Six Hours race at Watkins Glen
Lamborghini Factory Driver Sandy bags IMSA GTD Pro top 10 in Six Hours of the Glen with PFAFF Motorsports
Sandy Mitchell battled through an incident-packed six-hour race at Watkins Glen in upstate New York to bag another top-10 GTD Pro finish in the latest round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Partnering fellow factory driver, Italian Andrea Caldarelli, in the No9 Xpel Temerario GT3 prepared by top Canadian team, Pfaff Motorsports, Mitchell lined up 12th in class on the 54-car grid. When he pitted after 39-minutes, during what was the second of nine Safety Car periods, the 26-year-old from Forfar had eased the #9 Temerario up to 10th. Caldarelli essentially held position before handing the car back to Mitchell, again during a Safety Car period, with 3hrs 48mins remaining.
“The first half of the race was punctuated by a whole host of incidents, which brought out Full Course Yellows, then the Safety Car,” the Scot explained. “It was difficult for everyone to settle into any sort of rhythm.”
During his two-hour stint, Mitchell consistently ran in eighth position in the highly competitive GTD Pro class, setting the car’s quickest lap of the race, a 1min 47.294secs, round the 3.37-mile high-speed circuit which previously hosted the US F1 Grand Prix. As the next round of pitstops evolved with 90 minutes remaining, the Scot pitted from sixth in class, handing the car to Caldarelli. Within minutes the Italian was fortunate to avoid a rolling tyre and a stricken passenger door, both of which had detached from a rival Ferrari following an impact.
“Andrea did really well to avoid the debris, because that could have caused a huge amount of damage and been race-ending,” Mitchell, personally-backed by Tunnocks and Dama Fortuna Premium Tequila, explained. “I was really happy with my middle stint because we were able to get into some good battles and make up a number of places.”
The Scot slotted back into the car for the final 60-minutes, rejoining in 10th before finally taking the chequered flag in ninth. “If we’re honest, it wasn’t the race, or result, we were all hoping for,” Mitchell continued, “especially having finished on the podium last time out in Detroit. But this was only our fourth race with the all-new Temerario GT3. “There were a lot of positives to take from the race. The car continues to be super-reliable: that’s one 12-hour race, a six-hour race and two 100-minute races the Temerario has completed without missing a beat. And it’s quick. Plus we banked more championship points. “But every time we go on track with what is essentially a completely new car, everyone in the team is learning more about how we can extract more performance from it. It’s hugely exciting and challenging to be involved in the race development of the Temerario GT3, and I honestly can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.”
Mitchell returns to action on July 10-12 when IMSA heads to Bowmanville, 75km east of Toronto, for what is Pfaff Motorsports’ home race at the Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.
