Williams Esports wins iRacing 12 Hours of Sebring

The first rain-affected iRacing Special Event took place this past weekend. Williams Esports Chillblast won in GTP and LMP2, while Drago Racing won the GTD class. The Sebring International Raceway was dry when the session opened for practice and …

The first rain-affected iRacing Special Event took place this past weekend. Williams Esports Chillblast won in GTP and LMP2, while Drago Racing won the GTD class.

The Sebring International Raceway was dry when the session opened for practice and qualifying, but rain began to fall in the closing minutes of qualifying.

Learn more about the recent rain update in iRacing.

GTP

From P3 on the grid, Josh Lad navigated the wet conditions to gain a position at the start in the No.6 Acura ARX-06 GTP Williams Esports Chillblast car.

Luke Bennet in the No.11 Team Redline Acura started on pole position. He headed the GTP field until the end of the second hour when he crashed at Sunset Bend as the track was drying out. The damage was extensive, and the team eventually retired, while the No.6 Chillblast was promoted into the race lead.

The other Team Redline car also crashed out in the same corner with Florian Lebigre behind the wheel of the No.21 Acura.

Atte Kauppinen jumped aboard the No.6 Chillblast car after a mighty four-hour stint by Lad. With seven hours to go, the rain came again and drivers switched onto the wet weather tires.

The NO.6 car had no dramas for the remainder of the race. They crossed the line 36 seconds ahead of the runner-up No.8 VRS Coanda Porsche 963, followed by the #1 Williams Esports BenQ Acura.

LMP2

The No.55 Williams Esports Chillblast car won in LMP2 with Carl Jansson and Kenneth Gulbrandsen sharing the Dallara P217.

Jansson started fifth and quickly moved up through the field. The Swedish driver had much more confidence and control in the wet conditions, which allowed him to make up four positions in the first hour.

The No.003 Grid-and-Go.com Esports car started the race on pole position, but Gabriel Streitmatter lacked pace, and it was clear that the No.199 Apex Racing Team car was closing the gap.

After 20 minutes, Michele Constantini in the No.199 and Jansson in the No.55 passed Streitmatter. It seemed that the battle would be between Williams and Apex for the lead before the first pit stop. Jansson took the lead after stint one and kept it until stint two.

Constantini stayed in touch with Jansson until he boxed and handed the car over to his teammate Stanley Deslandes as the track was drying out.

Both the No.55 of Jansson and the No.199 of Deslandes were on slick tires, and the track was still damp when Deslandes lost control in the same corner as the GTP cars of Team Redline. The LMP2 spun off violently into the wall and sustained quite a lot of damage. They pitted as a result and rejoined four laps down.

The No.55 Chillblast spent the rest of the race out in front, and even when the second round of rain fell, they pulled out a one lap lead on their rivals to win after 12 hours.

GTD

Williams Esports BenQ led the field from pole position, Parker White kept their advantage in the No.13 Audi for the first two and half hours of the race.

Then it was Louis Nahser’s turn in the car, and he drove well until the No.13 disconnected from the session with about eight hours to go. They rejoined in eighth.

With both Team Redline cars out in GTP, and no LMP2 cars running for them, it was up to the two GTD entries to get a result. The No.70 of Gustavo Ariel and Gianni Vecchio started in seventh, but quickly dropped back after an early mistake by Ariel in the wet.

The No.71 Team Redline Audi driven by Josh Thompson pushed through the tricky conditions of hour one to seventh before the first pit stops. Ariel managed to recover the No.70 from 16th to ninth after his early troubles.

The battle from about the halfway point until the checkered flag was between the No.2 Drago Racing Audi, the No.70 Team Redline Audi, and the No.10 Mahle Racing Team Lamborghini.

With 3 hours and 20 minutes to go, the No.2 of Manuel Troncoso was leading the No.10 of Rainer Talvar and the No.70 of Ariel. A lapped Audi tagged and spun the No.10 Mahle Lamborghini, which handed the second position to Ariel and Team Redline in the No.70.

Gianni Vecchio closed out the race for Redline in the No.70. He managed to stay in touch with the No.2 Drago Racing Audi, but Nicolas Mateo finished the job and won for Drago Racing. Vecchio came in second by five seconds, followed by Talvar in the No.10 who finished 30 seconds behind in third place.

Most of the action and overtakes took place during the first two hours of this 12-hour iRacing Special Event. The rain came at the start, then the track slowly dried, only for the wet conditions to return. The race finished under dry and nighttime conditions.

Williams Esports celebrated wins and podiums in GTP and LMP2, but they will wonder what could have been without the disconnection for the No.13 Audi in GTD.