A World War II. B17 bomber base, in the middle of an orange grove in central Florida, has become a true classic, on a track that demands respect. A race of survival has now become a race of speed, as we bring you, live, the 12 Hours of Sebring. This is perhaps the most challenging endurance race in the United States if not the world. Cadillac wants to repeat here at Sebring, but three of the four Cadillac DPi-V.R's have had to replace engins due to overheating troubles. In the GT Le Mans class, BMW has pole. In GT Daytona, Daniel Serra took pole by over a half a second. We are getting ready for what should be an incredible event today.
If you want to win Sebring, you have to have the same grit of the B17 bomber pilots who traind her, for war. It will be hot and greasy during the day, and then it might cool off in the evening. Renger van der Zande and company have to dig out of a hole today. Tristan Vautier has his first Prototype pole her at Sebring. The #99 Red Dragon will start from the pit lane due to electrical troubles. Acura NSX #93 starts caboose on the field, and we are green at Sbring!
Here comes Olivier Pla going for thre lead and Pla slides off the road immediately! Yikes! This is 12 hours, bo0ys. Cool it foir a while. But, now, IU guess these chaps want to go like gangbusters. These "endurance" evnts have now practically become sprint eventa. The Mada's have speed, as we see Daniel Serra with a cut down tire, and a tire down on ther left rear of the #3 Chevrolet Corvette C-7-R- as well. Start to find your rhythm. Chris McMurry and Helio Castroneves run 1-2. In replay, no action from the marshals. Olivier Pla tried to do the squeeze play. Tristan Vautier is still in the Cadillac. He started the blue bullet.
Daniel Serra is now in the pit lane. The temperature is 20 degrees warmer today than it has been in Sebring throughout the week. Sebring is a very unique track and there's no place like it. Corvette #3 went to the pit lane. They have a system to pressurize the radiator which they didn't have that luxury at the 24 Hours of Daytona. Daniel Serra was slammed by the #15 Lexus RC F GT3 to damage that tire. Sean Rayhall at the wheel of the Lexus. Luck on this St/ Patrick's Day is a big deal, but so is reliability.
Nick Tandy and Earl Bamber are two top contenders for Portsche in GT Le Mans, followed by Joey Hand nin the Ford GT and Antoniuo Garcia in the Corvette. Katherine Legge and John Potter scrap in GT Daytona, and it could be game over for the #2 Nissan DFPi. Check that. It's the sister #93 Acura nSX GT3 of Justin Marks, who had rear brake failtures and slammed the wall in practice causing an immediate red flag. Lawson Aschenbach was fastest in the morning warmup before this race began.
Katherine Legge says she is trying to find the balance of the car. The #99 car has zero telemetry and zero power sterring. It's going top be as real tough road to hoe for Stephen Simpson. It's like steering a tank or a big truck around this track. The steering will become really, really heavy. It used to be that you could compromise on setup, but now, the race track is changing so much, on this day, that there will be more variables than expected. There was a false neutral in the trasnsmission of the #999. BMW haas been really strong here at Sebring for the new M8 GT. Oh! A car has flipped!
That's the #64 Ferrari 488 GT3. Sebastian Saavedra has crashed into Frankie Montecalvo and Montecalvo is on his lid. Saavedra spins, and then, Montecalvo is launched over the right front of the Prototype! Holy cow! Frank Montecalvo is out of the car and is just fine. What a relief! Saavedra's car is in the lane having the nose repaired. Patrick Dempsey is here, watching, and he is working on a film. Dempsey is racing with his team, in the FIA World Endurance Championship in LM GTE Am. Pit lane is open for teams to take service. Both Action Express Cadillac's in the lane. Filipe Albuquerque gets tires and fuel. Many other Prototypes hit the lane and now are back on track.
Much more racing still to come. We are a half an hour into this once around the clock classic. Corvette is making their 200th start today, going for their 12th 12 Hours of Sebring win. People are gambling. Jesse Krohn in the #24 BMW M8 GTE has stayed out, along with the two Ford GT's. At Daytona, there were so few yellows, people couldn't get their laps back. Game over for the #2 ESM Nissan DPi. Poor old Olivir Pla squeezed Tristan Vautier and put himself out of the race. Both Nissan's were way down at Daytona. Now, they are continuing to sink into a hole.
If Scuderia Corsa can get out on the track, they should be able to repair it. They have lots of work to do. We are now back to green with Ricky Taylor in P1 for the #7 Penske Racing Acura ARX-05. Helio Castroneves leads a couple of the Cadillac's. As the temperature warms up, will the Cadillac's have trouble? They may have made some adjustments to the cars. Nick Tandy is battling the two Corvette's. The GT Daytona cars are very fast and, they have ant lock brakes. Jack Hawksworth dives inside katherine Legge. New red livery on the #15 Lexus RC F GT3. Christopher Mies is also battling hard in the Audi for Land Motorsports.
There is a new wrinkle in the rules while the Prototype cars get a wave by. The GT Le Mans cars will have to really go for it on pit stops. It's the same sort of deal in GT Daytona. Team boss Mike O'Gara, at Ford, says ther want to sav tires. Ford likes to run the soft compound tires, making choices before the race. Don't put all your ggs in one basket. Compromise your tire allocation.
Prototype and GT Daytona all use a spec tire from Continental.
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