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IMSA Watkins Glen results, points: Acura wins again as Blomqvist saves just enough juice

IMSA Watkins Glen results, points: Acura wins again as Blomqvist saves just enough juice

NBC Sports6 hours ago

Stretching his hybrid battery to the aboslute limit when a rival couldn't, Tom Blomqvist took the lead on the last lap to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar race at Watkins Glen International.
Blomqvist's No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 crossed the finish line with less than 1% of its battery power reamining and finished 1.880 seconds ahed of the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. The No. 10 WTR Cadillac finished third.
'The guys gave me a target, and we were able to execute,' Blomqvist told NBC Sports' Dave Burns on Peacock. 'The car came alive there. I knew we just needed a bit space. We were able to capitalize on a couple of restarts. The guys did a great strategy and the pace was set to be able to hit those really big fuel targets ,and that's what enabled me to go to the end and the others not.
IMSA WATKINS GLEN RESULTS: Click here for overall l By class
'So really proud of everyone. It was an up-and-down race for us. We had a few mistakes here at the beginning, but we made the most of it there at the end, so I'm so happy for the guys. It's been a really tough year. We haven't really had what we believe we deserve.'
Earl Bamber had been in the lead on a restart with 3 minutes remaining, but his No. 31 Cadillac finished fifth after being forced to make a pit stop when its battery expired just before taking the white flag.
Just before the last restart, Nick Yelloly also had pitted from second in the No. 93 MSR Acura. That had Blomqvist's co-driver, Colin Braun, nervous atop the Meyer Shank Racing pit stand.
'Tom did a great job there at the end saving the fuel,' Braun said. 'Man, the guys on the pit box were sweating bullets up there, but they made it happen there, so I'm pumped.'
With the No. 93 's May 31 victory at Detroit, Meyer Shank Racing's Acuras have won two consecutive races after Porsche Penske Motorsport opened the 2025 season with four wins.
'The guys have really stepped it up,' Blomqvist said. 'We're just getting better and better every race, so hopefully more to come.'
The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 finished fourth to move into the championship lead by 12 points over the No. 7 963, which finished a season-worst 47th. After a promising start in which Felipe Nasr moved from 10th to the lead, things went awry when Nick Tandy went into the Turn 1 wall with just over 90 minutes remaining.
The No. 7 Porsche 963 required major repairs that cost the team more than 10 laps in the pits.
The Watkins Glen winners in other categories:
LMP2: No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07
GTD Pro: No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO
GTD: No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo
IMSA WATKINS GLEN SIX HOURS RESULTS
Race results
Results by class
Fastest laps by driver
Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend)
Fastest laps by driver and class after race
Lap chart
Best sector times
Leader sequence
Race distance and average speed
Fastest lap sequence
Race analysis by lap
Stint analysis
Track limits analysis
Time cards
Pit stop time cards
Flag analysis
Weather report
NEXT RACE
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will race with the LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD categories Sunday, July 13 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2 p.m. ET, USA, Peacock).
Dan Harper and Max Hesse recap their up-and-down day at Watkins Glen and how they worked pit strategy to climb to the front and win the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen in GTD Pro.
For Tom Gamble, his emotions were "all over the place" after Lexus ran out of gas on the final lap at Watkins Glen, and he shares his first-time win with teammate Casper Stevenson while Zacharie Robichon gets his eighth.
Paul Di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and Daniel Goldburg discuss their LMP2 class win at Watkins Glen, vaulting the United Motorsports No. 22 to the top of the championship standings.

