The 2018 Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen was an endurance race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The race was held at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York, on July 1, 2018. The race was the sixth round of the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the third round of the 2018 Patron North American Endurance Cup.

Background

International Motor Sports Association's (IMSA) president Scott Atherton confirmed the race was part of the schedule for the 2018 IMSA SportsCar Championship (IMSA SCC) in August 2017. It was the fifth consecutive year the event was held as part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The 2018 Sahlen's 6 Hours of the Glen was the sixth of twelve scheduled sports car races of 2018 by IMSA, and was the third round of the Patron North American Endurance Cup. The race was held at the eleven-turn Watkins Glen International on July 1, 2018.

After the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic 4 weeks earlier, Filipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa led the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 144 points, ahead of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr who were tied with them on 144 points, and Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor with 130 points. With 121 points, the GTLM Drivers' Championship was led by Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook with a seven-point advantage over Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor. In GTD, the Drivers' Championship was led by Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow with 125 points ahead of Katherine Legge with 122 points.

IMSA released two separate technical bulletins regarding the Balance of Performance for the six-hour race. The first one was released on May 25, 2018, for the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. This was done to allow IMSA teams who were preparing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans in three weeks time, notably Corvette Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing, to have the beforehand knowledge of the Balance of Performance for the race so they could prepare better. In this Bulletin, the BMW M8 GTE received a reduction of turbo boost, as well as a 4-liter fuel capacity reduction. The second technical bulletin was released on June 21, 2018, which regarded the Balance of Performance in the Prototype (P) and GT Daytona (GTD) classes for the event. In P, The Acura ARX-05 and Cadillac DPi-V.R received fuel capacity reductions of 2 liters. In GTD, Acura NSX GT3 received a 10 kilogram weight increase while the BMW M6 GT3 received a fuel capacity of reduction 2 liters.

Entries

A total of 42 cars took part in the event split across 3 classes. 16 cars were entered in P, 8 in GTLM, and 18 in GTD. In P, United Autosports made their first appearance since Sebring. Performance Tech Motorsports returned after skipping the Belle Isle round.Gabby Chaves subbed for João Barbosa, who was injured, in the Mustang Sampling Racing #5. Will Owen joined Sebastián Saavedra and Gustavo Yacamán in the AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports entry. In GTLM, Tom Blomqvist joined John Edwards and Jesse Krohn in the BMW Team RLL #24 entry. Bill Auberlen returned to the BMW Team RLL #25 entry after contesting the 2 previous rounds in GTD with Turner Motorsport. In GTD, HART, Montaplast by Land-Motorsport, CJ Wilson Racing, P1 Motorsports, and Squadra Corse Garage Italia made their first appearances since Sebring. Scuderia Corsa added a second entry while Wright Motorsports scaled down to one entry. Daniel Morad substituted for in the Adam Christodoulou P1 Motorsports entry due to visa issues. Oswaldo Negri Jr. joined Francesco Piovanetti and Daniel Serra in the Squadra Corse Garage Italia entry. Markus Palttala, Don Yount, and Dillon Machavern returned to the Turner Motorsport entry for the first time since Sebring. Mario Farnbacher joined David Heinemeier Hansson and Jack Hawksworth in the #15 3GT Racing entry.

Practice There were three practice sessions preceding the start of the race on Saturday, two on Friday and one on Saturday. The first two one-hour sessions were on Friday morning and afternoon. The third on Saturday morning lasted an hour.

Practice 1 The first practice session took place at 10:25 am ET on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:33.562. ClassTeamDriverTime1P6Acura Team PenskeDane Cameron1:33.562_2P10Wayne Taylor RacingJordan Taylor1:34.476 +0.9143P54CORE AutosportRomain Dumas1:34.490 +0.928Source:

Practice 2 The second practice session took place at 2:50 pm ET on Friday and ended with Romain Dumas topping the charts for CORE Autosport, with a lap time of 1:33.481. ClassTeamDriverTime1P54CORE AutosportRomain Dumas1:33.481_2P10Wayne Taylor RacingRenger van der Zande1:33.757 +0.2763P6Acura Team PenskeJuan Pablo Montoya1:33.827 +0.346Source:

Practice 3 The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for Acura Team Penske, with a lap time of 1:32.975. ClassTeamDriverTime1P6Acura Team PenskeDane Cameron1:32.975_2P85JDC-Miller MotorSportsSimon Trummer1:33.137 +0.1623P54CORE AutosportColin Braun1:33.174 +0.199Source:

Qualifying Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups. All three categories had 15-minute individual sessions, and regulations stipulated teams to nominate a single driver to qualify their cars. The competitors' fastest lap times determined the starting order with the grid arranged to put the Prototype and GTLM cars ahead of all GTD entries.

