Porsche holds off Corvette in closing laps at the Glen for fourth straight IMSA GTLM win

With the win, the No. 911 team moved into the GTLM class points lead.

There is no stopping Porsche right now in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Le Mans (GTLM) class.

The No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Nick Tandy and Patrick Pilet made it four consecutive wins for Porsche this season in Sunday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, continuing a dominant stretch rarely seen in the always-competitive GTLM class.

This one was certainly no cakewalk, however.

Tandy had to hold off a hard-charging Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R to secure the win, crossing the stripe a mere 0.452 seconds of the two-time defending series champion and his longtime co-driver Jan Magnussen.

Tandy inherited the lead when teammate Earl Bamber had to pit for fuel from the lead with 13 minutes remaining in the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR had to pit for fuel.

That set up a duel to the finish between Tandy and Garcia. At one point, Garcia was over six seconds behind Tandy and over the course of his final stint managed to close the gap to just one car length, but was unable to make the pass on the final lap.

With the win, the No. 911 team moved into the GTLM class points lead.

“We wanted to build a lead and when the team told me the Corvette was catching us and the lap times he was running, I got a bit scared,” said Tandy. “But in the end, our car held up really well. The Michelin tires got better and better and the car balance got really good as the fuel came out of the car.”

“It was difficult to be honest, especially because we really wanted to win this race,” added Pilet. “We were so close so many times. And we are now back in the championship, so it’s really a good win.”

Tandy and Pilet also won the last IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup event, the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts in March. That win was followed up by consecutive trips to victory lane for the No. 912 of Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor at Long Beach and Mid-Ohio. Going further, at least one of the team’s two cars has finished on the podium in all five races this season with the No. 912 also finishing third in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

With Garcia challenging Tandy in the closing laps, it was more than just a race win on the line for Corvette Racing. The team has long been in search of its 100th career IMSA win, scoring win No. 99 at Long Beach in April of 2018.

Regardless, it was another strong points day for a No. 3 Corvette team that is on quite an impressive stretch of its own, with four consecutive podium finishes and three straight runner-up finishes.

With six races remaining on the 2019 WeatherTech Championship schedule, Garcia and Magnussen are now one point behind the No. 911 team in the class standings in search of a third straight GTLM title.

Three different manufacturers finished on the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen podium with the No. 67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT of Richard Westbrook and Ryan Briscoe finishing third. The team’s No. 66 Ford GT of Dirk Mueller and Joey Hand finished fourth, while BMW made it four manufacturers in the top-five with the No. 24 BMW Team RLL of Jesse Krohn and John Edwards finishing fifth.

It’s a quick turnaround for the next IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, which heads directly to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for next Sunday’s Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Acura. It will be the first IMSA race to be televised live on the NBC network, beginning at 1 p.m. ET.

IMSA Radio also will have live coverage throughout the weekend on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, with race coverage airing on SiriusXM Radio.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

Sights from the  IMSA  action at Watkins Glen International, Sunday, June 30, 2019 where Mazda Team Joest finally broke through and won their first race in IMSA.

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