The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet achieved a dramatic overall victory at Watkins Glen after overtaking the #25 BMW M Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 of Nick Yelloly and Connor De Phillippi in just six minutes of the six hour race left over.
This was how the cars finished, when a lap later a full-track warning was issued as Bill Auberlen rolled over his Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GTD just before the final corner, ending the race on a yellow card.
Also read:
However, on post-race inspection, the No. 6 Porsche’s skid plate was found to be less than the minimum allowable thickness and was moved to the end of the race in the GTP finish order, giving the No. 25 BMW the win.
The Porsche is the second IMSA GTP winner to have been found to have broken the rules in the five races so far this year in the new LMDh era.
However, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura, which won the 24 Hours of Daytona, was allowed to keep its victory in the record books as the manipulation of its tire pressure data was only discovered after the post-race technical inspection – after the results were declared official – what but the case was deducted heavily.
#25: BMW M Team RLL, BMW M Hybrid V8, GTP: Connor De Phillippi, Nick Yelloly
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
The elimination of the Porsche marks BMW’s first GTP win since 1986 when the late John Andretti and Davy Jones triumphed in the McLaren North America’s BMW M Team March 86G.
This means that all four brands competing in the debut season of the newly introduced 2023 hybrid-electrified GTP class have now won their first five races.
The Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Pipo Derani, Alex Sims and Jack Aitken is second, ahead of Colin Braun and Tom Blomqvist in the MSR Acura.
The JDC Miller MotorSports customer Porsche 963, driven by Mike Rockenfeller and Tijmen van der Helm, has moved up to fourth place, while the Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac of Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande finished fifth.