After methodically but steadily closing the gap over several laps, Mathieu Jaminet maneuvered past lapped traffic and race leader Connor De Phillippi with six minutes on the clock for the winning move in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International.
Two minutes after the pass, a crash that briefly sent Bill Auberlin’s car upside down brought out a caution flag and Jaminet secured the victory under yellow for him and No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports teammate Nick Tandy in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship event.
De Phillippi and co-driver Nick Yelloly finished second for the No. 25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW out of a race record-tying field of 57 drivers that included nine cars in the top Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class.
Third place went to the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken, followed by the Acura of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist in fourth for Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb Agajanian.
How the race was won
De Phillippi took the lead with just over 40 minutes remaining after Tandy made the final pit stop, turning over driving duties to Jaminet. De Phillippi led for 21 laps but saw Jaminet gain ground before the deciding pass on the back straightaway.
With the large field, traffic in the four slower classes was expected to come into play and that’s precisely what happened. Jaminet trailed by more than seven seconds in the final stage of racing before getting within striking distance and making an inside pass as De Phillippi was slowed by two cars before splitting them while dropping to second place.
“I just gave it all,” said Jaminet, a native of France. “It was every lap a qualifying lap. So much risks taken in traffic. Before I got in the car the team told me it’s all in for the victory. We don’t think of the championship, we want to win this race. I’ve never won here. … As soon as I had a gap and had a chance, I just went for it.”
The victory was the second in…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply