A legendary track, with legendary corners, world class drivers, and cars, and 12 hours. It's time, for Sebring. This unassuming town, has become famous, over the last six decades. Orange blossoms, will mix with the scents of barbecues and motor oil. Day into night. It's the tough track. The runways and the bumps, tear the cars to pieces, and test the driver's strength. The longest half day in racing, is, next!
This is the 64th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. It is a special race. We saw a fantastic event at Daytona in January. But, the bumps will punish the cars and drivers. It is a few hours south and west of Daytona. It is a night and day difference from Daytona. 3.7 miles, and 17 corners. Turns one, three, seven, and seventeen, are key corners. Turn three has been named "Kristensen Corner", after legend, Tom Kristensen. Turn seventeen is the legendary Sunset Bend. Now, we have rain, in the forecast, which hasn't been seen at Sebring, for a long time.
This is the second half of what is called the 36 Hours of Florida. The final, and hardest, 1/3rd, is about to begin. Olivier Pla has earned his second overall Sebring pole in two different cars for two different teams. This time, in the #60 Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda. We are ready to go green! ...And, they're off! The 12 Hours of Sebring is underway!. Oliver Pla, Dane Cameron, and Pippo Derani are all battling. Now, Dane Cameron in the #31 Corvette, has tkane second. The GT cars start, and the BMW M6 GT's go for it. You've got the Corvette's. the Ferrari 488, and the Ford GT, starting.
Richard Westbrook in the Ford, touches one of the Corvette's. Toni Vilander is trying to move his #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GT, going for it. The two Corvette's are already slamming on each other. Go easy. But the intensity in GT Le Mans is fierce. Olivier Pla is moving away from Dane Cameron. Pippo Derani si third. Marc Goossens is now fifth in the #90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette Prototype. Dirk Mueller in the second Ford GT is also goping for it, as we see the new Dream Racing #27 Lamborghini Huracan GT3, spin. These chaps are making their first start, and din't race at Daytona.
Fabio Babini starts the car. One car, caught fire during the morning warmup and did not start this race. We now watch Porsche and Corvette. Manage the bumps. Pick your battles. Survive the storm. Inclement weather could come. It's what cars you pass and how you choose your battles. Toni Vilander has amazing pace and aggressiveness in traffic. He's a Finn, so, he has great car control. These cars in GT Le Mans, they make their speed, in different ways. If something will fail, on the car, Sebring will find it first. The old taxiways are still used, from when this place was a B17 bomber base, called Hendricks Field.
In night practice on Thursday, John Pew had a hard crash in night practice on Thursday night. Olivier Pla also had a big wreck on Friday. But the team from MSR repaired the car overnight. The rain is coming. So, that will put the cat among the pigeons. Pla is building up a margin with the impending wet weather coming. Many teams elected to change drivers due to the rain possibility. Minimum drive time is three hours, to score points. Start your fast driver first. However, in the big picture, get the amateurs in first (the Silver rated drivers), and then, get your pro guys into the car.
We could have a red flag in this race, if the rain really gets heavy. This race could look a lot like the Sebring race of 1993, the last year of the IMSA GTP prototypes. Jeff Segal is driving the new Ferrari 488 for Scuderia Corsa. The #33 Viper GTS-R- is second, and third is the #23 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 RSR. Daniel Serra and one of the Corvettes is going for it. Bill Auberlen is currently leading in the GTLM class in the BMW M6 GT. With the longer wheelbase, the M6 is much easier to drive than the twitchy, shorter wheelbase Z4 model from last year.
One thing the big M6 eliminates is what the BMW boys call the "cha cha's", as the old Z4, would dance around under braking. That's the difference, between having a smaller car, such has the Z4 and a big car, like the M6. We are merely nine or ten laps, and about 37 miles, into this long, grueling enduro. Jeff Segal continues to lead in GT Daytona as we continue to race through the Florida lake country. The Ferrari and the BMW are both turbocharged, and the Balance of Performance seems to be working. Jeff Segal, Alessandro Balzan, and Christina Nielsen are driving in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari.
