Rick Ware Racing car.

The GTP race was just as eventful. Meyer Shank Racing’s #60 Acura ARX-06 took third place on the podium after leading the field several times. Although Tom Blomqwist had hoped to give his team a second-place finish, an FCY prevented him from doing so in the final minutes of the race, which ended behind the safety car.

On the Wayne Taylor Racing side, Louis Delétraz had to make a first unscheduled pit stop to re-fix the front left tire, before Filipe Albuquerque was forced to slow down and return to the pits because of a loose wheel. Although the crew fought hard to catch up, Ricky Taylor was forced to retire with 40 minutes to go due to a brake problem.

On July 9 in Canada, only the GTP, LMP3, GTD Pro and GTD will contest the sixth round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The LMP2s will be back one track on August 6 at Road America.