With the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans now in the rearview mirror, the stars and cars of IMSA resume their 2025 season at Watkins Glen.

The IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship reaches the halfway mark of the 2025 season with the third round of the Michelin Endurance Cup and the first of two 6 Hour races on the season. The Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen is an endurance race that provides unpredictable intrigue at high speeds. With the entire family back together again for the first since the 12 Hours of Sebring, the action should be non-stop from start to finish.

GTP: Can Acura and Cadillac build on Detroit Momentum?

Up until Detroit, Porsche Penske Motorsport had every corner covered in the GTP class. They won the endurance races, the street sprint at Long Beach and the regular round distance at Laguna Seca. The Detroit BoP from IMSA saw Acura take full advantage with a pole and race win for Nick Yelloly and Renger van der Zande. The win was anything but straightforward as van der Zande had to make passes after falling back during the pitstops. But it was awesome to see another car pass the Porsche 963 and keep it behind for a change.

The surprise of the weekend though was the runner-up finish of Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque. The Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillacs were nowhere to be found on Friday. They crashed in the second practice and their qualifying was troubling, if not uninspiring. But the HP #10 Cadillac played the strategy game to perfection on race day. Just as it looked as if Ricky Taylor was going to give GM the perfect result in the shadow of their headquarters, van der Zande and Acura came to crash the party. Still, the first podium of Chapter 3 (I think) of the GM/Wayne Taylor Racing relationship is a much needed step in the right direction.

But can street course success translate to Watkins Glen? If the last two years are anything to go by, there is hope but looks like a return to the status quo. Porsche was first on the road in both 6 Hours in the GTP era (the 2023 win was stripped post-race), but Acura and Cadillac have also been strong here previously. For Cadillac, they have extra reason to be optimistic. IMSA’s Balance of Performance (BoP) sees the Cadillacs receive a power increase for this weekend. That power increase will come in handy with the fast and flowing nature of the 3.4-mile classic boot layout.

And no, BMW we did not forget about you. The Bavarian brand also got a slight power increase. BMW Team RLL hopes this will put them back on top on Saturday and be the final piece to victory on Sunday. After being unable to covert pole in the first four races to victory, BMW will be chomping at the bit to finally get over the hump. The name of the game still is if anyone can catch Porsche. The 963s did not receive any changes from the BoP released last week and some wonder if no change will be enough. Only time will tell when the cars hit the track for practice Friday morning.

GTP Loose Ends

  • As expected, Proton and Lamborghini rejoin the IMSA paddock with their MEC programs. The trio of Neel Jani, Nico Varrone and Nico Pino stay together from Le Mans to wheel the #5 Porsche 963. Lamborghini have opted for the two-man team of Romain Grosjean and Daniil Kyvat in the #63 SC63.
  • A pair of GTP teams opt-in to run 3rd drivers this weekend. Mercedes F1 reserve Frederick Vesti returns to the #31 Whelen Action Express Cadillac. Elswhere, Honda Super Formula driver Kaku Ohta will make his 2nd GTP appearance this season in the #93 MSR Acura.

LMP2: Time to come out of hibernation…

You can be forgiven if you forgot the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship has an LMP2 class. Sunday’s 6 Hours will be their first race in over 3 months. The good news is LMP2 won’t be gone so long after this weekend. LMP2 will race at four of the remaining five rounds, including being the headline class at the next round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Since it has been soooo long since the series last raced, here is a mini-refresh. Tower Motorsports was first on the road at Daytona, but then failed post-race tech giving the win to United Autosports. Tower almost got their redemeption at Sebring, but InterEuropol put a stop to that. Did I mention InterEuropol (and AO Racing – Hi Spike!) is also fresh off an LMP2 class win at Le Mans last week?

InterEuropol have to be seen as the favorites going into this weekend’s race with all the momentum. Their only blemish so far was a lackluster Rolex 24, hence the reason Tom Dillmann and Bijoy Garg enter Watkins Glen third in the early season points. Speaking of points, let’s talk about our championship leaders. The Riley team of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon are hoping to give the team their first win since moving to LMP2 in 2024. With three runner-up finishes last season combined with a fourth runner up inherited at Daytona, you have a team hungry to finally take that illusive victory.

Speaking of illusive victory, what does Tower have to do to get a win? John Farano, Sebastian Alvarez and Sebastien Bourdais must still feel confident as they showed speed in the opening endurance races. They have shown they can finish the job on track. Hopefully, the car doesn’t sound an alarm in tech this time.  And don’t forget to add United Autosports, AO Racing and Pratt Miller Motorsports among others. The result is a stacked field of 12 competitive entries signed up for this third enduro of the season. As with other LMP2 classes across the world, this is a de facto Oreca Cup. Therefore, teams and drivers will make the difference.  Let’s see who shakes off the proverbial rust the fastest this weekend.

GTD PRO: Corvette’s Breakthrough?

