In central Florida, 65 years ago, was a town that time had passed by. A place of orange groves, Spanish moss, and the elderly digging games of shuffleboard. On the outskirts of this sleepy town, an airfield from WW. II. that once housed B17 bombers lie forlorn and useless, baking in the hot sun. Empty hangars and planes that would never fly again. This sleepy little Florida town, only years later, would host a car race, and that car race would become world renown. So it is, 65 years later. This is the 12 Hours of Sebring. The scent of orange blossoms would now be mixed with racing fuel. The town, Sebring Florida, and America's first international sports car race is as popular today as ever.
The track was and is made up of access roads and worn runways that rattle the race cars to pieces. So many of the legends have raced here. The track gets rougher. The sunburn is painful. But, fans continue to migrate to this race every single year. Neel Jani and Rebellion have pole for the 65th iteration of this great race. So, the command, the four most famous words in motorsports is given. Drivers, start your engines! Rebellion Racing is on pole here at Sebring, for their second of the four endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship this year. Neel Jani is the man who put the car on pole.
The weather is perfect and the battles in each class are wide open, even though we only have four cars racing in Prototype Challenge this time out. Everyone except for one car has gotten away cleanly. Problems for the #67 Ford GT. The door is ajar. The 3.5 liter twin turbo V6 engine is running, but the gearshift is not working. This is the entry shared by Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook, and Scott Dixon. This is reminiscent of Dan Gurney back in the 1960s when he couldn't start the car. One of the Ford's had this same gearbox issue at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year.
Oh dear! Ford #67 is being pushed back into the garage. Ford #66 meanwhile trails smoke at slow speed. Is this an issue for the sister Ford as well? Gearbox issues for car #67. Shades of 1967 all over again. Tristan Vautier who is starting the GT Daytona pole sitting #75 SunEnergy Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 is also having issues. Vautier sharing that car with Kenny Habul and Boris Said. Golly. Two class pole cars in trouble. Now, the #67 Ford of Ryan Briscoe has re-fired. Control, Alt, Delete. The IMSA marshals are holding Briscoe in the lane.
The #75 Mercedes will be assessed a drive through penalty. Ford will receive a similar penalty. Echoes of Dan Gurney having issues with his Ford GT40 starting dead last and coming through to win. The #4 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- is also at the back of GTLM as it failed ride height measurements in post qualifying technical inspection. Tommy Milner has lots of work to do getting through the pack of GT Daytona cars. The Ford is still having issues, and Ryan Briscoe has shut the motor off as he sits behind the #75 Mercedes AMG GT3 at the exit of pit lane. In the morning warmup, the #75 Mercedes was found to have a fuel leak.
We are set for a start. Neel Jani brings the field down through Sunset bend. 46 strong. DPi and LMP2 cars are ready to do battle, for the first time, here at Sebring! We've got a green flag and are underway here at Sebring! Both cars that were in the pit lane have been released. Neel Jani wants to have the advantage over the fire breathing monsters that are the 6.2 liter V8 Cadillac's. Jani sharing the #13 Rebellion Oreca with regular co-drivers Nick Heidfeld and Sebastien Buemi. IMSA has made numerous Balance of Performance adjustments since the 24 Hours of Daytona about two months ago.
There is a penalty in the future of the #20 Prototype Challenge entry for BAR1 Motorsports. This is the car with Buddy Rice at the controls, sharing with Don Yount, Daniel Burkett, and Mark Kvamme. Lap one done and dusted as Neel Jani leads by half a second in the Oreca Gibson. Christian Fittipaldi is second with Dane Cameron third. Next up is the Ligier #52 of Jose Guttierez. Ford leads GTLM, but it's the #66 of Dirk Mueller. Correction on the drive through penalty. It was the #27 GT Daytona Dream Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 earning a trip to the sin bin. That car is being shared by the same driving squad from the Rolex 24. Lawrence DeGeorge is the starting driver, sharing with Cedric Sbirrazzuoli of Monaco, and Italian drivers Paolo Ruberti and Luca Persiani.
