Now, more pit action as we see the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 head for the box. BMW #1 is the GTD Pro class leader making a scheduled stop. There will be a driver change. Likewise, the #3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R for Pratt & Miller Motorsports is in the lane for service and a driver change as well. Alexander Sims finishes his stint handing over to Antonio "The King of Spain" Garcia. The sister Corvette #4 is in the lane as well. These new Corvettes are continually being developed and they have had a good race start after struggling for pace earlier in the weekend.
It is tight quarters in the pit lane and some teams and cars have a larger fuel tank to work with than others and can leapfrog their competition on pit exit. Half of this field is the GT3 based machinery which makes up the Pro and regular GT Daytona classes in IMSA. With the prototypes, they are much more spread out. 58 cars in the race this year, the most starters we've seen since about 2016. IMSA are in a wonderful spot now and they just announced, earlier than ever before, their 2025 race schedule. When was the last time a sanctioning body released the next season's schedule in the month of March?
It is not so different. But it is good for the teams and manufacturers to know the schedule. The other reason is that there are other sports car championships worldwide where races can clash with the IMSA calendar, and I think that the early release of the IMSA schedule might alleviate those clashes especially if you have teams and manufacturers with programs that are widespread across the United States and also in a global sense. The WEC of course did not race here at Sebring. Porsche Penske won the opener in Qatar which we brought you coverage of.
No one was willing to take the bait to put a bobblehead hula dancer doll on the dashboard. Sebring is flat as a pancake but with the bumps there's 17 feet of elevation change. 75% asphalt and 25% concrete. The sidewalls of the tires are a huge part of the suspension. If the sidewalls are cattywampus it is ridiculous. Shock technology is so good that the cars are not bucking broncos like they used to be. Alexander Sims in the GTD Pro #3 Corvette tells us they struggled in Free Practice, but they rectified the issue and had a good qualifying session.
The stint was strong. Be sensible and don't take too many risks. That is the situation. In the car, there is air conditioning, and it is warm and humid always, but it is manageable. Friday was Alexander Sims' birthday, celebrating with sushi rolls and loads of text messages wishing him a happy birthday. His co-driver Antonio Garcia is now in the car. Sushi the night before the 12 hours, in the middle of Florida, away from the ocean? I don't know about that. Alexander Sims won this race last year and got transitioned from Cadillac to Corvette for 2024. Getting used to the ABS over the bumps was a wild situation.
We are now ready to go back to green flag racing with the race being led now by the two Cadillac's, the Ganassi #01 and the Action Express #31. Green flag out of Sunset Bend. Hit the go pedal and go for it. Jack Aitken running right with Scott Fixon. Brendon Hartley now at the wheel of the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura, followed by Jesse Krohn in the first of the two BMW's and Colton Herta in the second Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global Acura, car #40. Herta is putting the squeeze play on Krohn! Yikes!
Herta almost elbowed off into the grass through Kristensen corner! The second BMW #25 of Maxime Martin is right behind Herta! Holy cow! Herta did not lift! They now run single file through the hairpin. With the added downforce of a GTP car, keep your hands straight and you will be OK. If you are still loaded, straightening your hands, keep your foot in it. You won't lose any time and you will maintain control of the car. Wow. The two Cadillac's are scampering away. Herta stayed in the throttle. Krohn is wondering where on earth the #10 Acura of Hartley is going to go.
The aero wash is affecting the handling of the BMW's and guess what? The Porsche 963's are still back there as well, look. Colton Herta is a stay in the throttle kind of driver. It is so great to have different sounding engines in classes like GTP and in both GT Daytona classes, too. That is what makes sports car racing so wonderful. The only reason GT racing has exploded worldwide is due to Balance of Performance. We can complain about Balance of Performance, but it is necessary. It is a necessary evil, really. Build a better mouse to avoid the mousetrap. A win is not guaranteed, but the ability to be competitive is.
The battle rages now for fourth in GTD Pro with Nicky Catsburg in the #4 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R chasing down Alex Riberas in the #23 Aston Martin Vantage AMR. Corvette Racing by Pratt & Miller Motorsports vs. The Heart of Racing Team. Nine- and three-quarter hours of this race left to go. We have a long way to go yet. Yikes! An LMP2 car goes up underneath Catsburg. These cars all have paddle shifters now compared to H pattern gearboxes. For position, look, Ferrari on Corvette. Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 goes by Nicky Catsburg.
Catsburg does not want to give it up. Argy bargy down through turn 16 onto the Ulmann straightaway. Minimize the body blows. Damage will harm you and not help you as this race goes on. Matt Brabham in "Spike" is chasing Nico Pino for the lead in LMP2. P.J. Hyett says he made a few mistakes and had to catch up. The cloud cover is helping the heat just a little bit. No air conditioning in the LMP2 car. His teammates talked about his natural progress into an LMP2 car. Bronze rated drivers must qualify the car in the LMP2 class.
