The 2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was a sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York on the July 3, 2016. This race was the sixth round of the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

Background

Preview

International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2015. It was the third consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2016 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2016 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn Watkins Glen International circuit on July 3, 2016.

IMSA altered the balance of performance to try to create parity within the GTD category. The Audi R8 LMS and Lamborghini Huracán GT3 received a larger air restrictor while the Dodge Viper GT3-R had a air restrictor reduction. The Ferrari 488 GT3 received a reduction in turbo boost pressure while BMW M6 GT3 received an increase in turbo boost pressure. The Porsche 911 GT3 R had its weight increased by .

Before the race, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 151 points, ahead of João Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi on countback with 151 points, and Eric Curran and Dane Cameron in third 147 points. With 162 points, PC was led by Alex Popow and Renger van der Zande over Robert Alon and Tom Kimber-Smith by 3 points. In GTLM, Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner led the Drivers' Championship with 130 points, 12 points ahead of Earl Bamber and Frédéric Makowiecki in second. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Alessandro Balzan and Christina Nielsen with 126 points; the duo held an eight-point advantage over Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas. Chevrolet and Porsche were leading their respective Manufacturers' Championships, while Wayne Taylor Racing, Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa each led their own Teams' Championships.

Forty-one cars were officially entered for the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, with most of the entries in the Prototype, Grand Touring Le Mans (GTLM), and Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) categories. Action Express Racing (AER) fielded two Chevrolet Corvette DP cars while VisitFlorida Racing (VFR) and Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) fielded one. Highway to Help entered one BMW-powered Riley MkXXVI. Mazda Motorsports had two Lola B12/80 cars, and the Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) and Michael Shank Racing (MSR) entered one Ligier JS P2 chassis with Honda HR35TT twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 engines. Panoz brought the DeltaWing car after skipping the previous round at Belle Isle. The Prototype Challenge (PC) class was composed of seven Oreca FLM09 cars: two from Starworks Motorsports. BAR1 Motorsports, CORE Autosport, JDC-Miller MotorSports, Performance Tech and PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entered one car each. GTLM was represented by ten entries from five different brands. In the list of GTD entrants, fourteen GT3-specification vehicles were represented by six different manufacturers.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Sunday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

In the first session, Negri set the fastest time in the No. 60 MSR Ligier with a time of 1 minute, 36.705 seconds, 0.387 seconds faster than Angelelli's No. 10 car. Dane Cameron was third fastest in the No. 31 AXR vehicle. The fastest PC class car was Colin Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car with 1 minute, 38.701 seconds, followed by Tom Kimber-Smith in the No. 52 PR/1 entry. BMW paced GTLM with BMW Team RLL's No. 25 BMW M6 GTLM of Dirk Werner lapping 1:43.574, ahead of the two Ford GTs. Robin Liddell in the No. 6 Steven Audi R8 was fastest in GTD with a time of 1 minute, 46.147 seconds.

In the second practice session, Pla led with a lap of 1 minute, 36.155 seconds, ahead of Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda. The seven-vehicle PC class was led by Starworks Motorsports No. 8 car, driven by Renger van der Zande with a time of 1 minute, 38.582 seconds. Ford occupied first and second in GTLM with Hand faster than his teammate Westbrook by less than one-tenth of a second. Aschenbach's No. 9 Steven Audi R8 led GTD, and Jens Klingmann in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW, was second in class.

Derani led the final practice session in the No. 2 ESM car with a lap of 1 minute, 35.484 seconds. Bomarito's No. 55 Mazda was second-fastest. A 1:37.666 lap saw Braun's No. 54 CORE Autosport car lead PC. With a 1:42.129 lap, Westbrook led the GTLM class in the No. 67 CGR Ford GT, followed by Werner's No. 25 RLL BMW M6. Aschenbach led GTD with a time of 1:45.124.

