WeatherTech Sportscar Championship – Page 25

Cadillac locks out front row for Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring

Perfect morning conditions at Sebring International Raceway with temperatures in the low 60s and moderate humidity had engines and tires happy, allowing drivers to push the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racecars to very quick times in …

In a rare GTP-only qualifying session — the top class is normally on track with LMP2 for qualifying — the two Cadillac Racing V-Series.Rs locked out the front row after trailing Acura in yesterday’s practice sessions. Pipo Derani turned the fastest lap of the weekend, showing the pace that was evident, but hadn’t appeared on the official results. Derani bailed out of a potential 1m45s lap in qualifying simulations during the second practice session yesterday, but posted a 1m45.836s (127.22mph) lap to claim the pole in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac.

“We’ve been having a fantastic weekend,” said Derani, a three-time Sebring winner. “It seems like rolled onto the track with very competitive car and so changes have been very small from practice to practice, and therefore we keep evolving quicker than if we were trying to find bigger lap times. It was a very competitive qualifying session.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

“I think we came from Daytona a a little bit behind some of our competitors, but we’ve been able to work really hard together between Action Express and Ganassi to continue to develop the Cadillac. I think it’s a strong track normally for the Cadillac, but with a new regulations, you never know whether that’s going to translate into still being a strong track. We’ve worked really hard and it shows that we are now a little bit more competitive than we were at Daytona. To be able to extract that in qualifying and have Cadillac one – two, it shows that we’re able to achieve what we’d be looking for.”

As comparison, Antonio Fuoco took the WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring pole in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P Hypercar last night with a 1m45.067s lap. The Cadillac Racing V-Series.R run by Chip Ganassi Racing, which runs to slightly different regulations in WEC, had a best lap of 1m46.082 in the hands of Alex Lynn to qualify fifth. The DPi qualifying record at Sebring is 1m45.025s, set by Bourdais last year in a Cadillac.

Sebastien Bourdais will join Derani on the front row, missing out on the pole by only 0.087s in the No.01 Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared Cadillac. Last year’s polesitter hadn’t looked as strong during yesterday’s sessions, but Bourdais had the pace when it counted.

Acura and Porsche will make up the second row for tomorrow’s 10:10am start, Ricky Taylor qualifying the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport ARX-06 in third with a 1m46.1s lap. Taylor set the lap on the first of two sets of tires he used, but didn’t go any faster on the second set, hurt perhaps by a shortening of the session — GTP qualifying was cut short when Matt Campbell clipped the inside wall at Turn 1, putting the No. 7 PPM 963 into a spin and into the tire barrier on the outside of the track. Mathieu Jaminet was 0.59s off Derani’s best to put the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 on the outside of the second row.

Tom Blomqvist, who had previously held the best lap of the weekend, qualified the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 in fifth, and the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 will start alongside, Augusto Farfus being the last driver within a second of Derani. Campbell would have been within that range, but lost his two best laps for causing a red flag.

After a near-miss in WEC qualifying, Keating made amends with his IMSA LMP2 run. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Ben Keating, who just missed out on the GTE-Am pole for the 100 Miles of Sebring WEC race, took the LMP2 pole by 0.120s over Francois Heriau. Keating turned a 1m51.780s (120.45mph) lap in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports before heading over to the WEC paddock where he’s racing the No. 33 Corvette in GTE-Am. Keating reported that he didn’t expect to be that quick, but also said he had a brake lockup on a lap that would have been even quicker.

Heriau’s 1m51.9s lap in the No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA, which was near the top of the time sheets in every session yesterday, put that car in second, with Steven Thomas in the other TDS Racing car, No. 11, another 0.269s back in third.

Glenn van Berlo destroyed the LMP3 competition, turning a record 1m55.215s (116.86mph) lap to put the No. 36 Andretti Autosport Ligier on pole for the class. Second-place Tonis Kasemets in the No. 4 Ave Motorsports Ligier was 1.659s slower. Dan Goldburg qualified the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports third with a 1m769s lap.