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Pre-race decision left Alex Palou 'looking really bad.' How the IndyCar leader pulled off his 6th win
Pre-race decision left Alex Palou 'looking really bad.' How the IndyCar leader pulled off his 6th win

Indianapolis Star

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  • Indianapolis Star

Pre-race decision left Alex Palou 'looking really bad.' How the IndyCar leader pulled off his 6th win

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — In his half-dozen IndyCar victories nine races this season, Alex Palou and the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew have won just about every way you could imagine and yet, Sunday's was something new. The two-time-defending series champion has eked ahead off a final pit exchange (St. Pete), pulled off a late-race pass for the win (Thermal and the Indy 500), dominated from pole (Barber) and lost the lead early, only to race his way back to a relatively comfortable victory (IMS road course). As the season reached its halfway point Sunday afternoon at Road America, perhaps it was only fitting Palou and Barry Wanser put on a strategy masterclass on a day where the possible forks in the road were many and any attempt to try and actively keep track of all the road maps at play was certain to leave one with a migraine. 'It was tough. It was a crazy race. It just felt like there was a lot going on. Lots of yellows, obviously, that were shaking how we were looking,' Palou said. 'We were looking really bad at the beginning, then really good, then terrible, then really good again. 'It was tough to be up there, but we just had to stay focused on battling against the people that were on our strategy.' That first battle in the No. 10 camp took place before the race even started, during the 30-minute window following Sunday's morning warmup when teams must declare the tires they'll start on, a call that, depending on how the opening stages of a race go, whether it been caution-crazy or caution-free, could play an outsized role in the drivers and teams who'll find themselves in contention for a win later on. As Wanser, Palou's strategist, explained, the duo declared primaries, but further intervention within the CGR camp got Palou waffling. With the deadline looming, Palou decided he wanted to flip, but by the time they attempted to put the call in to IndyCar to switch, it was a few minutes too late. So start on the slower, harder, more durable primary tires they did — largely surrounded on the grid by a sea of alternate-tire-clad rivals who swallowed up the No. 10 car on Lap 1 even before a caution for a stranded David Malukas fell before the lap was complete. By that point, Palou was down from second on the grid to seventh on the ensuing restart. But as Wanser explained, though the choice to start on primaries was illogical, given what they'd learn about their competitors pre-race, it proved to be the best choice in the long run. The day prior, Palou, Wanser and Co. had made a major push to take pole, opting to use a third set of new alternates during the Fast Six to try and seal the deal, while fellow title contenders and serious threats for the race win Scott McLaughlin and Christian Lundgaard saved a set to use for the race instead. Had they used that lone set of new alternates for the race start, Palou might not have dropped any spots to start with, but the disjointed race start meant any value gained by running alternates over primaries was minimal. In response, Palou had them in his back pocket to use later, even though Wasner said he made a tire strategy call mid-race on using that new alternate set on stint No. 2 that was earlier than he'd discussed with Palou pre-race. A rare occurrence on the radio, Palou let his displeasure with the mid-race switch-a-roo known. 'I got to be grumpy for a couple laps, and then I saw it was worked out, and I started saying 'thank you' again,' Palou joked. 'It was interesting, but for sure, we got the win because of the team that we had on both pit stops and strategy. 'I knew (using alternates on the second stint) was going to help us there, but it was going to hurt us a lot on the last stint, but honestly, the pace we had today in the No. 10 car was amazing, and we were able to save fuel even on primaries to be quite fast.' In a race with so many strategies at play, and seemingly even more splintering off every pit exchange, Palou was forced to manage chunks of laps where he'd be battling at the front, followed by stops that left him buried in 13th or 14th behind cars that, according to how the race would finish up, weren't really his true competition. But by Lap 22, as the yellow flags flew for Conor Daly's off-track excursion, Palou could've inherited the lead had Wanser opted for him to stay out, rather than pit at a time where the team wasn't sorely in need for fuel. With it being the race's fourth caution, Palou's second stint only ran 12 laps, several of them under caution, and Palou said he still could've run five laps more before diving in, similar to what Felix Rosenqvist (runner-up) and Kyle Kirkwood (fourth) opted to do. But pitting there ultimately gave him track position at the end of the race, a roll of the dice that he felt made the difference in the win that fell into his lap with Scott Dixon forced to pit late and Rosenqvist still a couple seconds back by the checkered flag. 'That was the moment that I would say gave us the win,' Palou said of Wanser's call on when to make his second of three stops. But Wanser and Palou didn't feel comfortable until a ways later. Though they knew Dixon had pitted two laps before them on his second stop, the No. 10 stand continued to watch late in the race as the six-time champ rolled off competitive lap times again and again. By their math, Palou was going to be cutting it close on fuel as is, ultimately enough post-race to run a cooldown lap, but not fire off any celebratory donuts. So how was Dixon holding onto his gap on his teammate, they kept wondering? 'I even said to all the engineers on the stand, 'Are we missing something here? Because Dixon is running (fuel) numbers and lap times that (Palou's) not going to be able to get, based on the number we gave him,'' Wanser said. 'They double checked everything, triple checked, but we were pretty confident we were going to be fine.' Had Dixon lucked into a late-race yellow, Palou said he wasn't sure he had enough speed in the car to swoop around the outside for what would've needed to be a pass for the win on his teammate. 'When I was following Scott, I could see that he wasn't saving as much as I was. I was like, 'This guy is crazy. How is he going to do it?'' Palou said. 'If it was another driver, I would have probably just focused on myself, but I know that Scott can make crazy stuff happen. 'If he gets a yellow and he's still P1, we're not going to be able to pass him. We were still trying to get that first-place position on track, just in case there was a four-lap yellow at the end, and he would've still been leading and maybe ended up with a win.' In all, the chaos kept things interesting, and Palou's Sunday kept him longing for something else the next time out, too. 'We couldn't do donuts,' he joked. 'I would've liked that, but at least (we had) enough to make it to Victory Lane.'

