Cadillac V-Performance Racing team Konica Minolta Cadillac finished fifth in today’s running of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The Mustang Sampling Cadillac came to the checker in sixth with the Whelen Engineering Cadillac seventh and a tough day for the Spirit of Daytona Cadillac in 11th.
When the American flag dropped on the race, in honor of the July 4th, to the start six-hours of running at The Glen the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac with Tristan Vautier was involved in a crash heading up through the esses. He was able to continue and had to pit to receive four new Continental tires and a new nose piece. The pit stop was made while the pits were closed so the infraction cost them a stop plus 60-second penalty. As the race progressed Renger Van Der Zande and Jordan Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac drove up to second place with just over two hours remaining followed closely by Filipe Albuquerque had the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R.
A late race restart, with 36-minutes left, had the No. 10 Konica-Minolta Cadillac driven by Jordan Taylor leading the field to the restart when he was engulfed through the esses by the No. 6 Acura and eventual winning No. 99 Oreca. This put Taylor back to third with Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R and Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R in pursuit in fourth and fifth battling for the last step on the podium. With the balance of performance on the Cadillac having the V8 powered cars some 6 mph down on the straight made it tough to hold off the speedier competition with Taylor coming to the checker in fifth as the top finishing Cadillac.
“I think it was a good day, considering everything,” Taylor said. “We were the best of the rest so, points-wise, we made up ground a little bit on the guys we needed to make up ground against. For the pace we had, we finished better than expected. I think it was down to strategy and staying out of trouble, and attrition wasn’t an issue. All in all, not the best day but, all things considered, I think we can leave here pretty happy.”
“On the restart, I had a good move on the 31 in my second stint,” Van Der Zane said. “I had good fight with the 7, Castroneves (several laps down), and the 54, Braun, but once they got by me, they were gone. That’s frustrating because you drive the wheels off your car and there is no reward for it. The team did a great job getting me out as the first Cadillac on the pit stop, but then I lost the position on the 5 after a fight. Top-five here at Watkins Glen and were the top running Cadillac. That’s all we can do here.”
The Mustang Sampling Cadillac with Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi and IndyCar sub Gabby Chaves spent time in the top three today but settled for a sixth-place finish.
“We were looking for more,” Albuquerque said. “In the end, I think we did a hell of a job. Everyone saw how slow we were on the straights and even if we had a comeback they would all just pass us like nothing. It felt like we were in a different category than everyone else. We do the best with what we had and today I didn’t have a single tenth to finish quicker. We also have more fuel consumption than the LMP2 cars.”
“It was a lot of fun,” Chaves said. “Being able to work in a different environment, with teammates driving the same car, that in its self is a change for me. It was a good day. We managed to maximize everything on track, it’s hard to see how we could have done anything better. The team had a perfect strategy and did a fantastic job. Everyone drove as hard as they could and you come out with what you come out with and I am happy with that. The car is fantastic and it drives really well. It has plenty of downforce and excellent in the corners. It’s an all-around great car to drive. Its more experience and I am happy to help the team get more points, obviously not where we want to be but out of our control this weekend.”
“Came back home with solid points,” Fittipaldi said. “It was a tough day for all the Cadillac teams out there. I don’t know what we could have done better since we were on our absolute limits and tried whatever we could and it didn’t work out this time. We will turn the page and move onto next week.”
Felipe Nasr closed the day in the No. 31 Whelen Engineer Cadillac DPi-V.R and posted a seventh place finish with teammates Eric Curran and Mike Conway.
“We managed our race pretty well and the team was good during pit stops and strategy calls today,” Nasr said. “We had a pretty consistent car out there to make up positions during traffic. All the drivers, Eric and Mike, did a good job as well. Just before the last stop was when I got some really good clear laps that I could jump to second. Unfortunately, we had a wheel nut come loose during the last pit stop and had to go to the spare gun and lost five spots right there. We could have been better but we still managed to get decent points and we look forward to the next one.”
“All the guys on the Whelen Engineering side worked hard all weekend,” Curran said. “We were dealt the wrong hand and we knew it coming into the weekend. We decided to do the best we could and try what we can and execute the best we can from the driver and crew standpoint. The Cadillac wasn’t the car to have today, but still decent results. Unfortunate we had a little incident with our teammate there at the end. We will keep pushing forward and move onto Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and get a better result out of that.”
“It’s good to be back with the Action Express guys driving the Whelen,” Conway said. “It’s always fun! We knew it was going to be tough coming into the weekend but we maximized what we could have done. The last two-thirds looked like we had a chance to secure it but a bad pit stop took that from us. We tried as hard as we could. It’s more points for the championship, which is good and I hope the rest of the year is good for the team.”
After all of the on track issues suffered by the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R with Tristan Vautier and Matt McMurry they were able to finish 11th on the day.
“The first lap was a bit freaky,” Vautier said. “I was very close to the No. 38 car and lost a lot of downforce, so I had to get out of the gas. The car got very light with no downforce, and with the tight quarters, a little tap sent me spinning. We were lucky to keep going. In the second incident, I just didn’t see Dane Cameron coming, I was focused on pushing to not lose another lap. It’s a shame, apologies to the team. It’s racing, but we were hoping for a trouble-free race. We found good pace at the end, but we were struggling for pace all weekend, so I hope they help us. I really need to give it to the team for never giving up and thank them for the way they kept pushing all day.”
“After the first lap, it became a very different race for us,” McMurry said. “We just tried to push as hard as we could and do the best laps we could. We had switched the nose of the car after the first lap damage and that nose made the car understeer a lot more, so I dealt with handling issues my first stint. But once they put the old nose back on, that made it so much better. We were consistent, and our lap times were very good. That’s a huge positive. And the team did such a great job; they never gave up and pushed hard on every stop, and in everything they do.”
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors are packing up and will travel directly to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for consecutive weekends, July 6-8.