“Our car was really on point during qualifying,” said van Berlo, who is running his first race with Andretti and will serve as the team’s third driver alongside Jarett Andretti and Gaby Chaves for the rest of the Michelin Endurance Cup races. “I think we’ve been experimenting quite a lot yesterday to find the right balance, and today it worked out, so I’m really, really pleased with that.

“I didn’t really have expectations. I went into the qualifying really neutral to just see how it turned out. I knew we had a good car. So at the end, it’s all about putting it together and then see where you end up.”

Another feather in Antonio Garcia’s cap at a track he loves. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

Corvette Racing began its Twelve Hours of Sebring title defense in good style, Antonio Garcia putting the No. 3 on top of GTD PRO, and GTD overall, with a time some two seconds better than seen so far, a 1m59.315s (112.84mph) lap. The GT qualifying session was cut short when Klaus Bachler spun the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche in Turn 1 and made heavy impact with the tire wall with a bit over 4m left, leaving some drivers wanting for a fast lap.

“We just committed to what we had,” said Garcia. “In the little warmup we had before qualifying, everything ran smooth and I knew everything was good. The car is decent — it doesn’t look like we might be doing a lot of changes after how it felt.”

GTD PRO cars took the top three positions, Jack Hawksworth putting the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 on the outside of the front row, 0.267s shy of Garcia’s best. Daniel Juncadella will start third in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG after posting a 1m59.635s time.

Kyle Marcelli put the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX alongside Juncadella on the grid, claiming the GTD pole with a 1m59.714s (112.47mph) lap. The Michelin Endurance Cup-only team of Marcelli, Ashton Harrison and Danny Formal will be looking for Acura’s first Sebring GTD victory tomorrow.

“I went into qualifying confident that we had a shot. Throughout the practice sessions yesterday, we’ve kind of been in in the top four all day and I don’t feel like I ever put the perfect lap together and sort of let it all hang out there. I felt they had a couple of tenths in me still and that that would be good enough for pole. Sleeping on it last night was a good thing and sometimes it’s nice to just run the laps through your head and I was able to make it happen. But it’s tight field — IMSA did a really good job with the BoP coming into Sebring. There’s four or five manufacturers within a tenth of a second, so I don’t expect the race to be easy.”

Phillip Ellis qualified the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG second in GTD, 0.120s off of Marcelli’s time, ahead of fourth (Alex Riberas, No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage) and fifth (Daniel Serra, No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3) in GTD PRO. The No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes AMG will line up on the outside of the fourth row of GT cars, third in GTD. Aaron Telitz in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and Jan Heylen in the No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R completed the top five in GTD.

UP NEXT: A 20-minute warmup at 8 a.m. ET prior to the 10:10 a.m. race start.

RESULTS

Friday IMSA Sebring news and notes

Qualifying warmup IMSA ran a short warmup session prior to qualifying, allowing teams to check setups prior to qualifying. Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports was quickest, with a time less than four hundredths off the fastest …

Qualifying warmup
IMSA ran a short warmup session prior to qualifying, allowing teams to check setups prior to qualifying. Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports was quickest, with a time less than four hundredths off the fastest time turned in a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship session all weekend. Both Acuras that stopped on track completed the session.

Pit now! Which pit?
Racing in two different series on the same weekend isn’t anything unusual for sports car drivers. But there’s a twist at Sebring: just as a driver doing both IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Michelin Pilot Challenge at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta must use two different pit lanes, so do the drivers doubling up in the WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring. And at Sebring, they’re in very different places — IWSC competitors enter out of Turn 17, while WEC competitors enter at Turn 15, and heading for the wrong pit lane could be disastrous.

If a driver is in a completely different car in the two races, that makes it a bit easier to remember. But if the cars are the same, such as Dane Cameron jumping between Porsche Penske 963s, it can get a little more confusing.

“I’ve done a double before, but to do it in the same car that looks almost identical from inside is a little different,” says Cameron. “Luckily, the voice is a little different on the radio, so that makes for a bit of a help. And the cars that you’re seeing on track are different, right? We’re seeing GT3s vs. GTEs so it’s a couple of little cues.”

Still, he’s not taking any chances.

“I’ve just told everybody here, ‘Treat me like I don’t know anything.’ I’d rather have that reminder of, ‘IMSA pit lane,’ ‘WEC pit lane.’ I’m asking for more help in particular this weekend to make sure I don’t do something silly. Just tell me where I need to be and what’s happening and really relying on the team. But yeah, managing your time is the most difficult thing, trying to get your debriefs, be in the right place, wear the right suit at the right time is the most challenging, But at least at least the Nomex and the shoes are the same, so one less thing to swap.”

Drivers might do a double take when they spot the AO Racing, Porsche 911 GT3 R in their mirrors… Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

911 GT3 dino-might
New GTD team AO Racing, whatever success on track awaits them, has already achieved greatness when it comes to liveries. First came the Preston Henn Swap Shop tribute for Daytona. Now, for the rest of the season, the No. 80 Porsche driven at Sebring by PJ Hyett, Seb Priaulx and Gunnar Jeannette will be known as Rexy and carry a bright green livery based on a Tyrannosaurus rex. And at night, a light in the grill shines behind some very sharp teeth.

The inspiration for the design came from team principal and driver Hyett and his children. On his helmet, Hyett sports a T-Rex for his son and unicorn for his daughter.

Rexy is ready for autographs!#IMSA | @AORacingUSA | @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/j2NDggw1zA

— #IMSA (@IMSA) March 17, 2023

Priaulx has been quick in the car so far at Sebring, putting the car into the top three in GTD in two sessions. However, he may have an unfair advantage; while the other Porsche teams are racing the 911 GT3 R, AO Racing’s model is a GT3 … Rawr!

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

First rain race?
Despite the thousands of miles of testing, the GTP manufacturers and teams have had little or no running in the wet. Among official IMSA sessions, only a night session during the Roar Before the 24 experienced wet conditions. So if it rains on Saturday during the Twelve Hours of Sebring, it will be the first time many of the drivers have experienced the LMDh cars in those conditions.

Forecasts currently call for passing thunderstorms during the race on Saturday, although that chance is diminishing as it gets closer. Only Porsche Penske Motorsports with the No. 7 963 and Action Express Racing with the No. 31 Cadillac did any serious running in one wet Roar session. For the others it will be quite educational.

Entry list loses one
The pre-event entry list for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring listed 54 cars; however, the entry for MRS-GT Racing, which had no drivers listed, has withdrawn, bringing the number down to 53.

AXR Cadillac tops night practice as Acuras hit trouble

A disjointed, multiple-red-flagged night session that saw both GTP Acuras grind to a halt on track was led by the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R with Alexander Sims at the wheel. Sims’ 1m48.420s lap was well off the times turned in …

The first red flag came almost as soon as the session began for a car off course. Then the second stoppage was for Colin Braun coasting to stop, getting going again, but eventually becoming stationary until the emergency crew could retrieve the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06. As soon as they did and the session restarted, the Gradient Racing No. 66 Acura NSX lost a wheel, bringing the red back out. Then the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-06 stopped on course and had to be flat-towed in. The last stoppage, that almost ended the session, occurred when Kay van Berlo spun the No. 91 Kellymoss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3R in Turn 17, burying it in the tire barrier. The final green came with about two-and-a-half minutes left.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

The stop-and-start nature of the session with greatly reduced running time could have significant impact in the race. Not only was this session important to get the right setup for the race’s finish in the dark, but nearly a third of the field needed a minimum of three laps in darkness to race after sunset on Saturday. That included Gradient Racing’s Marc Miller, who although he has raced the Twelve Hours before, it has been a few years. The No. 66 was repaired and waiting on pit lane for Miller to do his laps when the final green waved.

