Albuquerque leads as Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen begins

By Lolly Garcia Last updated Jun 26, 2022

There’s an Acura at the front of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship half an hour into the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen, but not the one that started on pole. Filipe Albuquerque seized the lead from Tom Blomqvist heading into the Bus Stop on the first lap to lead in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in pursuit.

The first caution of the race came 15 minutes in, when Gar Robinson spun the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier LMP3 car in Turn 1, and Anthony Mantella in the No. 7 Forty7 Motorsports Duqeine bounced off the curb trying to avoid and spun across track into the tire barrier. Robinson continued immediately, but Mantella wasn’t able to get moving until safety crews arrived.

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Ben Keating was the only front-runner to take advantage of the early yellow, bringing his No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA from second in LMP2 to the pits just before the caution came out to top off fuel. He exited in third, but quickly took second back after the restart, pursuing Steven Thomas in the No. 11 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, who took the lead at the start.

Robby Foley took full advantage of the restart, pushing his No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 into the lead of GTD after a several-corner battle with polesitter Stevan McAleer in the No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG. Richard Heistand in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC Fran in third.

BMW leads both GTD classes Connor De Phillippi continued to lead in GTD PRO in the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M4 GT3, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage and Ben Barnicoat in the No. 14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F

LMP3 polesitter Nico Varrone leads the class in the No. 40 FastMD Duqueine.

Kamui Kobayashi has made the biggest moves so far, moving up two spots in the No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac, which has struggled most of the weekend and never turned a real qualifying lap.