LMP2, GTD PRO Have New Leaders Leaving Watkins Glen
By Tony DiZinno
Official Points
Official IMEC Points
Trueman-Akin Award Points
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Two of the four IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship classes have new points leaders leaving the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, while the other two solidified and expanded their leads.
The two single drivers leading their classes – Jack Aitken (Grand Touring Prototype) and Eduardo “Dudu” Barrichello (Grand Touring Daytona) – saw their leads grow by 59 (Aitken, from 144 to 203) and 17 (Barrichello, 140 to 157) after the race at Watkins Glen International.
Meanwhile in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) and Grand Touring Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) classes, new leaders emerged.
CrowdStrike Back to LMP2 Lead; AO Leaps from Sixth to Second
The No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA LMP2 07 regained the top spot after entering Watkins Glen just three points behind the No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA. With a second-place finish, George Kurtz, Alex Quinn and Toby Sowery now hold a 55-point margin over two cars.
Those two are the prior leaders, the No. 22 United ORECA of Daniel Goldburg, Paul Di Resta and Rasmus Lindh, and Watkins Glen winners AO Racing with PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Jonny Edgar in the No. 99 ORECA. United’s No. 22 car will go down to a single championship challenger as Ben Hanley will race alongside Goldburg at CTMP, filling in for Di Resta.
Hyett, last year’s LMP2 champion with Cameron, was thrilled to rise from sixth, 92 points back leaving Sebring to now tied for second just 55 in arrears.
“I’m thrilled to hear that because we entered this weekend with P6 in the championship because silly stuff like you catch the wrong side of a safety car,” he said. “To be catapulted up and tied for second now is an absolute thrill.”
The 2024 champions, Inter Europol Competition, are in striking distance with Tom Dillmann, Jeremy Clarke and Bijoy Garg, fourth and 107 back in their No. 43 ORECA. Dillmann won at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in 2024 with Nick Boulle but sustained injuries in a late-race incident there in 2025, so he’ll be looking for redemption this year.
Paul Miller Racing BMW Now Leads Both GTD PRO Full-Season and Michelin Endurance Cup
It’s become old hat to talk about Paul Miller Racing in relation to maximizing IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup points, as back-to-back champions in GTD PRO in this format the last two years. But there’s a good chance they could win the full-season GTD PRO crown too based on its form.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona winners added a second place at Watkins Glen to jump ahead of both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs. Connor De Phillippi and Neil Verhagen turned an 18-point deficit into a 60-point lead leaving Watkins Glen in their No. 1 BMW M4 GT3 EVO while the Corvette duo finished fourth (No. 3) and eighth (No. 4). The No. 4 car was assessed a post-race time penalty equivalent to a drive-through for incident responsibility with the No. 65 car on the last lap.
“Notoriously over the past couple of years, Paul Miller Racing has always been very competitive in the Endurance Cup,” Verhagen noted heading into Watkins Glen. “It’s something that we always seem to have a good strategy to maximize the points.
“This year for sure the goal, and especially with our championship standings at this point is to focus on the actual championship that we’re still trying to still win. We know what to do and how to win an Endurance Cup championship. But we’re trying to show that we’re not just Endurance Cup champions, and that we have the material and the means to go and win an actual IMSA championship.”
For good measure, they’re also leading the Michelin Endurance Cup points through three of five rounds, up by seven over third driver Max Hesse and nine on the next entries, the No. 4 Corvette and No. 911 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R (992).
Manufacturer Standings Close Across Categories
Cadillac’s perfect haul of available points in the last two races has pushed it past Porsche to lead the GTP manufacturer championship by 80, 2,182 to 2,102 with three races to go.
The tight GTD PRO manufacturer battle sees the top three covered by less than 100 points; Chevrolet leads BMW by 72 points and Ford by 98. Porsche sits fourth, ahead of Lexus, Lamborghini and McLaren among the class’ seven full-time OEMs.
Aston Martin leapt ahead of Ferrari in GTD, up 37 points after entering the weekend down by just three. Mercedes-AMG, Porsche and Lexus are just over 100 points back.
The LMP2, GTD PRO and GTD cars are back in action at the Chevrolet Grand Prix, July 10-12, from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. GTP resumes as part of the next IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup round, the six-hour Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix, July 30-August 2 from Road America.