Nick Tandy was second quickest in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963, 0.152s shy of the Cadillac’s time. Louis Deletraz was third in the No. 10 WTR Acura before it stopped on course with a 1m49.034s lap. The No. 10 did return to the track for the final minutes, Ricky Taylor reporting that the team understands the issue that caused the car to stop on track.

A BMW was within shouting distance of the fast time for the first time today, Philip Eng lapping the No. 24 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8 within half a second of AXR’s best lap. Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top five in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac.

Josh Pierson put the No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA on top of LMP2 with a 1m51.543s, pushing Christian Rasmussen into second for the first time today. Rasmussen turned in a 1m51.842s lap in the No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA. Scott Huffaker was third in the No. 11 for TDS Racing, another 0.109s back.

The No. 30 Jr III Racing Ligier was on top again in LMP3, this time Garret Grist putting in the fast lap of 1m56.595s instead of Dakota Dickerson. That time was nearly a second better than Felipe Fraga in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with Tonis Kasemets another 0.422s back for third in the No. 4 Ave Motorsports Ligier.

For the first time of the event, a GTD PRO car led GTD overall, with Jordan Taylor putting the No. 3 Corvette on top with a 2m.01.290s lap. Jack Hawksworth was second for Vasser Sullivan in the No. 14 Lexus RC F, 0.117s off Taylor’s best. Daniel Juncadella was third in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG.

Winward Racing’s Indy Dontje led GTD again with a 2m01.360s lap in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG, second overall among the GT cars. Seb Praulx, in the No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was 0.286 back of Dontje’s time, followed by Roman De Angelis in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage with a 2m01.771s lap. Kyle Marcelli (No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX) and Kay van Berlo completed the top five.

UP NEXT: A short 10-minute practice session at 8:55am Friday, really a warm-up for qualifying which begins at 9:15am with GTD. Qualifying will be carried live on IMSA.tv.

RESULTS

VIDEO: Sebring Day 2 report with Marshall Pruett & Sebastien Bourdais

Day 2 at Sebring was busy with IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars getting on track for the first time and RACER’s Marshall Pruett and Sebastien Bourdais discuss the opening sessions. Presented by At Piloti, it all starts with passion. We …

Day 2 at Sebring was busy with IMSA’s WeatherTech SportsCar Championship cars getting on track for the first time and RACER’s Marshall Pruett and Sebastien Bourdais discuss the opening sessions.

Presented by

At Piloti, it all starts with passion. We love cars and we love shoes – and we’re dedicated to bringing to life one-of-a-kind designs that give us the best of both worlds.

Acura on top of second Sebring practice, this time MSR’s Blomqvist

With a split qualifying session affording the GTP cars a nearly open track, several teams opted for a qualifying simulation at the end of the second practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. In what is seldom the fastest time of day at Sebring, Tom Blomqvist dropped the top time from this morning by more than a second, with the next four cars chasing him within the same second.

Blomqvist’s 1m47.049s (125.77mph) lap in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura ARX-06 topped the second practice session as most of the cars got in a full session, the exception being the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8, which only turned eight laps at the end of the session after changing a faulty torque sensor. It was Acura-Cadillac-Acura-Cadillac followed by the two Porsche Penske Motorsports 963s and the two BMWs.

Sebastien Bourdais fell just 0.026s of besting Blomqvist’s time in the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, 0.148s ahead of the No.10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura. Ricky Taylor posted a fast time in that car early to lead most of the session, but Louis Deletraz lowered the time in the final minutes. Pipo Derani was fourth in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac, with Nick Tandy setting the best time for the Porsche drivers to put the No. 7 PPM 963 in fifth.

Tommy Milner posted the best GTD PRO time as Corvette Racing seeks to defend its 2022 title. His 2m1.260s time was third overall among the GT cars, leading Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage by 0.053s. If Milner, Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia were to win, it would be Garcia’s fifth victory, and Corvette’s 13th, at a track Garcia has come to appreciate.

