Into the last hour of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Many GT class drivers stopped recently, on lap 200. It will be a handicap race for some of the GT class cars. Colin Braun holds Tom Kimber-Smith at bay for the time being. Andy Lally and Robin Liddell make their final pit stops in GT Daytona. Fuel and tires for #44. Andy Lally will take the car to the finish. The #6 car beats them out of the lane. News on the #70 Mazda, and Joel Miller has rejoined this race. We are coming to crunch time in this race. Run the tank as far as it goes? Or, risk running out of gas? Earl Bamber in the Porsche and Dirk Werner in the BMW, second and third in GTLM in together. No driver change for either car.
Mario Farnbacher will finish the race for the #23 Alex Job Porsche. "Super Mario" is in the car, and let's see if he can win again, just like last year. Driver change for the #98 Aston Martin V8 Vantage. Formula 1 veteran Pedro Lamy is at the controls for the end of this one. We are now a mere 47 minutes away from the end of this race. Pippo Derani leads, with four cars on the lead lap. 220 laps completed. 814 miles. We are ready to conclude this event. The finish, is coming up, fast. This is a race, but also a happening.
A day of barbecues, orange blossoms, and motor oil. That's what we've seen, for the whole day. We've seen rain, we've seen lightning, and we've seen a red flag today. We are still under yellow. Pits are open for Prototypes. This could decide the race. Who can execute the cleanest pit stop. Leader Pippo Derani, he is in need of more fuel. Forget basketball. This, is March Madness. Derani is in and everyone else follows.
What will happen? Action Express cars in. No tires for #31. He's locked into a bad angle. Tire change for #2. #31 beats #5 and there goes the #60. It may be we have a different winner here at Sebring. 19.1 seconds for fuel. A long stop, for Derani, the Rolex 24 winner. Pla and Derani are the hot shoes in this battle. The deal is the tires for #2. They will have sharper tires. #5 and #31 have a slight advantage.
#2 will have to come to life. Bed in those tires, and get them hot. Dane and Felipe will have to pounce, and book it to get away. In five minutes, #2 will be cooking. The #28 Konrad Motorsports Lamborghini Huracan GT3, pits. It's the only GT Daytona machine to pit. 30 minutes now nremain. Lights out on the safety car. We are ready to race. The GT Le Mans cars take the flag first. Corvette leads. Will Turner Motorsports end up using up their tires?
Car #81 has lost some dive planes off the rfront of the car. Oh my! Olivier Pla has gotten around someone and gets hung up by a GTD car! Oh boy. A GT Daytona car runs wide. This is the magic of miulti-class sports car racing. Ooh. Dane Cameron has to battle with different scrums around the field. Jesse Krohn in GTD and Davide Rigon in GTLM. Tom Kimber-Smith takes the Prototype Challenge lead. A late move by Tom Kimber Smith. Derani has moved into the top four. This is hot and heavy as we run to the end.
The clock is ticking. Dane Cameron and Filipe Albuquerque are under a second from each other, as we have 22 minutes to go. Now, David Hinton is off the road, in the tires, and we have a full course yellow. For Dane Cameron, team boss Gary Nelson will say, "stay in line, boys." David Hinton will have to be rescued. Gary Nelson, will let those boys race. That was a joke. Now, this is a short yellow flag. This is the 13th yellow. The DeltaWing is off, with Andy Meyrick at the wheel. He's turning the steering wheel. David Hinton's car has suspension breakage. Something gave up on the car.
We have 15 minutes to go in the 64th 12 Hours of Sebring. We are headed to green, now. Dane Cameron leads. The Deltawing is up onto the rollback. It was running trouble free. Was there a steering problem with the car? With Sebring, you can only think the bumps will shake the cars apart. Now, Action Express will race each other, just as long as they don't take each other out. In GT Daytona, watch out for Alessandro Balzan and Mario Farnbacher. Farnbacher, Alex Riberas, and Ian James won this race last year.
OK. We're go! Twelve and a half minutes to go. Derani rockets into third spot. He's going for it it fresh tires. The game is afoot. The jig is up. Derani is going to push Albuquerque for position in second. Dane Cameron has slight breathing room. The Ligier Honda's make their speed with downforce. Cooler air should give the car horsepower and downforce. Cameron, Albuqerque, Derani, Lapierre, and Pla, the top five. Seven cars are on the lead lap. But, it looks as if five could be in contention to win this thing.
Seven minutes to go. Pippo Derani is up to second. He is trying Dane Cameron. Derani put on a brilliant pass, for second, on Filipe Albuquerque. This is a good run. Here he goes! He's done it! He brakes late, and the downforce helps. Cut and paste on Cameron, up to Cunningham Corner and into the Collier Curves. Wait 'til the car in front touches the brakes, pop out, and brake. Textbook pass taught in road racing school. Albuquerque is going for it, but he does not want to take out Cameron, his team mate.
Mario Farnbacher is up to third in GT Daytona, behind Alessandro Balzan and Jens Klingman. Tommy Milner holds on to a three second margin over the BMW of Dirk Werner, for the GTLM battle. How is the BMW making it on fuel? He's gone 39 some odd laps since his last time in the lane. Farnbacher is there. Wow. Two minutes to go. Two laps of this race left, folks. Who wins the 64th 12 Hours of Sebring?
This is a team sport. Teams provide their drivers with cars that can race. Scott Sharp and Patron ESM have never had a program like this. Amazing, how this young bloke can do really well. He's been stunning all race. He is unassuming, and enjoying this racing. Derani might be sweeping the 36 Hours of Florida. Tristan Nunez and Mazda will finish sixth. Down the Ulmann straight for the final time, and Derani wins! They have won for Ligier and Honda, the 36 Hours of Florida! Daytona and Sebring sweep! Break out the broom, daddy-o!
CORE Autosport wins Prototype Challenge. The 36 Hours of Florida also goes to Corvette! Corvette gets their tenth Sebring victory. But, Corvette boss Doug Fehan says that Ford, is coming, despite the problems they've had in the opening endurance races. Ferrari back on top in GT Daytona for Alessandro Balzan and company. Alessandro Balzan, Jeff Segal, and Christina Nielsen. Scuderia Corsa wins, with a brand new car, at Sebring!
Overall/Prototype: #2 Sharp/Brown/Derani Ligier JS P2 Honda
Prototype
Challenge: #54 Bennett/Braun/Wilkins Oreca FLM Chevrolet
GT Le Mans: #4 Gavin/Milner/Fassler Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-
GT Daytona: #63 Nielsen/Balzan/Segal Ferrari 488 GT3
For the first time since 1998, a team sweeps the 36 Hours of Florida. The last team to do that was the late Gianpiero Morrett's Momo Ferrari team, with the legendary Ferrari 333SP driven by Mauro Baldi, Didier Theys, and the late, great Gianpiero Moretti. The sweet taste of orange juice, in the Sebring winner's circle. What a fabulous race this was!
Next up, the first sprint race of the season. The legendary Grand Prix of Long Beach on the streets of Long Beach, California, coming up, in a shade less than a month's time. From the longest races, to the shortest race, a 100 minute sprint on the streets of Long Beach. Pippo Derani, is a star in the making. The weather was wild. The finish, was off the hook! So long, from the orange groves of Sebring, Florida.
No comments:
Post a Comment