You can make a case for Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports being the most consistent team in the GTD PRO category. Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia have three podiums from the opening four races. Their only blemish so far was seventh at Sebring. Going into Watkins Glen this weekend, the #3 Corvette feels primed to take their first win of the season and seize control of the GTD PRO points battle. Sims and Garcia enter this weekend’s festivities only eleven points behind “Rexy” AO Racing’s Klaus Bachler and Laurin Heinrich. That alone is surprising as Bachler and Heinrich won back to back races in Sebring and Laguna Seca. Surrounding those wins, however, was a rough Rolex 24 and a testing day in Detroit.

GTD PRO looks to be the most interesting season-long battle amongst the four classes in WeatherTech. The top 4 in the standings are separated by 108 points as the season starts to pick up. Behind the AO Racing and #3 Corvette duos you will find Detroit winners Mike Rockenfeller and Sebastian Priaulx. A breakout season for Multimatic Motorsports in the second year of the Mustang GT3 could be further fruitful with another endurance win on Sunday. Multimatic did not get any help from IMSA as the Mustang was the only GT3 model not given max power changes in last week’s BoP release. Speaking of which, Corvette also can’t pleased as they were given a slight weight increase. Ferrari, inversely, was given a slight weight decrease which fourth in points Alberto Costa and DragonSpeed hopes will help them keep pace in this tight GTD PRO fight.

One (hopefully) happy manufacturer in GTD PRO is BMW as the M4 has been given the biggest weight reduction through the BoP. Paul Miller Racing is hoping this will help their two cars be more toward the top end of the class this weekend. Outside of their double podium at Sebring, this has been a season to forget so far for the former series champions.

In the category of driver updates, there are two major changes for this weekend. At DragonSpeed, Italian Davide Rigon has been called to partner Costa this weekend. It’s the Italian’s first outing since Sebring. At Pfaff Motorsports, fresh off their first podium with Lamborghini in Detroit, there is a revised lineup for Watkins Glen for the #9 Huracan. British Lamborghini factory driver Sandy Mitchell will make his GTD PRO debut while deputising for Marco Mapelli, who is racing in the Nurburgring 24 Hours this weekend. This will be Mitchell’s first appearance in IMSA since Road America last August when he drove for Wayne Taylor Racing in GTD. Ten cars are set to battle in GTD PRO over the course of the six hours and all will use only two drivers. Paul Miller Racing has a TBD third spot on their #1 BMW, but no word or expectation that this spot will be filled.

GTD: Vasser Sullivan vs Winward?

Last, but most certainly not least, is GTD. Philip Ellis and Bryce Ward come into Watkins Glen fresh off a second win in three races at Laguna Seca solidifying their points lead. But after scoring their third straight runner-up finish, Jack Hawksworth and Parker Thompson are beginning to emerge as the biggest challengers to the Winward duo. Another great day at Watkins Glen can go a long way for the Vasser Sullivan Lexus team as they are playing catch up from their disastrous Rolex 24 showing.

These two teams have to be your favorites going into Sunday. Outside of the #12 Lexus and #57 Mercedes, who else in the 20 car field of GT3 machinery has the ability to rise to the fore over Sunday’s 6 Hour race? Top of the list is #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin as full season driver Casper Stevenson will be joined by Zach Robichon and Tom Gamble. This trio finished 3rd in both Daytona and Sebring. They will definitely be a podium threat, if not a winning contender come 6pm Sunday afternoon. Underneath Heart of Racing and sliding into the “Dark Horse” role are the #96 Turner BMW and the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

Patrick Gallagher and Robby Foley have been quietly consistent with three top-6 finishes to start the season. With the aforementioned weight break coming BMW’s way, maybe Turner can find some extra speed and sneak onto the podium or better. Wright Motorsports have also been quietly consistent. Team owner Adam Adelson and co-driver Elliott Skeer have shown race-winning pace all season so far. The races just have not fallen their way…yet. The young, lightning-quick Australian Tom Sargeant rejoins the team for the Glen as Wright looks to give Porsche their second GTD win this season.

One unfortunate closing note to share is that Iron Dames have withdrawn from the 6 Hours of the Glen this weekend. The team confirmed the withdrawal was due to the injury suffered by Michelle Gatting earlier this month in the lead up to the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Weekend Outlook: Track Times and Where to Watch

The 55-car field take to the track Friday for one 90-minute practice, starting at from 11:25am. Saturday will see the second and final 90-minute practice at 9:00am before Qualifying at 2:20pm. The 6 Hours goes green Sunday at 12:10pm. In the United States, qualifying and the race will be streamed on Peacock. In addition to Peacock, the first half of the race will be televised on NBC from 12-3pm. Outside of the United States, qualifying and the race is available on IMSA.tv and the IMSA YouTube channel.

***All times EDT (local time to the track)***

Featured Image: Start of the 2024 Watkins Glen 6 Hours Photo Courtesy: IMSA/LAT Images