“I think the experience of the drivers, the experience of the team, I would say that’s the biggest thing,” said Garcia of his and the team’s success on the 3.74-mile, 17-turn track. “So when you have a team like Corvette behind you that has done this race for over 20 years now, they must, as a team, or me as a driver … I have almost run every single condition you can find around this track, so that’s pretty big. And then you obviously need to know and like this racetrack, which I do. I find ever since I discovered this racetrack I always find something special about the end of the race finishing up at night.”

Davide Rigon was third in GTD PRO in the No. 61 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 with a 2m01.397s lap. Jack Hawksworth (No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F) was fourth, and Patrick Pilet put the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche into fifth.

Era Motorsport was again on top of LMP2, and again it was Christian Rasmussen setting the fast time for the class at 1m50.506s in the No. 18 ORECA. Nolan Siegel was second for CrowdStrike Racing, 0.767s off Rasmussen’s time in the No. 04, with Paul-Loup Chatin third in the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA, another half-second back.

The top of the LMP3 chart looked familiar as well, Dakota Dickerson posting a 1m56.382 in the No. 30 Ligier to lead for Jr III Racing over Josh Burdon in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier at 1m56.564s. Nico Varrone was third in the No. 17 AWA Duqueine.

Mercedes-AMG took its turn at the top of the GTD times, Russel Ward posting the fast time of 2m01.218s in the No. 57 Winward machine, just edging Sebastian Priaulx in the No. 80 AO Racing Porsche 911, 0.034s short of Ward’s time. Aaron Telitz was third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus with a 2m01.373s lap. It was seventh place before a marque was repeated in the order, another Mercedes-AMG. After the Lexus in third, it was Patrick Gallagher in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, Kyle Marcelli in the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX, and Marco Sorensen in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage.

The session was interrupted by two red flags, including one for Jack Aitken in the No. 31 Cadillac lokcing up and going off course at Turn 3.

UP NEXT: A 90-minute night practice at 7:45 p.m. ET. The session is critical not only for setting up the cars to be fast at the finish of the Twelve Hour, but also to get required night practice for many drivers who are required to have some in order to drive at night during the race.

RESULTS

Albuquerque puts WTR Acura on top in opening Sebring IMSA practice

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport Acura ARX-06 spent most of the first hour of the first practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring sitting in the pits with an electric issue. But when the car finally turned some real laps, Filipe Albuquerque immediately put it on the top of the time sheet, posting a 1m48.303s, good for a 124.32mph average around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway.

Cadillac spent most of the time at the top as teams prepared for the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Renger van der Zande the best of the two in the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R at 1m48.436s, only 0.098s ahed of Pipo Derani in the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac.

BMW looked much stronger than it did at Daytona, the two BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8s finishing the session fourth and fifth, Connor De Phillippi leading the squad in the No. 25, 0.432s off Albuquerque’s best. Mathieu Jaminet was the quickest of the Porsche Penske Motorsports team in the No. 6 963, while the No. 7 963 emerged only briefly before Matt Campbell spun in Turn 3 and hit the tire barrier, damaging the rear wing. The back end of the car was quickly changed, but Campbell never really set a representative time.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

Like the No. 10, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb Agajanian Acura spent most of the time sitting in the pits, due to a problem with the steering wheel electronics. Tom Blomqvist did a few off-pace laps before coasting to a stop in Turn 16, bringing out the second red flag of the session with about 15 minutes left.

Tight turns on the backstretch. #IMSA | @sebringraceway pic.twitter.com/7t2rXXRq6e

— #IMSA (@IMSA) March 16, 2023

The adjusted Balance of Performance equation for the Porsche 911 GT3 R seems to have leveled things out, as Trent Hindman set the quick time for all the GT cars, a 2m1.092s lap (111.19mph) in the GTD-class No. 77 Volt Racing 911. Five different makes made up the top five in GTD, Kyle Marcelli second in the No. 93 Racers Edge with WTR Acura NSX GT3 Evo22, 0.102s off Hindman. Aaron Telitz was third in the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 at 2m1.350s. Mikael Grenier (No. 32 Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG) and Andy Lally (No. 44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage) completed the top five.

