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.[1] 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.[1] The race was held at the eleven-turn 3.450 mi (5.552 km) Watkins Glen International on July 1, 2018.[1]
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.
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.[14]
Practice 1
The first practice session took place at 10:25 am ET on Friday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for AcuraTeam Penske, with a lap time of 1:33.562.[15]
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.[17]
The third and final practice session took place at 8:00 am ET on Saturday and ended with Dane Cameron topping the charts for AcuraTeam Penske, with a lap time of 1:32.975.[19]
Saturday afternoon's 65-minute qualifying session was divided into three groups.[14] 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.[21]
Qualifying results
Pole positions in each class are indicated in bold and by ‡.
1 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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 The No. 73 Park Place Motorsports moved to the back of the GTD field for failing to submit a starting driver for the race.[21]
5 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.[21]
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.[24] 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.[24] The result kept Sellers and Snow atop the GTD Drivers' Championship with 155 points, 1 point ahead of Legge.[24] 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.[24]