Scott Dixon's 'nothing-to-lose' strategy almost won at Road America. Why it almost worked, but didn't
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Indianapolis Star

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  • Indianapolis Star

Scott Dixon's 'nothing-to-lose' strategy almost won at Road America. Why it almost worked, but didn't

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — For more than two decades, Scott Dixon's IndyCar rivals have become all too used to the No. 9 Chip Ganassi Racing crew spearheaded by strategist and team managing director Mike Hull turning a qualifying gaffe, an early race miscue or an otherwise innocuous start to a race into a masterful victory. Sunday afternoon at Road America was a rarity for the six-time series champion duo: a roll of the dice that delivered snake eyes. And with that, for the second consecutive start, a late-race lead turned into an otherwise forgettable top-10 finish for Dixon, who just nine races into his 2025 campaign sits tied for fourth in the championship with six top 10s but faces a 155-point gap to his CGR teammate Alex Palou, who picked up his eye-popping sixth win of the year at Road America. 'We've got nothing to lose. We were going for some race wins. 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In theory, the stop didn't lose the No. 9 crew much, if any, track position while giving them a couple laps more fuel than the rest of the field that stayed out — crucial at a track that measures more than 4 miles in length. An especially elbows-out start to the race led to two more cautions inside the first 10 laps, leading the bulk of the field to make their first stop on Lap 11, handing Dixon his first stint of race-leading laps at the time of the ensuing return to green flag action. He managed to stretch his second stint to 19 laps, albeit six laps of caution helping to pad his stats, but his second stop came on Lap 21. Painfully for the No. 9 crew, the race's fourth caution came out just one lap later, sparking those like Palou to dip in for their second stop on Lap 23 under yellow and at that point only needing one more stop to be able to make it to the checkered flag. 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They opted to stay out during the caution for Daly to preserve track position, and who then pitted under green on Lap 27 or 28 but were then able to bunch back up with Josef Newgarden's Lap 30 caution. Dixon's path proved to be the odd one out. Ultimately, he led a race-high 27 laps, including Laps 45 to 52 of the 55-lap race, but it became clear during that closing stretch to the 44-year-year-old that he'd need one final yellow to save him from a fourth and final stop for a splash-and-go. 'You're throwing pretty wild strategies out there, just to try and make something happen. It looked like actually the conservative one that the others took was the right one to take. We needed to bank on at least another (caution) lap or two,' Dixon said. 'The unfortunate part was the car was super fast, but all day even with our speed today, we were having to save fuel every lap, which was kinda frustrating. 'I think we should've been top 3.' Dixon, the legendary fuel-saver of his generation of IndyCar drivers, lamented the hybrid's impact on what he might've otherwise been able to do on a day like today just a year ago. 'The fuel mileage is way worse with the hybrid, which makes no sense to me,' he said, making light of the fact that the weight impact of IndyCar's hybrid unit burns more fuel than cars did without it, the exact opposite impact the technology is meant to have in road cars. 'But it's the same for everybody. Everybody's gotta carry this lump of weight around. 'But yeah, you would've made it without the hybrid.'