Telitz’s teammate Kyle Kirkwood led GTD PRO in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F with a 2m1.156s time, second overall in the GT field. The Risi Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had good pace, Daniel Serra turning a top time of 2m1.394s for second in GTD PRO, sixth within the GTD field overall, followed by Ross Gunn in the No. 23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage at 2m1.450s. Rounding out the top five in GTD PRO were Maro Engel in the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG and Jordan Pepper in the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2.

Christian Rasmussen topped LMP2 for Era Motorsport in the No. 18 ORECA with a 1m50.926s lap, followed by Giedo van der Garde in the No. 35 TDS Racing car (1m51.140) and George Kurtz in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing ORECA another 0.026s back.

Dakota Dickerson led the LMP3 field in the No. 30 JR III Racing Ligier with a 1m56.349 on his last lap. Gar Robinson was second, 0.068s off Dickerson’s best, in the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier, with Gabby Chaves third for Andretti Autosport in the No. 36 Ligier at 1m56.349s.

The session was interrupted by two red flags in addition to the one to retrieve the No. 60. One was for the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP3 off course at Turn 17, and the sesssion was ended under red after Sheldon van der Linde stuffed the No. 25 BMW Team RLL M Hybrid V8 into the tires, also in 17.

UP NEXT: The second practice session for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring starts at 3:50pm ET. It will be a 90-minute split session with the Pro-Am classes having their own 15 minutes at the front and the GTP and GTD PRO classes having the track to themselves for the final 15 minutes.

RESULTS

VIDEO: Walk & Talk with IMSA President John Doonan

RACER’s Marshall Pruett walks and talks with IMSA President John Doonan as they discuss the opening round of the series at Daytona, the Meyer Shank Racing penalty and more at Round 2 of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Sebring. Presented by …

Presented by

At Piloti, it all starts with passion. We love cars and we love shoes – and we’re dedicated to bringing to life one-of-a-kind designs that give us the best of both worlds.

Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring preview: Bump Day and Night

Sebring International Raceway is ready to test the fortitude of IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship drivers and the integrity of their machinery for the 71st time this weekend. The legendarily rough 3.74-mile, 17-turn former airfield circuit in Central Florida plays host to the second round of the championship, the second round of the Michelin Endurance Cup and begins the full championship season for two of the classes, LMP2 and LMP3, for which Daytona was a non-points race.

Cadillac — just named the official luxury car of Sebring International Raceway and celebrating 20 years of the V-Series — has been hot at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in recent years, taking the last three victories to close out the DPi era, it’s Dallara-based chassis seeming to handle the bumps much better. But Cadillac Racing’s freshly renamed V-Series.Rs in the hands of defending winner Chip Ganassi Racing and Action Express Racing, like the other GTP cars, are all-new, so we’ll have to wait to see if the new car still has an edge at the historic circuit.

“Excited to be going back to Sebring after two positive days of testing in February,” said Pipo Derani, driver of the No. 31 AXR Cadillac. “The cars are still new but showing strong potential, especially on reliability like we saw at Daytona. It’s still early days and Sebring is another fantastic opportunity for us to continue to learn more about our race car. And, as usual, with Sebring being a very difficult race on man and machine, it will be another great challenge for us to go through before Le Mans. On a personal note, of course I would love to win my fourth Sebring but a race win at the Twelve Hours is never an easy thing to achieve. Hard work and resilience will be key to get to the end with a chance of victory.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

Acura, and particularly Meyer Shank Racing, dominated at Daytona, but MSR comes to Sebring looking to redeem itself after the team was handed a raft of penalties for messing with the tire pressure data sent via telemetry to IMSA. Fellow Acura team Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport, which finished second to MSR at Daytona, was on top of the official IMSA Sebring test last month.

Porsche and BMW, on the other hand, are hoping to rebound from the mechanical issues both suffered at Daytona. Both BMW M Team RLL and Porsche Penske Motorsports had problems with their MGUs and batteries, while neither Cadillac nor Acura experienced similar failures, perhaps indicating the issues were related to how each manufacturer charges and deploys the electrical energy. Sebring could very well show if that’s the case or not.

