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Motorsport

Joey Barnes

Cadillac wins chaotic Watkins Glen IMSA race under caution

Earl Bamber Jack Aitken Laurin Heinrich Nick Yelloly Cadillac IMSA van der Linde Dane Cameron Filipe Albuquerque Frederik Vesti

Whelen Cadillac completed a dominant weekend by converting pole to victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, leading 143 of the 182 laps completed.

There was no challenge in the charge to the end as Jack Aitken comfortably held a lead of more than six seconds on his closest rival before a crash on the last lap left him coasting to the finish line under caution around Watkins Glen International’s 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course.

There was one particularly close moment for the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R, when co-driver Earl Bamber made contact with the #21 GTD class Ferrari through the esses. The #21 AF Corse USA entry ended up crashing out as a result, while Race Control did not deem any fault on Bamber. Frederik Vesti was also part of the winning lineup alongside Aitken and Bamber. It marks the second win of the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Whelen Cadillac.

Nick Yelloly helped guide the #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 to second, with Laurin Heinrich putting the #5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 in third to complete the podium.

AO Racing, led by Dane Cameron at the finish, collected the win in LMP2.

The #14 Lexus RC F GT3 for Vasser Sullivan Racing with Dreyer & Reinbold, saw Jack Hawksworth close out its fight and take the win in GTD Pro. Ricardo Pera provided a stout closing stint to give Manthey 1st Phorm the GTD class win.

Run to the Finish…

Earl Bamber held a 5.5s lead over Kaku Ohta, but that gap shrunk down to 3.5s 10 minutes past the halfway point.

However, the caution came out near the end of the GTP stints after the #11TDS Racing LMP2 entry of David Heinemeier Hansson was bumped off track entering Turn 1 by rival #22 of United Autosports USA’s Rasmus Lindh. Hansson suffered significant bodywork damage, along with a bent left-front as the tire appeared bent slightly upward. He was unable to return to pit lane, going on the tow truck hook after stopping in Turn 3.

Bamber led the majority GTP class down to pit lane, with no driver changes despite a fresh change of tires and energy replenishment. Bamber came out with the ahead, followed by Ohta, with Jordan Taylor’s #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac in third. However, the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Philipp Eng (BMW M Team WRT), opted to stay out and took over the race lead.

Julien Andlauer, in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963, opted to return to pit lane to top off.

There was a shakeup in the LMP2 class with the caution, with Parker Thompson taking over the lead in the #52 Bryan Herta Autosports with PR1/Mathiesen entry.

Moments after the restart, however, it was yet another messy start. It began with Nikita Johnson (RLL Team McLaren) spinning in Turn 1 after being hit but continuing on. Then, up the esses the 13 Autosport Corvette of Matt Bell and Inception Racing’s Ollie Millroy came together, with both colliding that led to the track blocked, leaving no room for Russell Ward (Winward Racing) and Spencer Pumpelly (Magnus Racing).

After a lengthy cleanup, Eng led the field to the restart with 2h13m left. Race Control then hit Linde for the earlier contact on Hansson.

Eng opted to pit from the lead at the end of the lap, leaving Bamber to take over the top spot.

There was trouble for Jordan Taylor, who was hit with a right-rear tire rub after contact after battling with the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre (Porsche Penske Motorsport). At the same time, Eng was hit with a drive-through penalty for a pit entry violation, and received a second for working on the car behind the wall. However, Race Control managed to rescind the second drive-through penalty.

Upon pitting, Jordan Taylor received a new rear clip before being sent back out, remaining on the lead lap in the process.

Meanwhile, there was a lead change in LMP2 as Thompson slipped to second after being passed by Crowdstrike Racing by APR’s Toby Sowery. Vasser Sullivan’s Ben Barnicoat led GTD Pro with two hours to go, with Conquest Racing’s Lorenzo Patrese on top in GTD.

The one on the move was Laurin Heinrich in the #5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963, who not only got back on the lead lap but was up to fourth and 4.3s behind the race lead, and set to finish the race with no further driver change looming.

Heinrich began applying pressure on Estre for third.

Meanwhile, Bamber was unable to mount his typical getaway from the field as he ran to the back of Eng, who continued to slow the pace and aid teammate Sheldon van der Linde, in the BMW #24 sister car, running second and just 0.4s behind. Estre and Heinrich closed to within 1.7s and 2.2s, respectively.