IMSA Watkins Glen results, points: Acura wins again as Blomqvist saves just enough juice
IMSA Watkins Glen results, points: Acura wins again as Blomqvist saves just enough juice

NBC Sports

time6 hours ago

  • NBC Sports

IMSA Watkins Glen results, points: Acura wins again as Blomqvist saves just enough juice

Stretching his hybrid battery to the aboslute limit when a rival couldn't, Tom Blomqvist took the lead on the last lap to win the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar race at Watkins Glen International. Blomqvist's No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 crossed the finish line with less than 1% of its battery power reamining and finished 1.880 seconds ahed of the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac. The No. 10 WTR Cadillac finished third. 'The guys gave me a target, and we were able to execute,' Blomqvist told NBC Sports' Dave Burns on Peacock. 'The car came alive there. I knew we just needed a bit space. We were able to capitalize on a couple of restarts. The guys did a great strategy and the pace was set to be able to hit those really big fuel targets ,and that's what enabled me to go to the end and the others not. IMSA WATKINS GLEN RESULTS: Click here for overall l By class 'So really proud of everyone. It was an up-and-down race for us. We had a few mistakes here at the beginning, but we made the most of it there at the end, so I'm so happy for the guys. It's been a really tough year. We haven't really had what we believe we deserve.' Earl Bamber had been in the lead on a restart with 3 minutes remaining, but his No. 31 Cadillac finished fifth after being forced to make a pit stop when its battery expired just before taking the white flag. Just before the last restart, Nick Yelloly also had pitted from second in the No. 93 MSR Acura. That had Blomqvist's co-driver, Colin Braun, nervous atop the Meyer Shank Racing pit stand. 'Tom did a great job there at the end saving the fuel,' Braun said. 'Man, the guys on the pit box were sweating bullets up there, but they made it happen there, so I'm pumped.' With the No. 93 's May 31 victory at Detroit, Meyer Shank Racing's Acuras have won two consecutive races after Porsche Penske Motorsport opened the 2025 season with four wins. 'The guys have really stepped it up,' Blomqvist said. 'We're just getting better and better every race, so hopefully more to come.' The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 finished fourth to move into the championship lead by 12 points over the No. 7 963, which finished a season-worst 47th. After a promising start in which Felipe Nasr moved from 10th to the lead, things went awry when Nick Tandy went into the Turn 1 wall with just over 90 minutes remaining. The No. 7 Porsche 963 required major repairs that cost the team more than 10 laps in the pits. The Watkins Glen winners in other categories: LMP2: No. 22 United Autosports USA ORECA LMP2 07 GTD Pro: No. 48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO GTD: No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo IMSA WATKINS GLEN SIX HOURS RESULTS Race results Results by class Fastest laps by driver Fastest laps by driver after race (over the weekend) Fastest laps by driver and class after race Lap chart Best sector times Leader sequence Race distance and average speed Fastest lap sequence Race analysis by lap Stint analysis Track limits analysis Time cards Pit stop time cards Flag analysis Weather report NEXT RACE The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship will race with the LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD categories Sunday, July 13 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (2 p.m. ET, USA, Peacock). Dan Harper and Max Hesse recap their up-and-down day at Watkins Glen and how they worked pit strategy to climb to the front and win the Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen in GTD Pro. For Tom Gamble, his emotions were "all over the place" after Lexus ran out of gas on the final lap at Watkins Glen, and he shares his first-time win with teammate Casper Stevenson while Zacharie Robichon gets his eighth. Paul Di Resta, Rasmus Lindh and Daniel Goldburg discuss their LMP2 class win at Watkins Glen, vaulting the United Motorsports No. 22 to the top of the championship standings.

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