Drivers and teams to watch
Ben Keating and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, No. 52 ORECA-GIbson LMP2: PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports has won LMP2 in this race the last three years, Keating wheeling the car in the last two. The team has what it takes to win at Sebring and will certainly be strong. However … PR1 defectors Mikkel Jensen and Scott Huffaker are now partnered with Steven Thomas at TDS Racing, so it will be interesting to see how much of PR1s overall pace at Sebring went with them.

Antonio Garcia and Corvette Racing: Corvette won the Twelve Hours last year, it’s only GTD PRO victory of the year, with Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg. 2023 marks Corvette Racing’s 25th attempt at Sebring, where it’s won its class 13 times. Garcia will be going for his fifth victory, alongside Taylor and Tommy Milner in the No. 3.

Double dipping
Among the 54 entries for the Twelve Hours of Sebring and WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring are more than two dozen drivers who will pull double duty during the weekend. The vast majority of those will be driving different cars and different classes, with a few exceptions. Dane Cameron and Michel Christensen will compete for Porsche Penske Motorsports in both races in the Porsche 963, and Josh Pierson will race LMP2 in both events.

The Penske Porsche 963 and drivers Cameron and Christensen will double their data — and workload — racing in both IMSA and WEC. JEP/Motorsport Images

Several more drivers will be switching between the GTD and GTE cars from their respective manufacturers, including Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, Simon Mann and Alessio Rivera for Ferrari; and PJ Hyett, Gunnar Jeannette, Ryan Hardwick, Zacharie Robichon and Julien Andlauer for Porsche. Laurens Vanthoor (Porsche), along with Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco (Ferrari) will be switching from their manufacturers’ Hypercar in WEC to a GT car in IMSA.

Then there are several drivers who will be making a complete switch as they move from one pit lane to another, competing in entirely different classes or in different makes, including Mikkel Jensen, Tom Blomqvist, Scott Huffaker, Louis Deletraz, Ben Keating, Michael Dinan, Nico Varrone and the Iron Dames – Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy.

Qualifying records for Sebring International Raceway
GTP: New class in 2023 (DPi track record: Sebastien Bourdais, Cadillac DPi-V.R, 1m45.025s / 128.025mph, 2022

LMP2: Giedo van der Garde, ORECA LMP2, 1m48.311s / 124.308mph, 2022

LMP3: Rasmus Lindh, Ligier JS P320, 1m56.001s / 116.067mph, 2021

GTD PRO: Daniel Serra, Ferrari 488 GT3, 1m59.414s / 112.750mph, 2022

GTD: Daniel Serra, Ferrari 488 GT3, 1m58.710s / 113.420 mph, 2018

How to watch
Flag-to-flag coverage of the 2023 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, which begins at 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, will be streamed on Peacock, with television coverage on USA Network beginning at 4:30 p.m. Qualifying can be watched on IMSA.tv, beginning at 9:10 a.m. on Friday. Select practice sessions, qualifying and race will be broadcast by IMSA radio, on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, and SiriusXM will carry the race on channels 216 (Sirius) and 207 (XM).

Sebring IMSA LMP2 preview: Reliable excitement

Both the LMP2 and LMP3 classes begin their regular season at this weekend’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Daytona having counted only for the Michelin Endurance Cup and not the full-season points. With its similar and usually reliable machinery of ORECA LMP2 07 chassis with Gibson power, LMP2 often puts on a good show in the races and usually ends in a tight fight for the championship.

John Farano and the No. 8 Tower Motorsports squad are seeking to defend their 2022 LMP2 championship. Farano had several different co-drivers last year and looks to repeat that pattern for 2023 with Kyffin Simpson and perhaps Scott McLaughlin along for the endurance races and likely Louis Deletraz on board for the sprint races when Deletraz isn’t on duty with Wayne Taylor Racing.