This is the sister car to the green dinosaur, "Rexy", GTD Pro Porsche 911 GT3R. Matt Brabham is chasing Nico Pino as we said. The prototype is stiffer, less prone to rolling around, and feels more secure because of more downforce. You need to be able to commit. Look at data, go out, cut and paste from the data, with your lap times on the track. This is a great LMP2 battle we are watching now. Youth vs. experience, and the youth is the future of the sport, obviously.
Multi-class racing and the IMSA paddock, there are multiple places where you can go and race. Look at Ben Keating with his successes in IMSA and in the FIA World Endurance Championship as well as picking the best Silver rated driver. Nico Pino was chosen by Ben Keating to partner him in the #2 car, the Chilean racer. Russell Ward has found his way to the front in GT Daytona in the #57 Mercedes-AMG GT3 and he is five seconds ahead of the BMW M4 GT3, car #96 of Jake Walker for Turner Motorsports. Mercedes-AMG have had three victories in a row between Indianapolis and Petit Le Mans in 2023 along with Daytona this year.
The BMW is more sensitive to temperature changes and track conditions, with a smaller setup window. Jake Walker has been mentored by former Indianapolis 500 winner, Buddy Rice, who won it 20 years ago in 2004. We saw Jake Walker debut at Daytona and run with BMW in SRO at the end of last year at the Indianapolis 8 Hours. Robby Foley, too, is another great GTD driver. There may have been a car off to the side of the road covered by a local yellow. Was that the #66 Acura NSX GT3? I am not sure if it was the Graidient Racing car or not.
Check that. It was the #43 Andretti Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R. That is the car shared by Jarett Andretti, Gabby Chaves, and Scott Hargrove. Hopefully everything is OK there. They raced LMP3 and GTD cars last year. Joao Barbosa in LMP2 makes the pass on Misha Goikhberg. Goikhberg in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini he shares with Loris Spinelli and Devlin DeFrancesco. Barbosa is in the #33 Sean Creech Motorsports LMP2 car, the only Ligier chassis in LMP2. The Portuguese veteran sports car racer sharing with American driver Dr. Lance Willsey and British racer Jonny Edgar.
Coexist with traffic through Tower corner. Michael Dinan was so committed to the move he wanted to make he had no escape route. There is a point of no return. Trying to make a banzai move early doors is a bad idea. Kyle Kirkwood and Frankie Montecalvo in the two Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3's are running together, but you can tell them apart as one is a Pro class GTD car, and one is not. The Pro car is in the gold special Mobil 1 livery while the regular GTD Lexus is in the traditional black and yellow Vasser Sullivan scheme.
The 12 Hours of Sebring will be 1/4 of the way through when we finish this hour. Ferrari show a lot of pace in the GTD class. Francois Heriau had a spot of bother just recently. He is the current driver of the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 in the GT Daytona class. Heriau was tipped into a spin in turn one with Katherine Legge in the #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3. The corner is so high speed, you cannot alter your line, cannot fix where you are, and spin out. No harm, no foul there. At Vasser Sullivan, co-owner James "Sully" Sullivan tells us this all started seeing a concert, a Third Eye Blind concert.
Sullivan was also the recipient of an autograph from former IndyCar racer Tomas Scheckter of South Africa. He is the son of Jody Scheckter, Formula 1 World Champion. Sullivan was a super fan who became part of motor racing along with his best friend Jimmy Vasser. Sullivan is a high intensity guy and Vasser is pretty chilled out. Will we see James' son Shep Sullivan be a driver soon? He is a go kart racer now. Maybe a future racing star in the making. He drew a track map in crayon, and talks about cornering and now, Shep might be a racing driver. He has started in go karts. Good for you, buddy. Good for you.
Nine and a half hours to go. Many people in motorsports have graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Meanwhile, the chase is on at the top of the shop between the two Cadillac's. Jack Aitken chasing down Scott Dixon in the continuing saga of Ganassi Racing vs. Action Express. Aitken is now behind by two and a half seconds and will do everything possible to make up ground. Cadillac have won this race with different teams the last three years. Each GTP brand is based off different chassis platforms. Cadillac and BMW aligned with Dallara. Acura aligned with Oreca. Porsche aligned with Multimatic. Lamborghini aligned with Ligier. I thought I missed one. Maybe not.
Lamborghini also raced the FIA WEC opener in Qatar weeks ago. Pipo Derani talked about the fact that just maybe the Cadillac will run better in the cooler and denser air of the evening. That is something we will need to pay close attention to as the darkness draws near here at Sebring. So far in the daytime, they are very sharp, Action Express Cadillac. Katherine Legge will be penalized for tagging Francois Heriau. You do win this race at night but if your car is not good enough in the daytime, you can lose the race. Be vigilant but keep your nose clean.
