Antonio Garcia in the # 3 C8.R Corvette wins GTLM in a wild scramble as the 6 hours of Watkins Glen came to an end

With just 28 minutes to go, Antonio Garcia passed teammate Nick Tandy in the # 4 C8.R Corvette and navigated through heavy traffic to win the GTLM class.

Tandy was on his way to victory when his car suddenly faltered from what appears to be an electronic glitch. (We are looking into the cause).

Sensing trouble, Garcia alertly grabbed the lead going into the bus stop chicane, closely pursued by the # 25 BMW M8 GTE of John Edwards.

Thirteen seconds lost by Tandy allowed the # 24 BMW M6 of Connor De Phillippi to slip by, costing him a podium finish.

It has been 7 years since the Corvette had won on the blistering fast Watkins Glen 3.45-mile road course.

The Corvettes qualified 1-2 with Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy swapping the lead eight (8) times with Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor, cycling through pit stops and cautions before Garcia clinched the win by less than a second.

The 2 BMWs rounded out the 5 car IMSA GTLM field in the season’s third of four endurance races.  In which mayhem is often the rule.

A scrape with the barrier on lap one ruptured an oil line that caught fire, knocking out the # 79 Porsche 911 RSR GTLM of Cooper McNeil, backed by IMSA series sponsor Weather-Tech.

Garcia and Taylor, shown with former team owner Gary Pratt in civilian garb, lead the GTLM standings going into the 2 hour-40- minute race on Friday July 2 also at the Glen.  The race was planned for Mosport over July 3-4 but travel to Canada is still shut down.

With GTLM ending this year, the real test comes if/when we see the C8.R “supercar” pitted against Porsche, BMW, AMG Mercedes, Audi, Lexus, Acura, Aston Martin, Lamborghini and McLaren in the burgeoning GTD class for GT3 spec.

Results compiled by Wayne Ellwood.

Photos courtesy of Rick Dole, Richard Prince and suppliers of online images for BMW and Porsche entrants.