Sahlen’s Six Hour of The Glen: What you need to know before June 27

Whether you’ve been following IMSA for its 50 years, or it’s your first race, this is the refresher you need to enjoy a weekend of multi-class sportscar racing at Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The exciting weekend begins on Thursday, June 27 with the GT3 Cup and ends on Sunday, June 30 with the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, but don’t worry, there’s a lot of action in between.

The first thing you’ll want to know about is the races themselves, so you can be in your seat at the right times and so you can be the one to explain what is happening on track to first time fans. Here’s a breakdown of the races:

Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama and Lamborghini Super Trofeo

Friday 2:00 PM, 4:45 PM & Saturday 9:20 AM, 10:25 AM

In the GT3 Cup, drivers range in skill from amateur to professional and they drive Porsche 911s. This race isn’t long, so you’ll want to stay close to your seat for the 45 minutes of excitement. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo series is a 50 minute race and drivers are classified by “Pro”, “Pro-Am” and “Am”.  The classes describe whether the teams are made of professional drivers, amateur drivers or both. They race in the powerful Huracan Super Trofeo EVO.

Michelin Pilot Challenge Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240 - Saturday 1:55 PM

The Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240 is separated into 2 classes (Grand Sport and TCR), differentiated by speed and modifications of cars. The drivers are in teams of two for this race, each doing a few stints for the four hour race. A stint could be 30 minutes to an hour. There are no Prototypes in the Tioga Downs 240, so all of the cars are similar to what you would see on the street. In this race, you’ll want to watch for Syracuse native Brandon Kidd in the #97 Invisible Glass Aston Martin for Automatic Racing.

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - Sunday 9:45 AM

For the WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, drivers race in teams of two or three. One driver will start the race and be on the track for a stint and then their teammate takes over. This pattern continues for the six hours of the race. Similar to the Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240, there are three classes within the WeatherTech Championship: Prototypes, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona.

Some of the Prototypes you will see on track are made by Acura, Cadillac, Mazda and Nissan. These cars are fast, reaching a top speed of 200 mph and generating 600 horsepower. BMW, Corvette, Ford, Porsche and Ferrari are some of the featured manufacturers for GT Le Mans with speeds of 180 mph and 525 horsepower and the GT Daytona class features Lexus, Acura, Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, Lamborghini and BMW. 

The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is split between “Pro” and “Pro-Am”, similar to the Lamborghini Super Trofeo series. To help fans differentiate between the two, there is a color system for the cars. The “Pro” series GT cars have red markings along the car and the “Pro-Am” series cars are differentiated with green markings in the GTD class.

One team to keep an eye out for is the 2018 winner of Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, JDC-Miller Motorsports. This year they swapped out last year’s #99 Red Dragon, for the #85 Banana Boat, so you’ll want to look for them in yellow on race day. Other drivers to look for are Andy Lally and Joao Barbosa. They are the winningest active drivers at the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen with four wins each.

Best Spots to Watch From

One of the best aspects about the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen is the length of the race. This gives you the opportunity to make your way around the track and get different views of these high speed sportscars. Below are spots around the track you’ll want to make sure you watch from:

The Esses Party Deck

Sir Jackie Stewart Grandstand

Esses Grandstand

The Boot

The Bus Stop

Argetsinger Grandstand

      

        For a map of the track click here.

A must for the weekend is visiting the open paddock for a behind the scenes look of the cars and crews. You’ll also want to check out the pre-race on Saturday and Sunday where there will be an open grid fan walk, a great opportunity to get up close to the cars and drivers! When you are ready for a mid-race break (six hours is a long time), head over to a concession stand for $1 Sahlen’s hot dogs, because what better way to watch a race than with a hot dog? And they will be good, Sahlen’s has had 150 years of practice.

There will be a lot happening at Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, on and off track, that you won't want to miss. For the full weekend schedule click here.

Buy your tickets now for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen weekend, June 27th – June 30th. General admission tickets for the weekend and Sunday are available for purchase at www.theglen.com or by phone at 1-866-461-RACE today.