Watkins Glen IMSA: Mazda beats Acura in thrilling Six Hours
Harry Tincknell, Oliver Jarvis and Jonathan Bomarito scored Mazda’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of 2021 after a thrilling shootout with Meyer Shank Racing’s Acura at Watkins Glen.

Prototype
At the halfway mark, Felipe Nasr was leading for Action Express Racing, ahead of the Acura ARX-05s of Olivier Pla (Meyer Shank Racing) and Alexander Rossi (Wayne Taylor Racing).
The latter was under pressure from Renger van der Zande’s Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac which had made a bold restart to move from seventh to fourth in the space of three laps. Kamui Kobayashi in the second AXR Caddy lost six seconds as he fell off the road at Turn 7, but managed to stay ahead of Bomarito, who IMSA Radio reported was struggling with rear tire grip in the Mazda RT24-P.
Rossi made the WTR Acura’s fifth stop with 2hr34min to go, which triggered the other Prototypes to come in, Pla handing off to Bomarito handing off to Jarvis, Nasr handing the #31 AXR car to Mike Conway but incurring a drive-through penalty for speeding on pitlane. Van der Zande was able to pit last because he had had a top-up in the previous yellow.
Cameron pulled edged away from Rossi at the front, and replacing Rossi with Filipe Albuquerque didn’t make any difference, so that the Meyer Shank Racing driver’s lead stretched out to 13sec.
The #10 WTR Acura was left to just about stave off the #01 CGR Cadillac and Mazda, and following the next round of stops, with just over 70mins to go, both Kevin Magnussen in the DPi-V.R car and Tincknell newly installed in the RT24-P were able to jump Albuquerque and stay there.
The field was then bunched under a full course yellow with around 65mins to go, thanks to Tower Motorsports’ Gabriel Aubry getting it all wrong at Turn 1, spinning off the curbs and hitting the barrier.
All seven cars pitted, and Mazda chose to take on fuel only, allowing Tincknell to leave the pits ahead of Pla, Magnussen and Albuquerque.
The green flag flew with 37mins to go and Tincknell made a strong getaway, with Pla similarly well clear of the Magnussen vs Albuquerque battle in which the Ganassi driver prevailed.
However, this was far from over, and with 15mins to go, Albuquerque and Derani knocked Magnussen down to fifth.
At the front of the class, Tincknell got his lead out to as much as three seconds, but with eight minutes to go, Pla had cut that down to half a second, the pair of them now over six seconds clear of Albuquerque.
Hitting GTD traffic saw the gap between the two leaders concertina in and out, expanding to two seconds, then back down to half a second, but eventually passing the checkered flag 0.965sec ahead of Pla.
Albuquerque was left 9.39sec behind, but ahead of Derani while Kobayashi was pinged for drilling the rear of Magnussen’s Ganassi Cadillac as the Danish rookie sought to save fuel. The #01 car was spun deep into the gravel trap.
Mazda’s tight margin on fuel was revealed when Tincknell couldn’t even complete his slowdown lap.
Steven Thomas, Tristan Nunez and Thomas Merrill of WIN Autosport clinched LMP2, beating Mikkel Jensen, Scott Huffaker and Ben Keating of PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports by 1.1sec.
In LMP3, Scott Andrews, Felipe Fraga and Gar Robinson drove Riley Motorsports to victory just ahead of CORE autosport’s Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and George Kurtz, with the second Riley car completing the podium, well ahead of Andretti Autosport who were classified a lap down.
GT Le Mans
After the half distance restart, Tommy Milner led Jordan Taylor in a Corvette 1-2 ahead of the two BMW M8s, although the next pitstops saw Philipp Eng moving the #25 M8 to the front, with the #3 Corvette – now driven by Antonio Garcia – ahead of the #4 C8.R now piloted by Nick Tandy.
However, Tandy went a lap longer in the next pitstop sequence and jumped ahead of both the BMW and teammate Garcia to lead the class, although his advantage was erased with 65mins to go with the final long yellow.