The penalty for them is for changing drivers before the start of the race. In GT Daytona, leading the class is the #29 Land Motorsports Audi R8. Connor De Philippi is the starting driver, sharing with Christopher Mies and Jules Gounon. The #27 Lamborghini served it's penalty for having the wrong driver in the car. Back at the sharp end we have Neel Jani still leading Christian Fittipaldi and Dane Cameron, followed by the #52 Ligier in the hands of Jose Guttierez. Problems already for one of the Mazda's. Car #55 has a shredded left rear tire headed through turn 17, Sunset Bend. Jonathan Bomarito started the car and is sharing with regular co-drivers Spencer Pigot and Tristan Nunez.
The car slides wide onto the back straight and that tire was well and truly flat. The fuel tank is topped off, and now, they will change all four tires. #55 is off sequence, but he won't go down a lap. Jonathan Bomarito is back on the track. 22 sets of slick tires are available to Prototype teams here at Sebring. BMW in GT Le Mans experimented with installing wet weather tires during the practice sessions. The top three battle in GTLM is the #66 Ford GT of Dirk Mueller, pursued hotly by the #912 Porsche 911 RSR of Kevin Estre, and Antonio Garcia in the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R-.
Connor De Philippi is ahead in GT Daytona with Corey Lewis second in the #16 Change Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3, followed by Scott Pruett in the #14 Lexus RC F GT3. Lewis shares the Lamborghini with Jeroen Mul and Brett Sandberg, while Scott Pruett's co-drivers are Sage Karam and Ian James of course. The Audi and the Lamborghini share the same powerplant type. A 5.2 liter normally aspirated V10. The #4 Corvette is coming through the field, and Tommy Milner is at the wheel. The #70 Mazda is back on track after changing tires. Problems for the #57 Stevenson Motorsports Audi R8, with liquid trailing behind the car. More troubles for the team of Lawson Aschenbach, Matt Bell, and Andrew Davis.
Pippo Derani, last year's winner here at Sebring for ESM, is running slowly. The Ligier built Nissan DPi is not running up to par at the moment. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel are his co-drivers. The sister car #22 of course, has the same four driver lineup we saw at Daytona, before they crashed out, with Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek, Bruno Senna, and Brendon Hartley. Neel Jani leads by 1.1 seconds over the Action Express Cadillac's and the #52 car. Dane Cameron sets the fastest lap of the race thus far at 1:50.302. A new track record for IWSC here at Sebring. It's two seconds under Ryan Dalziel's 2014 lap record. Both of the Lexus RC F cars are running up in the order in GTD.
Dane Cameron resets fast lap at 1:50.218. Christian Fittipaldi goes purple in sector one, fastest of all. The leaders work past lapped traffic in the form of the aforementioned Mazda and the Dream Racing Motorsport Lamborghini. ESM is readying for a pit stop. They will be checking something in the lane. Overboost from the turbo in qualifying. IMSA marshals will tell them they need to check their turbo boost. Neel Jani's dealings with the #55 Mazda means the #5 Cadillac has closed up hand over fist. Christian Fittipaldi is right up on Jani's tail at the moment. #2 is in the lane, and as mentioned they've been dealing with turbo boost issues the whole weekend. #2 was ten miles an hour quicker than everyone else.
Neel Jani clears the Mazda into the Gendebien bends, named for four-time Sebring winner Olivier Gendebien of France. Fittipaldi tries to come through on the Mazda into turn 17 at Sunset Bend! Well, the Mazda driver was having none of it, and they nearly tangled! Yikes! This is a battle for second between two of the Cadillac's as Rebellion stretches their lead. ESM must be having the same issue that was happening in qualifying. The Mazda is a quick car in a straight line. But the bumps are hampering it for suspension compliance. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GTD as we are close to 20 minutes into this race. In GT Le Mans, Dirk Mueller leads for Ford. The #26 car leads Prototype Challenge. Gustavo Yacaman in the #26 car leads James French in car #38. It's BAR1 vs. Performance Tech.
