Barbosa, Fittipaldi take six hour victory

WATKINS GLEN--Joao Barbosa and Christian Fittipaldi took the top spot in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen race Sunday, July 3. The endurance race was part of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
"It was probably one of the fastest pace races that I've done in a while," Barbosa said. "The track really suits this kind of racing. They did an amazing job with the surface. We did a few changes after qualifying and we really hit it. The car was really good. It was a great race, very hard. We were really matched with the 31 so track position was really important."
The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP methodically worked its way to victory lane, taking advantage of competitors' misfortune, while staying out of trouble just long enough to tighten their grip on the championship lead in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype class.
While the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Corvette DP closed in the event's waning laps, Dane Cameron and Eric Curran finished second, completing a 1-2 finish for Action Express Racing.
Other category winners in the 2016 edition of the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen included Renger van der Zande and Alex Popow (Prototype Challenge), Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook (GT Le Mans), and Christina Nielson, Alessandro Balzan, and Jeff Segal (GT Daytona).
The race, which began at 10 a.m., went under full course caution just over 30 minutes into the running, when the No. 20 Prototype Challenge entry of Johnny Mowlem, running second, made heavy contact with the guardrail on the back straight. Mowlem was evaluated and released from the care center following the incident, which was precipitated by a battle with James French.
Sunday's event was the first visit for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship to Watkins Glen International since a $12 million repaving project was officially completed earlier this year.
All weekend, including during Sunday's race, track records fell in every class. Saturday, Trent Hindman and Cameron Cassels triumphed in a highly competitive Continental Tire 150. Hindman, a 2014 series champion, led a Porsche sweep of the podium following a late-race battle that included both CJ Wilson Racing Caymans.
"For us, the only reason we were in that position was because of Cameron and his stint, and from the strategy the Bodymotion guys put in for pit stops," Hindman said. "It was all about the team putting me in the right place to make my move. Patience was king today, it would have been easy to get ahead of myself and throw the car where it didn't want to go and throw us both out of good results."
Nick Galante and Spencer Pumpelly earned their first win of the season in the Street Tuner class, outlasting fellow Cayman duos of Jason Rabe/Devin Jones and Matthew Dicken/Corey Lewis. For Galante, it was the first win of his Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge Career. His co-driver, Spencer Pumpelly, picked up yet another victory at the site of his first series win.
"My first win. Wow. It all started with the test that we opted for. We dug deep and utilized that on the new surface [at WGI]," said Galante. "RS1 does a phenomenal job, the team engineers, everyone. We kept our head down and made our way to the front. Keeping your nose clean and passing someone where you preserve yourself and the car is key here."
The race featured an early full-course yellow, with several Grand Sport cars involved in an incident during the field's first trip through the second turn. Later, both class leaders found trouble, with ST leader Chad McCumbee spinning and tagging the tire wall, while Billy Johnson's No. 15 Ford Shelby was the victim of trouble in pit lane and an extended final stop, forcing him to surrender his advantage over his GS competitors.
A three-way scrap for the overall race win ensued, with Hindman holding off charges by Tyler McQuarrie, co-driver of Till Bechtolsheimer and Marc Miller, co-driver of Daniel Burkett.