How IMSA's stale title race has (probably) been reignited
Endurance

How IMSA's stale title race has (probably) been reignited

by Thibaut Villemant
7 min read

By securing its second consecutive IMSA SportsCar Championship victory at the end of the 6 Hours of the Glen, Acura continues its comeback in the manufacturers' championship, closing in on Porsche while widening the gap to the rest of the field.

Or at least Acura probably has - as IMSA, unusually, is yet to declare the result as final more than 36 hours after the race finished.

With three races remaining, Porsche's lead has shrunk to just 90 points. And with a maximum of 385 points still up for grabs per round, everything is still to play for. But why did the tide turn so suddenly?

Blomqvist saves Acura

When the 10th and final full course yellow was thrown with 10 minutes left on the clock, strategists were tearing their hair out. Would the race restart? And if so, who would be able to make it to the finish?

Since the #10 Cadillac (Filipe Albuquerque) and the #6 Porsche (Mathieu Jaminet) had dived into the pits just before the full course yellow, they knew they'd be able to reach the end in the event of a restart. Just like #40 Cadillac, which was fourth and had refuelled 20 minutes after its rivals.

But that wasn't the case for the three cars leading at the time: the #31 Cadillac, and the #93 and #60 Acuras. Ultimately, the race resumed with three minutes and four seconds remaining, enough for two final laps.

That was a perfect scenario for Tom Blomqvist. Nick Yelloly (#93 Acura, above) had no choice but to pit at the start of the penultimate lap, followed a lap later by Earl Bamber (#31 Cadillac)…but not Blomqvist, who'd saved just enough fuel during his stint to make it to the finish line in the #60 Acura ARX-07.

"We had really big fuel targets and that's what enabled me to get to the end and the others not," Blomqvist said. "Really proud of the effort, it wasn't looking great for us and we had a few mistakes at the beginning, but we made the most of the day to be there at the end."

It marked a second straight win for Meyer Shank Racing, and the first for the #60 ARX-06 driven by Blomqvist and Colin Braun - enough to cement Acura as Porsche's main challenger in the title fight.

Porsche minimises the damage

As previously reported, IMSA decided to manually revise its Balance of Performance before Detroit, recognising that it couldn't allow Porsche Penske Motorsport to keep racking up wins.

Yet if the German-American alliance won the season's first four races, it owes that - even more than to the potential of its 963 - to a level of execution clearly above the rest of the field.

So even with a car heavier and less powerful than any of its GTP rivals, Porsche still managed to finish third and fourth in Detroit, despite a 0.734s deficit in qualifying. At Watkins Glen, that gap grew to a staggering 1.765s!

This time, luck turned in favour of the #6 Porsche 963, which dived into the pitlane just before the final full course yellow, 10 minutes from the end. That decision allowed Jaminet to take a surprising fourth-place finish.

"Fourth place is much more than we were expecting before the race," Matt Campbell said. "Our performance in the practice sessions and qualifying had us fearing the worst.

"Naturally, we're pleased with the result in terms of the championship standings - though we needed a fair bit of luck to get there. That said, the result does not reflect our pace. I’m hopeful we'll be back at the front in the next race."

Good news for Campbell and Jaminet, they now lead the overall standings for the first time this season by 12 points.

That position had previously been held by their team-mates Felipe Nasr and Nick Tandy, but unfortunately, the latter crashed heavily 100 minutes from the finish.

"Our top priority is that Nick is OK," said Jonathan Diuguid, Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director. "The crash registered 25G, which is a significant impact.

"While he'll likely feel the effects for a few days, he's doing well."

Since only one car scores points for the manufacturers' championship, the retirement has limited impact on the standings. The big difference is in the drivers' and teams' standings, where the #93 Acura is only 250 points behind the #7 in second.

'The Phoenix' brings the heat

Romain Grosjean was one of the stars of the race at Watkins Glen, seemingly the only driver capable of extracting the maximum from the tricky Lamborghini SC63 - which went on to equal its best IMSA result of seventh.

He did a stint of two hours and 45 minutes and emerged bright red and gasping for air, such was the heat, despite there also being rain earlier in the race.

"Definitely something the Lamborghini is suffering with and in the cockpit it was bloody hot," Grosjean told NBC.

"We don't have a drinking system, we don't have a blower for the driver, we don't have AC [air conditioning; some cars, like the Porsche 963, do], we don’t have a cool vest. So two hours, 45 minutes was a very, very long time!"

In the wet on slicks Grosjean was magnificent and he even led, holding off the race-winning #93 just before the halfway mark.

There are plenty of examples, like at Indianapolis last year, where Grosjean comes alive in this Lamborghini, even if the car has plenty of issues.

BMW still struggling

As time goes on, the future of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing alongside BMW in IMSA seems increasingly uncertain, not least because of consistently disappointing results.

The WRT team runs BMW's cars in the World Endurance Championship and a possible takeover of the IMSA programme in 2026 has been rumoured, although this is unconfirmed and tough decisions are still being made.

The #24 of Philipp Eng and Dries Vanthoor finished eighth, while the #25 of Sheldon van der Linde and Marco Wittmann was forced to retire after Wittmann went off track.

"Our BMW M Hybrid V8 had to fight with blunt weapons at Watkins Glen," explained head of BMW M Motorsport, Andreas Roos.

"BMW M Team RLL and our drivers gave it their all, but unfortunately, we didn’t have the flawless race we needed to make the most of the circumstances."

BMW dropped to fourth in the manufacturers' standings as a result, with just two podiums in six races, despite taking poles at the first four.

It's turning into a decidedly disappointing third season in the United States for the M Hybrid V8.

Cadillac's mixed emotions

There's no denying that the #31 Cadillac V-Series.R from Action Express Racing was one of the key players during the weekend.

It was even leading with 10 minutes to go, before that final full course yellow. The trio of Bamber, Fred Vesti, and Jack Aitken had hoped the race wouldn't restart.

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But Bamber was left with no choice but to pit at the start of the final lap, forced to yield to cars that had more energy on board or had had the good fortune to stop just before the full course yellow. That left Action Express Racing with a disappointing fifth-place finish.

"Frustrating times," said Vesti. "We had such a good car the whole weekend. We were in the lead, were all the way back to last place and luckily we got a safety car at the right time and managed to bounce back to the lead.

"We had so much pace in this car this week and feel like we deserve a win. But that's racing."

That twist of fate worked out instead in favour of Wayne Taylor Racing, which walked away with an unexpected double podium. The #40 of Louis Deletraz and Jordan Taylor led home the #10 of Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor.

Still winless this season, Cadillac now sits third in the manufacturers' championship.

Images courtesy of IMSA/Lumen Digital Agency

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