In the high-speed world of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Series, drivers are used to the challenges of racing in the rain. But TDS Racing’s Steven Thomas found himself in an unusual predicament during the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.
Nearly an hour into the race, Thomas had a head-on crash with Rodrigo Sales, the driver of the No. 52 LMP2. As he maneuvered his No. 11 ORECA LMP2 07 away from the wreckage, Thomas noticed the rain wasn’t just falling around him—it was inside the cockpit.
The collision had torn off his car’s windshield. Meanwhile, the wipers dutifully continued to swipe at nothing but air. “I didn’t realize the windshield was gone until I started driving away,” Thomas explained to NBC Sports’ Chris Wilner. “I felt the rain and thought, ‘Oh, I have no windshield.’” Despite the mishap, Thomas assured he was unharmed, though disappointed about the incident.
The chaos ensued after Sales lost control in Turn 9 during a restart at Watkins Glen International, as an unexpected downpour slicked the 11-turn, 3.4-mile course. “I got pushed in the left rear, spun 180 degrees,” Sales recounted. “I was in a terrible spot, and there were cars everywhere. The impact with TDS’s car was massive.” Sales’s car was too damaged to continue.
For Thomas, the crash was unavoidable. He was trailing a GT car when suddenly, from barely ten feet away, Sales’s car appeared. “The GT car moved left, and I saw Rodrigo’s car pop up right in front of me. There was nowhere to go.”
Sales retired from the race, with Thomas’s car stalled for 51 laps awaiting repairs. The third endurance race of the IMSA season carried on, but it’s one that Thomas won’t soon forget.