At the final restart, Tandy couldn’t get away from Garcia, and with 28mins to go, Garcia dragged past him on the run up to the Bus Stop, and John Edwards in the #24 BMW also passed the #4 car, with Tandy reporting that the car had an issue.
Garcia then pulled away from Edwards to the tune of 3.5sec, but the reigning GTLM champ suddenly found Edwards in his mirrors as they negotiated traffic.
De Phillippi managed to depose the struggling Tandy three laps from home to claim third.
GT Daytona
Jan Heylen in the Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R and Aaron Telitz in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 enjoyed a great battle as the second half of the race began, separated by just a few tenths of a second.
The clean nature of their battle allowed them to draw 4.5sec ahead of Madison Snow in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, Robby Foley’s Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3, Roman De Angelis’ Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 and Jaden Conwright’s NTe Sport Audi R8 LMS.
Telitz was first of these GTD frontrunners to make his fifth stop, and he handed over to fulltime teammate Jack Hawksworth, while Heylen gave the Wright car to Pat Long, Snow handed over to Bryan Sellers.
Vasser Sullivan’s pitstop was a short-fill so it sent Hawksworth out 10sec ahead of Long, who whittled his deficit down as Hawksworth couldn’t find a way around the Pfaff Porsche of Robichon. Pfaff’s next stop, installing Laurens Vanthoor, was a disaster as it struggled to get the window net hooked up, dropping the #9 to ninth.
Turner Motorsport had just pitted Aidan Read from the lead in class when the yellow flew for a big LMP2 shunt with little more than an hour to go.
Heart of Racing gave its current driver, Ross Gunn, fuel only so that he emerged at the head of the line ahead of PMR’s Lambo (Sellers), Wright Porsche (Long), VSR Lexus (Hawksworth), Hardpoint EBM Porsche (Katherine Legge) and VSR Lexus (Zach Veach).
However, all were left lined up behind Bill Auberlen who was now in the Turner BMW, Daniel Morad in the Alegra Mercedes and Markus Palttala of NTe Sport Audi.
Much then shuffled around following the restart, Auberlen still leading but wih this nearest challenger being Sellers, ahead of Palttala, Gunn, Morad, Hawksworth, Legge, and Long dropping all the way down to eighth.
Long and Vanthoor deposed Legge, while in the final quarter hour, Gunn got the Aston Martin ahead of Palttala’s Audi.
Auberlen crossed the line 5.7sec ahead of Sellers who was a similar margin ahead of Gunn. Palttala claimed fourth for NTe, with Morad ahead of Hawksworth, while Vanthoor passed Long at the last gasp.
Race results:
Cla | Class | Num | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | DPi | 55 | |
Mazda DPi | 200 | |
2 | DPi | 60 | |
Acura DPi | 200 | 0.965 |
3 | DPi | 10 | |
Acura DPi | 200 | 9.392 |
4 | DPi | 31 | |
Cadillac DPi | 200 | 18.268 |
5 | DPi | 48 | |
Cadillac DPi | 200 | 53.216 |
6 | DPi | 01 | |
Cadillac DPi | 199 | 1 Lap |
7 | DPi | 5 | |
Cadillac DPi | 199 | 1 Lap |
8 | LMP2 | 11 | |
ORECA LMP2 07 | 196 | 4 Laps |
9 | LMP2 | 52 | |
ORECA LMP2 07 | 196 | 4 Laps |
10 | LMP2 | 22 | James McGuire |
ORECA LMP2 07 | 193 | 7 Laps |
11 | GTLM | 3 | |
Corvette C8.R | 187 | 13 Laps |
12 | GTLM | 24 | |
BMW M8 GTE | 187 | 13 Laps |
13 | GTLM | 25 | |
BMW M8 GTE | 187 | 13 Laps |
14 | GTLM | 4 | |
Corvette C8.R | 187 | 13 Laps |
15 | LMP3 | 74 | |
Ligier JS P320 | 186 | 14 Laps |
16 | LMP3 | 54 | |
Ligier JS P320 | 186 | 14 Laps |
17 | LMP3 | 91 | |
Ligier JS P320 | 186 | 14 Laps |
18 | LMP3 | 36 | |
Ligier JS P320 | 185 | 15 Laps |
19 | LMP3 | 2 | Niklas Kruetten Edouard Cauhaupe |
Ligier JS P320 | 183 | 17 Laps |
20 | GTD | 96 | |
BMW M6 GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
21 | GTD | 1 | |
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
22 | GTD | 23 | |
Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
23 | GTD | 42 | |
Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