Sowery pitted from the lead in LMP2 with 1h42m left and handed off his ride to Alex Quinn; Sebastian Alvarez (Tower Motorsports) assumed the class lead. Quinn returned in second, but was nudged out of the way by AO Racing’s Dane Cameron and fell to third.

Bamber finally got around Eng with 1h40m to go, with van der Linde a distant 1.2s back. The fight for third was still on as Heinrich attempted but was unable to complete a pass on Estre.

Wheel to wheel out of the esses at Watkins Glen!

Cadillac vs BMW ⚔️

Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen
🟢: Sunday, June 28 | 12:10PM ET
📺: Peacock
🌍: IMSA YouTube Live, IMSA .tv
📻: IMSA Radio pic.twitter.com/DoElb5XdRg
— IMSA (@IMSA) June 28, 2026

With 1h33m to go, a full course yellow came out after the Simon Mann (AF Corse USA) crashed in Turn 4 after colliding with Bamber, with the impact shredding off the passenger door. The contact allowed van der Linde to get the lead from Bamber. Additionally, #93 Acura Meyer Shank Racing entry pitted right before that caution and made a driver change, with Nick Yelloly taking over; the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac also came in, with Filipe Albuquerque in for Ricky Taylor. The caution also allowed Jordan Taylor to stay on the lead lap.

Following pit stops, Yelloly and Albuquerque cycled to the top two spots. Aitken, in for Bamber, was third, and first among the ones that stopped under the caution. Aitken was followed by van der Linde and then Heinrich. The #7 Porsche 963, with Nasr at the helm, topped off and lined up eighth.

Yelloly led the field the restart with 1h12m remaining. The fight was on in the both GTD classes, with Jack Hawksworth (Vasser Sullivan) setting the fastest lap of the Pro class with a 1m46.396s lap while running second and in pursuit of race leader Nicky Catsburg (Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports). Albert Costa (Conquest Racing) led GTD, with Callum Ilott (Wright Motorsports) behind by just 0.4s.

Hawksworth managed to get around Catsburg into the Bus Stop chicane with 1h3m to go to take over the GTD Pro lead. At the same time, Aitken was pushing Albuquerque for the second position.

Heinrich pulled off an outside move on van der Linde going into Turn 1 and up the esses, and completed it ahead of the Bus Stop, taking over fourth, while Aitken finally got by Albuquerque to take over second; 57m remaining.

Heinrich took over the race lead with 51m remaining as Yelloly and Aitken made their final pit stops. Aitken, who took left side tires only, managed to jump ahead of Yelloly on the stop. Heinrich came in the next lap, with van der Linde following to pit lane. Aitken cycled out with the lead ahead of Yelloly, with both ahead of van der Linde, who jumped out ahead of Nasr and then Heinrich.

Aitken’s lead was 5.5s over Yelloly with 31m to go, with van der Linde 6.7s behind in third. Heinrich, who was at one point more than 13s behind after the slow pit stop, managed to get the gap down to 9.8s, while in fourth.

In GTD, Robby Foley (Turner Motorsport) inherited the class lead after rivals pitted but was left hoping for a caution to extend his own fuel mileage. With that, however, Vasser Sullivan’s Aaron Telitz, similarly needing a caution, caught Foley as the two battled to be best in class. Telitz managed to get by and assumed the class lead with 25m to go. Foley pitted moments later.

While Cameron continued to lead in LMP2, and the GTD Pro class was up in the air with Dennis Olsen (Ford Racing) and Daniel Serra (Risi Competizioni) gambling on fuel mileage, Heinrich was making up significant ground in GTP; the gap was 7.8s behind race leader Aitken, but 0.5s off the van der Linde for the final podium spot.

The hope for Telitz went away, though, as he pitted with 14m left and abandoned the lead.

Moments later, Heinrich surged by van der Linde into the Bus Stop to take over third, 1.5s off Yelloly’s runner-up spot.

After an extended amount of time for the fuel gamblers not getting the much-needed caution in GTD Pro, Hawksworth was able to cycle back up to the lead. There was also a fight in LMP2 as Cameron’s lead shrunk to under 1s over Quinn with eight minutes to go. Ricardo Pera (Manthey 1st Phorm) also outlasted the fuel-mileage runners and progressed up to the lead in GTD.

And the fight for second was on as Heinrich caught Yelloly with less than four minutes remaining.

Despite his best efforts, Heinrich was unable to get by Yelloly and settled in third, as both watched Aitken coast to the win as the race ended under a full course yellow after Ford Racing’s Christopher Mies crashed hard in Turn 9.