Ed Brown has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, which was set to be his final prototype race.

The Tequila Patron ESM driver and CEO of Patron Spirits International announced his retirement from prototype racing earlier this week, with the Watkins Glen round set to be his last race in the category.

ESM has cited “minor but unexpected back surgery” as the reason for Brown’s withdrawal from the race, and as such the No. 22 Nissan Onroak DPi will be shared by just Johannes van Overbeek and Bruno Senna.

“This recent development is disappointing, to say the least,” Brown commented. “I was looking forward to having one final race in the car, but I’m happy I’ll still be able attend and support everyone from pit lane.

“As usual, the team has done a tremendous job preparing for this race, I believe both cars will be very strong.

“Bruno and Johannes will now have a little more time to dial everything in, and I know they’ll do a great job.”



The sister No. 2 car will remain with a three-driver lineup of Scott Sharp, Ryan Dalziel and Pipo Derani.

The Brazilian driver, who was originally only taking part in the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup races, will replace Brown in the No. 22 car for the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.