No. 31 Trio Wins WeatherTech Championship Race, IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup and IMSA Michelin Sustainability in Racing Award
By Tony DiZinno
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – The No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R led most of the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and secured its second straight IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race win at Watkins Glen International, after six hours of racing filled with nine full-course cautions and frenetic action in-between.
The trio of Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti enjoyed a thoroughly authoritative drive from the Motul Pole Award aboard their No. 31 Cadillac en route to their eighth straight Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) podium finish as well.
They led 143 of the 182 laps but needed to jump the No. 93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 on the final pit stop sequence, as they got ahead by pitting before the second-to-last full-course caution of the race.
For the No. 31 Cadillac, it was a triple victory as the car also won both the IMSA Michelin Sustainability in Racing Award and the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup portions of the race.
Acura was second, with Nick Yelloly holding off Laurin Heinrich at the finish. All three podium finishers had three-driver lineups. Yelloly shared his No. 93 Acura with Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta while Heinrich shared his No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 with Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick.
In Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), AO Racing scored its first win of the year with Dane Cameron, PJ Hyett and Jonny Edgar in their No. 99 ORECA LMP2 07. Cameron fought a hard-charging Alex Quinn in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA in the waning stages, however the overall leading No. 31 Cadillac got between the Nos. 99 and 04 cars by the time of the checkered flag.
Quinn was second in his No. 04 CrowdStrike car with George Kurtz and Toby Sowery, with the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA completing the podium in the hands of Naveen Rao, Jacob Abel and Ferdinand Habsburg.
The GT races came down to see whether teams gambling on a late-race yellow would be able to stretch their fuel and energy allotments without needing a final splash, but ultimately the potential podium cars in both categories needed to hit pit lane prior to the checkered flag.
It produced two new winners, though. Both Vasser Sullivan Racing and Manthey won in a second different class this year.
Vasser Sullivan Racing w/Dreyer & Reinbold scored the Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) triumph. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat won from pole in their No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3, for their first win since the 2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO (Neil Verhagen, Connor De Phillippi) was second ahead of the No. 64 Ford Racing Ford Mustang GT3 (Dennis Olsen, Ben Barker).
In Grand Touring Daytona (GTD), Manthey 1st Phorm won with the trio of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz in the No. 912 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992). The No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche (Adam Adelson, Callum Ilott, Tom Sargent) and No. 068 Car Blanche Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo (Valentin Hasse Clot, Marius Fossard, Trenton Estep) completed the podium.
Unofficially, the No. 31 Cadillac, No. 04 CrowdStrike APR, No. 14 Vasser Sullvan Lexus and No. 912 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche were the race winners in the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points portion for the race.