With 90 minutes of the race remaining the red flags were shown when lightning struck, but with the clock still running the race resumed for a 21-minute sprint finish.
The two leading Acuras had been at the front all race, with Albuquerque and Taylor seemingly in control when the caution flags waved due to a nasty crash for the Carbahn with Peregrine Racing GTD Lamborghini of Jeff Westphal, who was the innocent victim of a squabble between two LMP2 drivers on the downhill plunge toward Turn 7.
But before the wreckage could be cleared away, the red flags were displayed when some nearby lightning strikes triggered an immediate halt to the proceedings.
Thunderstorm passed close by with little precipitation, but it took almost an hour before the threat of electrical strikes had passed and the race was able to resume.
Albuquerque knew his best opportunity to take the win would come at the restart, when he took advantage of Blomqvist’s draft on the main straight to get alongside.
Albuquerque hadn’t entirely cleared his rival as he headed toward the chicane, but he threw his car into the right-left complex anyway, making significant contact with Blomqvist as he barged past, leaving a disgruntled British driver to settle for his team’s fourth consecutive second-place finish.
Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande took the flag only 1.4s back in third place for Chip Ganassi, followed by team-mates Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn, who barely held off the Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Olivier Pla, Mike Conway and Pipo Derani.
In LMP2, Scott Huffaker took a fine victory with co-drivers Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating, as the PR1-Mathiasen Motorsports squad held off a late charge from the Louis Deletraz, John Farano and Rui Pinto de Andrade Tower Motorsport squad by just 0.107s.
Riley Motorsports with Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Kay van Berlo claimed the team’s third straight Watkins Glen victory in LMP3.
Both GTD Pro and GTD featured tremendous battles throughout the race, although both were ultimately decided by the red-flag stoppage causing teams not to meet the minimum drive-time requirements.
The BMW Team RLL of Connor De Phillippi, John Edwards and Augusto Farfus and Winward Racing Mercedes of Russell Ward, Mikael Grenier and Philip Ellis were relegated to the back of their respective classes due to the drive-time penalty.
That saw Heart of Racing Aston Martin to take a clean sweep with the #23 of Ross Gunn and Alex Riberas winning in GTD Pro and the #27 sister car of Roman De Angelis, Maxime Martin and Ian James taking victory in GTD.
IMSA Watkins Glen - Race Results
| Cla | Class | Num | Driver | Chassis | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DPi | 10 |
 Ricky Taylor  Filipe Albuquerque
| Acura DPi | 162 | - | |||
| 2 | DPi | 60 |
 Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist
| Acura DPi | 162 | 0.861 | 0.861 | 0.861 | |
| 3 | DPi | 01 |
 Renger van der Zande  Sébastien Bourdais
| Cadillac DPi | 162 | 2.267 | 2.267 | 1.406 | |
| 4 | DPi | 02 |
 Earl Bamber Alex Lynn
| Cadillac DPi | 162 | 4.176 | 4.176 | 1.909 | |
| 5 | DPi | 31 |
Olivier Pla  Pipo Derani Mike Conway
| Cadillac DPi | 162 | 4.211 | 4.211 | 0.035 | |
| 6 | DPi | 48 |
 Mike Rockenfeller  Kamui Kobayashi Jimmie Johnson
| Cadillac DPi | 161 | 1 lap | |||
| 7 | DPi | 5 |
Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval
| Cadillac DPi | 160 | 2 laps | |||
| 8 | LMP2 | 52 |
Ben Keating  Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 160 | 2 laps | |||
| 9 | LMP2 | 8 |
 John Farano  Louis Deletraz Rui Andrade
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 160 | 2 laps | |||
| 10 | LMP2 | 29 |
Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Dylan Murry
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 160 | 2 laps | |||
| 11 | LMP2 | 20 |
Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach Fabio Scherer
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 160 | 2 laps | |||
| 12 | LMP2 | 81 |
 Henrik Hedman  Juan Pablo Montoya Sebastian Montoya
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 159 | 3 laps | |||