“We’re in for the full season, and we’re also doing Le Mans this year, so it’s going to be a pretty full schedule for us,” says Farano. “Do I believe that we can win this thing again? Absolutely, 100 percent. As long as we follow the methodology that we had last year, and there’s no reason not to, I think we’re in a very good position to repeat again this year and have the same level of fun and success.”

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1406]

Farano has one big obstacle standing in his way: Ben Keating and PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports. Widely regarded as the best Bronze-rated driver in the business, Keating is back for the full season with Paul-Loup Chatin while also driving for Corvette Racing in World Endurance Championship GTE-Am. However, Keating’s former teammate Steven Thomas has moved to TDS Racing, and taken Keating’s 2022 co-drivers, Scott Huffaker and Mikkel Jensen, with him. That’s a trio that could certainly do some damage to other team’s championship dreams. Era Motorsports’ Ryan Dalziel, who hopes that he and Dwight Merriman can insert the No. 18 into the mix as well and certainly will, believes those two teams may be the strongest.

“I think PR1 with Ben and Paul-Loup is without a doubt the strongest average pairing,” Dalziel says. “Paul-Loup was part of Era for a couple of years there, and we know just how good he is. And Ben just kind of continues to rewrite the Bronze driver rulebook. But I think Stephen Thomas, his package is good. And Farano has obviously stepped up, I think, in the last half of last season and into this season. I think everybody has.

PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports and its strong driver lineup pose a formidable challenge, Jake Galstad/Motorsport Images

“Having the European team being involved has raised the game a little bit in P2, but at the same time, I hope that people consider us also a threat. I don’t think there’s one car other than Keating that stands out as, let’s say, the dominant car; but then after them, there’s definitely three or four more cars that can all compete at the end.”

Dalziel, Merriman, endurance driver Christian Rasmussen and Oliver Jarvis suffered a rare blown engine at Daytona, while Tower was at the head of lineup of full-season regulars. But really it was PR1’s race to lose, and a penalty along with a late-race spin and stall by Nicholas Lapierre dashed the team’s chances. But it showed that whoever joins Keating in the car, they can contend and often dominate.

Keating himself referred to the 2023 crop of LMP2 teams and drivers as perhaps the best the class has yet seen, and the course of the season may prove him right. Beyond those mentioned already, there are several teams that could take the fight to the top contenders, and perhaps make a difference in the championship. Rick Ware Racing, last year competing in GTD, has Eric Lux and Pietro Fittipaldi — yes, he’s related to those Fittipaldis, being Emerson’s grandson and a test driver for Haas F1.

High Class Racing is one of those European teams that Dalziel was referring to, the Danish team having landed on the podium a couple of times last year. Dennis Andersen and Ed Jones handle the driving duties. Francois Heriau and Giedo van der Garde will drive the No. 35 TDS Racing ORECA — sister car to Thomas and Jensen’s No. 11 — and could be a threat as van der Garde is often absurdly quick, setting the record pole time for the class at Sebring last year.

LMP2 is often overshadowed by the GTP class; but the equality of the cars and the quality of the drivers make it a worthy headliner in its own right. The finish at Daytona, where James Allen had to pass two cars to win, and passed the second at the line to win by 0.016s proves that — and the contenders for the victory weren’t even full-timers, but MEC-only entrants. The class is close, and entertaining, full of current and future sports car racing stars. Whoever wins the championship this year will have surely earned it.

VIDEO: IMSA Sebring paddock tour 2023

Take a long tour through IMSA’s expansive WeatherTech SportsCar Championship paddock at Sebring with RACER’s Marshall Pruett. Presented by At Piloti, it all starts with passion. We love cars and we love shoes – and we’re dedicated to bringing to …

Take a long tour through IMSA’s expansive WeatherTech SportsCar Championship paddock at Sebring with RACER’s Marshall Pruett.

Presented by

At Piloti, it all starts with passion. We love cars and we love shoes – and we’re dedicated to bringing to life one-of-a-kind designs that give us the best of both worlds.