Qualifying Saturday afternoon's 90-minute four-group qualifying session gave 15-minute sessions to all categories. Cars in GTD were sent out first before those grouped in GTLM, PC, and Prototype had three separate identically timed sessions. Regulations stipulated teams to nominate one qualifying driver, with the fastest laps determining each classes starting order. IMSA would arranged the grid to put all Prototypes ahead of the PC, GTLM, and GTD cars.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . +ClassTeamDriverTime1P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Johannes van Overbeek1:35.207–12P55 Mazda Motorsports Tristan Nunez1:35.374 +0.16723P60 Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Oswaldo Negri Jr.1:35.592 +0.38534P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Ricky Taylor1:35.749 +0.54245P70 Mazda Motorsports Tom Long1:36.329 +1.12256P5 Action Express Racing Christian Fittipaldi1:36.425 +1.21867P90 VisitFlorida Racing Ryan Dalziel1:36.473 +1.26678P31 Action Express Racing Eric Curran1:37.198 +1.99189PC8 Starworks Motorsport Renger van der Zande1:38.407 +3.200910P0 Panoz DeltaWing Racing Katherine Legge1:38.520 +3.3131011PC52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Robert Alon1:39.211 +4.0041112PC38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French1:39.363 +4.1561213PC20 BAR1 Motorsports Johnny Mowlem1:40.028 +4.8211314PC85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Misha Goikhberg1:40.059 +4.8521415PC54 CORE Autosport Jon Bennett1:40.422 +5.2151516GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Richard Westbrook1:41.301 +6.0941717GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Dirk Werner1:41.650 +6.4431818P50 Highway to Help Jim Pace1:41.901 +6.694WD19GTLM100 BMW Team RLL John Edwards1:41.905 +6.6981920GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand1:41.969 +6.7622021GTLM68 Scuderia Corsa Alessandro Pier Guidi1:42.706 +7.4992122GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:42.794 +7.5872223GTLM62 Risi Competizione Toni Vilander1:43.088 +7.8812324GTLM3 Corvette Racing Jan Magnussen1:43.135 +7.9282425GTLM911 Porsche North America Nick Tandy1:43.435 +8.2282526GTLM912 Porsche North America Frédéric Makowiecki1:43.903 +8.6962627GTD6 Stevenson Motorsports Robin Liddell1:45.407 +10.2003828GTD23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Mario Farnbacher1:45.449 +10.2422729GTD9 Stevenson Motorsports Lawson Aschenbach1:45.594 +10.3872830GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:46.175 +10.9682931GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Christina Nielsen1:46.205 +10.9983032GTD73 Park Place Motorsports Matt McMurry1:46.461 +11.2543133GTD16 Change Racing Corey Lewis1:46.507 +11.3003234GTD44 Magnus Racing Andy Lally1:46.768 +11.5613335GTD96 Turner Motorsport Bret Curtis1:46.828 +11.6213436GTD97 Turner Motorsport Michael Marsal1:46.982 +11.7753537GTD33 Riley Motorsports Ben Keating1:47.192 +11.9853738PC88 Starworks Motorsport Mark Kvamme1:47.391 +12.1841639GTD540 Black Swan Racing Tim Pappas1:48.106 +12.8993940GTD22 Alex Job Racing Cooper MacNeil1:48.208 +13.0013641GTD27 Dream RacingDid Not ParticipateWDSources:

The No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Audi was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 13.1.2 of the Sporting regulations (Ride height). The No. 33 Riley Motorsports Dodge was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change). The No. 540 Black Swan Racing Porsche was sent to the rear of the GTD grid as per 40.1.5 of the Sporting regulations (Tire change).

Race

Post-race With a total of 187 points, Barbosa and Fittipaldi's victory allowed them to retake the lead of the Prototype Drivers' Championship. The final results of PC allowed Popow and van der Zande to extend their advantage in the Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Alon and Kimber-Smith. Gavin and Milner's fourth-place finish kept them atop the GTLM Drivers' Championship, but their advantage was reduced to 8 points as race winners Briscoe and Westbrook jumped to second place. Balzan and Nielsen's victory allowed them to extend their advantage in the GTD Drivers' Championship to 13 points over Farnbacher and Riberas. Keen and MacNeil advanced from sixth to fifth. Chevrolet continued to top their respective Manufactures' Championships while Ferrari became the leader of the GTD Manufactures' Championship. Starworks Motorsport, Corvette Racing, and Scuderia Corsa kept their respective advantages in their of Teams' Championships while Action Express Racing retook the lead of the Prototype Teams' Championship with six rounds left in the season.

Race results Class winners are denoted in bold and . P stands for Prototype, PC (Prototype Challenge), GTLM (Grand Touring Le Mans) and GTD (Grand Touring Daytona).