| 13 | LMP2 | 11 |
Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 159 | 3 laps | |||
| 14 | LMP2 | 18 |
Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel
| ORECA LMP2 07 | 158 | 4 laps | |||
| 15 | LMP3 | 74 |
Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo
| Ligier JS P320 | 154 | 8 laps | |||
| 16 | LMP3 | 54 |
Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz
| Ligier JS P320 | 153 | 9 laps | |||
| 17 | LMP3 | 36 |
Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Gabby Chaves
| Ligier JS P320 | 153 | 9 laps | |||
| 18 | LMP3 | 38 |
Daniel Goldburg Rasmus Lindh  Cameron Shields
| Ligier JS P320 | 153 | 9 laps | |||
| 19 | LMP3 | 40 |
Nico Varrone Max Hanratty James Vance
| Duqueine D08 | 151 | 11 laps | |||
| 20 | GTD PRO | 25 |
Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus
| BMW M4 GT3 | 148 | 14 laps | |||
| 21 | GTD | 57 |
Russell Ward Philip Ellis Marvin Dienst
| Mercedes AMG GT3 | 148 | 14 laps | |||
| 22 | GTD | 27 |
Roman De Angelis  Maxime Martin Ian James
| Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 148 | 14 laps | |||
| 23 | GTD | 70 |
Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy  Jordan Lee Pepper
| McLaren 720S GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 24 | GTD | 96 |
Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan | BMW M4 GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 25 | GTD | 12 |
Frankie Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Richard Heistand
| Lexus RC F GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 26 | GTD PRO | 23 |
Ross Gunn  Alex Riberas
| Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 27 | GTD | 47 |
 Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco
| Ferrari 488 GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 28 | GTD PRO | 62 |
Daniel Serra Davide Rigon
| Ferrari 488 GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 29 | GTD | 44 |
John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly
| Aston Martin Vantage GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 30 | GTD PRO | 9 |
Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 31 | GTD PRO | 14 |
Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood
| Lexus RC F GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 32 | GTD PRO | 79 |
Cooper MacNeil Maro Engel Mikael Grenier
| Mercedes AMG GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 33 | GTD | 42 |
Jaden Conwright Marco Holzer Don Yount
| Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 34 | GTD PRO | 3 |
Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor
| Corvette C8.R GTD | 147 | 15 laps | |||
| 35 | GTD | 16 |
Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 146 | 16 laps | |||
| 36 | GTD | 59 |
Jon Miller Paul Holton Patrick Gallagher
| McLaren 720S GT3 | 146 | 16 laps | |||
| 37 | GTD | 99 |
Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson
| Porsche 911 GT3 R | 145 | 17 laps | |||
| 38 | GTD | 1 |
Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Erik Johansson
| BMW M4 GT3 | 144 | 18 laps | |||
| 39 | GTD | 32 |
Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer Dirk Muller
| Mercedes AMG GT3 | 138 | 24 laps | |||
| 40 | LMP3 | 33 |
Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Lance Willsey
| Ligier JS P320 | 132 | 30 laps | |||
| 41 | GTD | 39 |
Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Jeff Westphal
| Lamborghini Huracan GT3 | 129 | 33 laps | |||
| 42 | LMP3 | 30 |
Ari Balogh Garett Grist Nolan Siegel | Ligier JS P320 | 126 | 36 laps | |||
| 43 | LMP3 | 58 |
Dakota Dickerson Josh Sarchet Tyler Maxson | Ligier JS P320 | 108 | 54 laps | |||
| 44 | GTD | 21 |
Simon Mann  Luis Perez Companc  Toni Vilander
| Ferrari 488 GT3 | 76 | 86 laps | |||
| 45 | LMP3 | 7 |
Anthony Mantella Matthew Bell Wayne Boyd
| Duqueine D08 | 67 | 95 laps | |||
| 46 | GTD | 66 |
Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Mario Farnbacher
| Acura NSX GT3 | 44 | 118 laps | |||
| 47 | LMP3 | 13 |
Orey Fidani Kyle Marcelli Lars Kern
| Duqueine D08 | 43 | 119 laps | |||
| 48 | LMP3 | 6 |
Ugo De Danny Formal Dillon Machavern
| Duqueine D08 | 35 | 127 laps | |||
| View full results | |||||||||
