IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Watkins Glen
Lamborghini Factory Driver, Scot Sandy, impresses on IMSA Pro debut at Watkins Glen with PFAFF Motorsports.
Sandy impressed on his GTD-Pro debut in the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship last weekend (June 21/22), setting a fastest time in practice. But having started the six-hour race at Watkins Glen in upstate New York from pole position, any hopes of a win were scuppered by a rare technical problem. The 25-year-old from Forfar partnered fellow Lamborghini factory driver, Italian Andrea Caldarelli, in the No9 Lithia and Driveway-sponsored Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.
Sandy: “It’s such a pity because the car was brilliant straight out of the box,” the Scot, personally backed by Tunnocks, explained. “We were fastest in the opening Free Practice session on Friday, then repeated that in second practice on Saturday.”
Sandy’s pace was immediate. While Caldarelli topped the timesheets in FP1 with a time of 1min 45.912secs, Sandy went even quicker in FP2, clocking 1:45.741s on the demanding 3.37-mile high-speed circuit which previously hosted the US F1 Grand Prix. The Italian then put the #9 Lamborghini on pole with a time of 1:44.595s. “After seeing our pace in FP1, we made minor adjustments here and there and the pace just kept improving,”Sandy stated, “so we were in a perfect position for the race.”
Under threatening skies, Caldarelli started the six-hour race and within minutes rain started. And while the 55-car grid negotiated the tricky conditions on slick tyres, things deteriorated further after 32-minutes when monsoon-like rain swept across the circuit. Even with the Safety Car deployed following an incident, four other cars slid out as the track became treacherous. “Andrea drove a fantastic first stint not only keeping the car on the track, but maintaining our lead position,” Sandy, who took over the Lamborghini after 45-minutes, continued. But hopes of the win were to evaporate around an hour later.
A rare technical problem pitched the Lamborghini nose-first into the ‘soft barriers’ as the #9 slid across the wet grass. Sandy was eventually able to restart the car and drive it back to the team where repairs were made. But after returning to the race having lost around five laps, the Scot was forced to park the car at the side of the track. “We had a few electrical gremlins which affected the steering and brakes, and put us back a few spots,” he explained, “then eventually we had a driveline failure. It’s a real shame after having had such strong pace in every session. We had safely negotiated the wet conditions at the start of the race and with the track having dried really quickly we were confident we could deliver the pace we’d shown in qualifying. But it wasn’t to be.”
Sandy returns to action this weekend (June 28/29) when he tackles the Blue Riband event in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Pro Cup calendar, the Spa24 Hours.