Former drivers Eric Bachelart and Stefan Johansson are involved with the team. Tom Kristensen was inducted into the Sebring Hall of Fame, and so was Alex Job for his ten Sebring wins. 1975 winner, Sam Posey was also inducted. Olivier Pla is building a margin. At the same time, so is Dane Cameron, over Pippo Derani. Cameron says the Corvette Prototype is good on long runs. With the rain, it's going to be interesting. The new Honda motor is much better than the previous unit. It has power and drivability, as opposed to just being loaded with power.
Leading from pole in Prototype Challenge is Tom Kimber-Smith. Colin Braun had fastest qualifying time. But they changed starting drivers to Jon Bennett. The Prototype Challenge cars now have a MoTec electronic telemetry system. The electronics might help in the rain, should it come. The Porsche's in GT Le Mans, are running back farther than expected. Car #912 had to start from pit lane. We will have pit stops, in twenty minutes or so.
Get the amateur drivers as much time in dry weather as possible, in order to meet the required driving time. Olivier Pla continues to lead. He has opened up a four second margin. We watch the top three in GT Daytona battle. Jens Klingman is full-time in GT Daytona for Turner Motorsports, and he is a BMW factory driver. Mario Farnbacher is going for it, in the Alex Job Porsche, trying to pass the SRT Viper. Drivers are changing, of course, in endurance racing, and that's a big deal, on a track as tough as Sebring.
Antonio Garcia is going after the BMW. He was an Aston Martin driver, and then, he signed for Chevrolet. Garcia is all over John Edwards in the sister BMW M6 GT. Tom Long, in the #70 Mazda Prototype, is also running well. The new gasoline motor, puts them in the fight, with their AER built motor. They ran a diesel four cylinder for the last few years. A good motor. But, not quick enough. We also see a battle between the factory Ford GT of Richard Westbrook, and the #68 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GTE of Daniel Serra.
Pit stop time. The top two cars pitted. Pippo Derani takes over the race lead, and now, he is pitting. Christian Fittipaldi and Marc Goossens have also pitted. Fittipaldi in the #5 Corvette Prototype, and Marc Goossens in the #90 identical machine for VisitFlorida.com Racing. The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cotvette Prototype is in, and Rubens Barrichello is at the wheel. Ford must prove themselves before they get to Le Mans. This is the prep for Le Mans. They also have a couple races in Europe in the FIA World Endurance Championship, races you will read about on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog.
The passion rekindled by Ford's return to sports car racing, is amazing. We see Johnny Mowlem in Prototype Challenge in the lane, and also, the #85 JDC Miller Motorsports car, which won in class at the Rolex 24. Nicolas Moinassian in the #81 Oreca 05 Nissan, is going well. This is a new car. GTLM leaders are also in. The BMW #100 is in pit lane. This is a new car, that had to be fixed after being damaged in shipping. The car run at Daytona, which crashed, after a brake disc exploded, was too damaged to come back.
Olivier Pla makes contact, with a slower car. Problems for the #33 SRT Viper of Jeroen Bleekemolen. Something is busted, in the drivetrain. They almost got to the finish last year, but couldn't make it. The Viper has pace, but not reliability. The cars fly through the Le Mans curve, down the Ulmann straight and into Bishop bend. Tommy Milner is moving up in one of the Corvette's. Did the team short fuel the car for track position? Likely. We see the #11 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 in trouble. Townsend Bell and Bill Sweedler share the car. He spun in the hairpin, somehow. Did something break?
He's pulled the car to the side of the track. Will there be a full course yellow? Yes, there will be. The car lurched when Sweedler tried to drive away. Jeroen Bleeekemolen is now in pit lane in the Gas Monkey Garage Viper. We are coming to the end of the first hour of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Just over 100 miles have been run so far.
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