24 | GTD | 28 | |
Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
25 | GTD | 14 | |
Lexus RC F GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
26 | GTD | 9 | |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | 179 | 21 Laps |
27 | GTD | 16 | |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | 179 | 21 Laps |
28 | GTD | 39 | Tyler McQuarrie |
Audi R8 LMS GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
29 | GTD | 88 | |
Porsche 911 GT3 R | 179 | 21 Laps |
30 | GTD | 12 | |
Lexus RC F GT3 | 179 | 21 Laps |
31 | LMP3 | 84 | Theodor Olsen Dominic Cicero |
Ligier JS P320 | 178 | 22 Laps |
32 | GTD | 44 | |
Acura NSX GT3 | 147 | 53 Laps |
33 | LMP2 | 8 | |
ORECA LMP2 07 | 146 | 54 Laps |
34 | LMP2 | 18 | |
ORECA LMP2 07 | 85 | 115 Laps |
35 | GTD | 19 | |
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 73 | 127 Laps |
36 | GTD | 75 | |
Mercedes-AMG GT3 | 62 | 138 Laps |
37 | LMP3 | 38 | Dan Goldburg |
Ligier JS P320 | 31 | 169 Laps |
38 | GTLM | 79 | |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | 3 | 197 Laps |
View full results |
Related video

Watkins Glen IMSA: Nasr leads Six Hours at halfway mark
Tincknell thrilled to win 30 years on from Mazda's LM24 victory

Latest news
Third-generation McRae to tackle Junior European Rally Championship
Max McRae will make the next step in his fledgling rallying career by taking on the Junior class in the European Rally Championship this season.
Kvyat and Bortolotti join Prema's expanded WEC line-up for 2023
Ex-Formula 1 driver Daniil Kvyat and factory Lamborghini racer Mirko Bortolotti have been named as part of Prema’s two-car line-up for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
How Driver’s Eye camera became a Formula 1 TV gamechanger
Formula 1 broadcasting has undergone many major advancements in the past decade in a push to better inform fans and enrich their viewing experience.
Hazelwood reflects on maiden Gen3 test
Todd Hazelwood has walked away from a highly-scrutinised first team Gen3 test excited by the latest generation of Supercars hardware.
How MSR took Acura to the first win of sportscar racing's new era
After much anticipation, the new dawn for sportscar racing got underway with a result that mirrored the pattern of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship's previous DPi era. Here's how Acura once again took top honours in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with a 1-2 led by Meyer Shank Racing.
Inside BMW's long-awaited prototype racing return
Much like German OEM rival Porsche, BMW's absence from sportscar racing’s top flight will be ended this weekend when a pair of M Hybrid V8 prototypes make their debut in the Rolex 24 at Daytona. A programme focused on IMSA for now will expand to the WEC and Le Mans next year, in a sign of both its ambition and pragmatism.
How Porsche and Penske are gearing up for sportscar racing's bold new era
Porsche and Penske have teamed up to tackle the world's biggest sportscar races in 2023 with the new 963 LMDh car. Autosport was on hand at the recent Daytona test to hear from key players in the partnership as it prepares for dual campaigns across the IMSA SportsCar Championship and World Endurance Championship...
The plug in and play stand-ins who got their timing just right
Nyck de Vries’s Italian GP exploits weren’t the first post-eleventh-hour call-up in motorsport history, and won’t be the last either. Here are some offbeat tales from the past
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, are arguably the greatest sportscars of all time.
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad.
The British pair at the heart of Lexus's sportscar push
Have you heard the one about two British guys driving for a Japanese manufacturer in America’s top sportscar series? Time to sit down and talk with Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat about racing across the pond… and your accent being mistaken for Australian!
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.