Yacaman's co-drivers in car #26 are Marc Drumwright, Chapman Ducote, and Colin Thompson, while James French shares with fellow America Kyle Masson and Patricio O'Ward from Mexico. Antonio Garcia goes by Kevin Estre in GT Le Mans. Garcia tries to catch Dirk Mueller. Neel Jani is in the overall lead by four seconds. Renger van der Zande is currently at the wheel of the #90 VisitFlorida Racing Riley Multimatic he shares with Marc Goossens and Rene Rast. All manufacturers are represented in the top eight places in Prototype. The Cadillac, Nissan, and Mazda cars are the factory hot rods, while the bespoke engine and chassis global LMP2 cars with different bodywork all run together. Those are the Gibson V8 powered machines.
Tommy Milner is making hay while the sun shines. He's passed a bunch of GTD cars and is now chasing down Alexander Sims who is currently at the wheel of the #25 BMW RLL BMW M6 GT he shares with Bill Auberlen and Kuno Wittmer. Milner is fastest in GTLM at 1:58.1. Neel Jani has completed 11 laps (41.14 miles). A long, long way to go yet. Joel Miller is currently driving the #70 Mazda Prototype chasing Renger van der Zande who is twelve seconds up the road. A slew of GT Daytona cars are in the way. Joel Miller shares the second factory Mazda with Tom Long and Marino Franchitti.
The Mazda is working past one of the factory GTD Acura's, with Mark Wilkins at the wheel of it. Car #93. Neel Jani leads Christian Fittipaldi by over five seconds. A battle ensues in the middle of the course between Jose Guttierez and Ricky Taylor. Ligier vs. Cadillac. The #10 car had driveshaft issues on Friday before the race, as another battle ensues in GTLM between Kevin Estre, and Stefan Mucke in the #68 Ford GT. #10 also wanted to make a suspension adjustment while fixing the driveshaft, and this messed up the car in the qualifying trials. Taylor admitted that he overdrove the car. But, he's confident as the race continues.
NASCAR veteran Kyle Petty joins IMSA Radio commentators John Hindhaugh and Jeremy Shaw in their booth. Kyle Petty's brother-in-law Charlie Luck, has started running Porsche Cup cars. There's a real joy for sports car racing. Stefan Mucke overcooks the corner going into the hairpin. Mucke taps the Porsche and is forced to spin the Ford around. Giancarlo Fisichella has also passed in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE. Toni Vilander, James Calado, and Giancarlo Fisichella is the trio of drivers in that car. Kyle Petty has not been in a race car in some years, and might want to come out of retirement. He has run sports cars before.
Pippo Derani has rejoined the race in the #2 ESM Ligier Nissan. The crew added fuel, and adjusted something in the driver's side of the cockpit. Tristan Vautier is continuing to press his way through the field. Pit stop time is coming up. The Cadillac's said they could run 35 minutes on fuel. The Cadillac's pit and so does the Rebellion. Rebellion needs to retrieve a lug nut and their air jacks are not working, as the car won't come up. The #5 Cadillac is also having wheel issues on it's stop. No driver change for either of the Cadillac's. Fuel and tires only. Down and away. The #13 Rebellion Oreca is also back on track, and they didn't change tires.
The #13 still has the same tires. #70 Mazda in the lane for tires and fuel as well. Jose Guttierez is in the lead in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier. Michael Guasch and Tom Kimber-Smith are his co-drivers. Ricky Taylor is the best of the three Cadillac's on fuel mileage. The #22 Nissan Prototype is now third in the overall with Brendon Hartley at the controls. Check that. The Ligier Nismo is now in the lane. Some argy bargy between the #10 and #52, and a major moment for Jose Guttierez! He saves it! The #52, #85, and #90 cars pit. Fuel for #85, and a check of tire pressures. They will double stint on tires. Fuel and tires for the #90 car. Renger van der Zande stays in the car.
Rebellion will have to take a penalty from the stewards for not having a fire bottle in the lane which is a mandatory safety protocol. We wonder what is the matter with the #24 BMW M6 GT with Nicky Catsburg at the controls. He came through the pit lane but didn't stop. Could he be serving a drive through penalty? He turned right at the end of the pits, headed for the garage. BMW continues to have a fraught race, as Ricky Taylor trundles into the pit lane. He is at the first pit box at the end of the lane for winning the Rolex 24. Fuel and tires for the #10 Cadillac with no driver change. Same scenario for the #22 ESM entry.
