Jack Aitken finished what he started, driving home the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac to the overall victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 28 after giving his team the pole position during qualifying 24 hours earlier at Watkins Glen International.
Aitken joined Action Express Racing co-drivers Earl Bamber and Frederick Vesti in capturing the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race on the 3.4-mile road course. They led 143 of 182 laps.
For Aitken and Bamber, the victory was their second in a row following a win at the Chevrolet Detroit Sports Classic on May 30.
They brought an international flavor to victory lane. Aitken, 30, is a native of London, England; Bamber, 35, is from Wanganui, New Zealand; and Vesti, 24, is from Langelund, Denmark.
The victory provided redemption for the Whelen trio, who dominated much of the 2025 Six Hours of The Glen but lost out on the win after their car had to make a late fuel stop.
“I think last year hurt for a lot of reasons,” Aitken said. “We obviously came very close and had a quick race car that day as well. You have to just chalk it up as a learning experience sometimes on a day like that. We haven’t made mistakes like that in a long time and that’s part of the reason we’re on the streak.
“It is lovely to do it right and come back and win it because you’ll never know when you have a chance to win these big races. It’s fantastic.”
Aitken set the table for an ideal weekend with a Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) qualifying record Saturday with his lap of 1 minute, 31.284 seconds.
He maintained an early lead, with Vesti and Bamber keeping the car in position for the win.
Aitken resumed driving duties for the final hour and entered in third behind Nick Yelloly in the No. 93 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura and Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac.
After Albuquerque relinquished second position, Aitken took over the lead for good after exiting the pits in front of the rest of the field with 44 minutes remaining. Marco Wittmann held the lead briefly for the No. 25 BMW prior to that.
“The team just did an amazing job,” Aitken said. “Every pit stop was perfect, the car was fantastic. It was on rails. … We just had an amazing day. Everybody did their job.”
Aitken took the checkered flag under caution after Christopher Mies wrecked behind him on the final lap.
Yelloly teamed with Renger van der Zande and Kaku Ohta for second place. The No. 5 JC-Miller Motorsports Porsche 963 of Laurin Heinrich, Tijmen van der Helm and Kaylen Frederick finished third.
The other class winners were the No. 99 ORECA LMP2 of PJ Hyett, Dane Cameron and Jonny Edgar in Le Mans Prototype; the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat in GT Daytona Pro; and the No. 912 Porsche of Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera and Richard Lietz in GT Daytona.
The race began with 54 entrants among the four classes and there were nine full-course cautions.
Early exit for defending champions
Defending winners Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun saw their repeat hopes end in the first hour after their No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura was struck from behind with Braun driving. Braun checked up for stopped GT traffic in front of him in Turn 4 during a caution and was hit by fellow GTP driver Roman De Angelis’ No. 23 Aston Martin Valkyrie. The incident ended the race for both cars.
De Angelis said it was not a great situation to be put in.
“If I would have looked back, I don’t know what I would have done different,” he said.
“Sorry for everyone involved and for my team as well, which has to fix a pretty mangled Valkyrie.”
Record crowd
John Doonan, president of IMSA, said during a TV interview that Sunday was an all-time record crowd for the event, though an exact figure was not given. It was ideal racing weather, with temperatures around 80 degrees and sunny skies.
“Great crowd, great racing,” Doonan said.
This article originally appeared on Elmira Star-Gazette: Whelen Cadillac team gains redemption with Six Hours of The Glen win
Reporting by Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette / Elmira Star-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Andrew Legare, Elmira Star-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