Qualifying results Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by . ClassTeamDriverTime1P54 CORE Autosport Colin Braun1:32.350_162P32 United Autosports Paul di Resta1:32.356+0.00613P7 Acura Team Penske Ricky Taylor1:32.638 +0.28824P6 Acura Team Penske Dane Cameron1:32.782 +0.43235P85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Simon Trummer1:33.016 +0.66646P22 Tequila Patrón ESM Pipo Derani1:33.092 +0.742157P52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Gustavo Yacamán1:33.447 +1.09758P10 Wayne Taylor Racing Renger van der Zande1:33.528 +1.17869P99 JDC-Miller MotorSports Stephen Simpson1:33.574 +1.224710P38 Performance Tech Motorsports James French1:33.624 +1.274811P31 Whelen Engineering Racing Felipe Nasr1:33.716 +1.366912P90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Tristan Vautier1:33.761 +1.4111013P55 Mazda Team Joest Harry Tincknell1:33.902 +1.5521114P5 Mustang Sampling Racing Filipe Albuquerque1:33.971 +1.6211215P2 Tequila Patrón ESM Scott Sharp1:34.526 +2.1761316GTLM67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Richard Westbrook1:41.948+9.5981717GTLM66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Joey Hand1:42.059 +9.7091818GTLM4 Corvette Racing Tommy Milner1:42.365 +10.0151919GTLM3 Corvette Racing Antonio García1:42.497 +10.1472020GTLM912 Porsche GT Team Earl Bamber1:42.507 +10.1572121GTLM911 Porsche GT Team Patrick Pilet1:42.615 +10.2652222GTLM24 BMW Team RLL Tom Blomqvist1:43.277 +10.9272323GTLM25 BMW Team RLL Connor De Phillippi1:43.539 +11.1892424GTD15 3GT Racing Jack Hawksworth1:44.499+12.1492525GTD29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Christopher Mies1:44.611 +12.2612526GTD14 3GT Racing Kyle Marcelli1:44.712 +12.3622627GTD86 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Álvaro Parente1:44.742 +12.3922728GTD93 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanin Lawson Aschenbach1:44.778 +12.4282829GTD63 Scuderia Corsa Jeff Segal1:44.812 +12.4622930GTD48 Paul Miller Racing Madison Snow1:45.429 +13.0793031GTD58 Wright Motorsports Patrick Long1:45.429 +13.0793132GTD71 P1 Motorsports Daniel Morad1:45.724 +13.3744233GTD75 SunEnergy1 Racing Kenny Habul1:45.802 +13.4523334GTD33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport Ben Keating1:45.803 +13.4533435GTD69 HART Tom Dyer1:45.891 +13.5413536GTD96 Turner Motorsport Don Yount1:46.966 +14.6163637GTD44 Magnus Racing John Potter1:47.076 +14.7263738GTD64 Scuderia Corsa Bill Sweedler1:47.360 +15.0103839GTD51 Squadra Corse Garage Italia Francesco Piovanetti1:47.481 +15.1313940GTD36 CJ Wilson Racing Till Bechtolsheimer1:48.165 +15.8154041GTD73 Park Place Motorsportsdid not participate4142GTD77 Mazda Team Joestdid not participate14Sources:

The No. 54 CORE Autosport entry was moved to the back of the P field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified. The No. 22 Tequila Patrón ESM entry initially qualified sixth for the P class. However, the team changed engines after qualifying. By IMSA rules, the entry was moved to the rear of the P field on the starting grid. The No. 71 P1 Motorsports entry was moved to the back of the GTD field for starting the race with a different driver than who qualified. The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports moved to the back of the GTD field for failing to submit a starting driver for the race. The No. 77 Mazda Team Joest entry moved to the back of the P field for failing to submit a starting driver for the race.

Race

Post-race The result kept Albuquerque atop the Prototype Drivers' Championship with 169 points, 1 point ahead of seventh-place finishers Curran and Nasr. Cameron and Montoya advanced from fifth to third while Goikhberg and Simpson moved from eighth to fifth. As a result of winning the race, Hand and Müller took the lead of the GTLM Drivers' Championship. García and Magnussen advanced from fifth to third while Pilet and Tandy moved from seventh to fifth. Bamber and Vanthoor dropped from second to fourth. The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 155 points, 1 point ahead of Legge. Cadillac and Lamborghini continued to top their respective Manufacturers' Championships while Ford to the lead of the GTLM Manufactures' Championship. Mustang Sampling Racing, and Paul Miller Racing kept their respective advantages in the Teams' Championships while the #66 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing entry took the lead of the GTLM Teams' Championship with six rounds remaining.

Results Class winners are denoted in bold and .