There's still a long way to go, as Dane Cameron leads this motor race in the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac. Ricky Taylor did two extra laps on fuel in the #10 Cadillac. Brendon Hartley pits the #22 and there is a driver change as Ed Brown is now at the controls. Neel Jani and Christian Fittipaldi battle, and now, the #86 Acura NSX has hit the lane. We wait for the #93. The #24 BMW M6 GT has a bad vibration right now. The #26 class leading Prototype Challenge car pits and so does the second place #38. Gustavo Yacaman will get out and hand over to a silver rated driver. But, Yacaman actually stays behind the wheel. Pat O'Ward is now at the controls of car #38. #13 is in the lane for a drive through penalty. Rebellion team boss Bart Hayden can't be happy about this. Both Action Express Cadillac's run 1-2, six seconds apart.
Four diffrent marqus are represented in the top four in GTLM. Connor De Philippi continues to lead GT Daytona over two Lamborghini's with Mirko Bortolotti gaining places. Scott Pruett has dropped some spots and Ben Keating in the Mercedes is coming up in the order. The GTLM cars hit the lane with the #912 doing routine service and a driver change. Richard Lietz takes over for Kevin Estre in the Porsche 911 RSR. More contact for Stefan Mucke in the Ford as he battles the Ferrari in the hands of Giancarlo Fisichella. Some argy bargy in GTLM as they work past lapped GT Daytona traffic.
Connor De Philippi in the #29 Audi still needs to stop. Dirk Mueller leads by three to four seconds over the Corvette's in GT Le Mans. Both Porsche's pitted earlier than others in GT Le Mans. The Ford's, two of them, have the same pit box area, but the UK entry has a different pit stall. A whole phalaynx of GTD cars will head for pit lane soon as the #14 Lexus is the first of those to stop. The #23 Alex Job Audi has pitted. Other GTD cars are also in the lane. The #46 Ebimotors entry also pits. It's surely GTD pit stop time. The AJR Audi team is checking electronics and suspension issues. The mechanic asks "how do I turn it?" to refer to an clip that comes off to repair the suspension.
A long way yet to go here at Sebring. The #23 car was having a sway bar adjustment. The #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini, and lots of other GT cars are in the lane. Scuderia Corsa wants redemption. Christina Nielsen is staying at the controls, and having new tires and fuel added to the car. Nielsen again sharing with Italians Alessandro Balzan and Matteo Cressoni. Alexander Sims pits one of the GTLM BMW's. He stays in the car. Cameron, Fittipaldi, and Taylor are 1-2-3 for Cadillac at the moment. The #62 Ferrari 488 pits and Giancarlo Fisichella hands over to Toni Vilander. The #24 BMW M6 GT is back in the lane. Toni Vilander has been sick and Giancarlo Fisichella has not been performing as well as he could be. The third driver is Britain's James Calado, a factory/works driver for Ferrari's sports car program.
A seven hour maximum drive time is allowed, but minimums vary based on the classes. We'll talk about that soon. The #28 Alegra Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 pits. Daniel Morad hands over to Michael de Quesada. This is the GTD winner from Daytona. The #93 Acura NSX is pitting, and the team at Michael Shank Racing has asked IMSA marshals permission to do data acquisition during the stop. MSR is not replete with parts as they had to lend pieces to RealTime Racing and Ryan Eversley in the Pirelli World Challenge race at St. Petersburg, a race you saw covered here on Endurance... The Sports Car Racing Blog, a while ago.
Dirk Mueller pits the #66 Ford GT for four new tires from the lead of GTLM. Fuel going into the car, too. Four new tires and fuel for the #93 Acura. No data acquisition necessary. The fueling is done and they are doing data acquisition. Something is wrong with the performance of the NSX. Nicky Catsburg is back on track in the #24 BMW. MSR had an electronics issue on the Acura. But they are in good shape now. The battle for second in GTLM is Muller vs. Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette. Ryan Briscoe in the sister #67 Ford has worked his way back to the class lead. The #73 Park Place Motorsports Porsche pits. Patrick Lindsey, Jorg Bergmeister, Matt McMurry, and Jan Heylen, on the driver's strength.
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