It is great to come back to Sebring every year. It is a race and a party and the crowd loves it. "The Ice Man", Scott Dixon, cometh. He is doing all he can to stay in the race lead. The Cadillac V8 thundering down the backstretch. The closing rates between the GTP and GTD cars is pretty incredible. A GTP car scythes past a GTD machine like a hot knife through butter. If you are an iRacing fan, record this lap on your DVR or pay very close attention on your mobile device. ABS braking allows the GTD car to stay with the prototype.
The closing rates are unbelievable. Aerodynamic downforce helps. But into Sunset Bend, turn 17, this is tough no matter what car you are driving, bouncing over the bumps that change every single time. We see the same track but a completely different challenge onboard the #64 Ford Mustang GT3 of Christopher Mies. Mies is your class lead in GTD Pro. With the traffic moving ahead of Mies, he is losing time to a Porsch ahead. The only difference in the two GT3 classes has to do with driver lineups. The cars are the same. The traffic is intense all day long especially with 58 cars in the race. That's a lot.
The GT cars are extremely difficult to drive because you are racing your fellow combatants along with the prototypes. There are multiple cars in one battle. Mies, Verhagen, Garcia, the top three. Ford Mustang GT3 vs. BMW M4 GT3 vs. Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Adam Adelson in the GT Daytona #120 Porsche 911 GT3.R for Wright Motorsports is ahead. Adelson sharing that car with Elliott Skeer and Jan Heylen. Adelson is a semi-professional driver. The class difference in GTD Pro and GTD is denoted by colored markings on the mirrors and rear wing end plates of the cars. Red for GTD Pro and green for GTD.
Mustang leading BMW and Corvette. Verhagen is a graduate from the BMW Junior Team. It is this ladder system in IMSA and in sports car racing in general. Daniel Serra is catching up to Antonio Garcia. Adelson in the green and yellow #120 Porsche has gone a lap down. In the Cadillac camp at Ganassi Racing, Scot Dixon leads. The climbing ambient temperatures are concerning. Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Mike O'Gara says that they look at the end of the race and work backwards. It is tougher to slow great drivers down than speeding them up. Tires are a major deal and this is for every team in GTP up and down the pit lane. Don't get into contact with other cars. Leave room. If you make contact, it can turn your race upside down in several ways.
CGR of course will sever their ties with Cadillac at the end of 2024. Mum is the word in that situation. When you commit to a program like this and know the end is coming, it is very difficult not to think about it while focusing on the championship. There is a niggling thought in the back of your mind that the relationship is ending. You cannot make that fly in your ear go away. Dixon getting stymied in GT Daytona traffic, look. He must pass the McLaren, the Lamborghini, and another of the Ford Mustang factory cars.
Brendon Hartley is chasing Jack Aitken as well. Be at your best when you are at your worst. Don't let things pick at you. Keep going forward. Head down, eyes forward. Again, we have Dave Burns, Brian Till, Kevin Lee, Matt Yocum, and Dillon Welch taking us through the coverage of the race on Peacock today. Retired driver Cooper MacNeil still treasures his win at the 12 Hours of Sebring. You want this one on your resume as a sports car driver. Meanwhile, in LMP2 we have seen a lead change because Spike the dragon, the purple #99 AO Racing car of Matt Brabham has passed the #18 Era Motorsports Oreca of Ryan Dalziel.
Dalziel won the Rolex 24 in LMP2. He has experience in many kinds of sports cars and has won Daytona, Sebring, and Le Mans, all three. He left racing in open wheel cars to come to sports cars. Early on he learned his lessons from the veterans as to why he was getting his tail handed to him. But now, he is a veteran racer himself. Matt Brabham is just barely ahead of Brabham. Well, he is behind, but showing the nose telling him, "Hello, sunbeam. I am right here." Oh dear. Speaking of LMP2 cars in trouble, there's more misery for the #88 AF Corse car.
The car is stopped on course. They have not had a smooth race so far. He has pulled into the runoff area inside of the hairpin bringing out our third Full Course Yellow in the race. The driver has escaped and gone up and over the wall. Lilou Wadoux, she thinks there is a fire pointing to the marshal, "I need a fire extinguisher!" Lilou Wadoux is making a name for herself worldwide in sports car racing currently. Before the Full Course Yellow, Colton Herta tries to pass a GTD Aston Martin, hit the grass, and thankfully keeps his foot in it.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 was trapped by one of the Lexus GT3 cars as well. This is a four wheeled chess game here at Sebring. The car in question for Herta was the #44 Flex Box Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in the hands of Spencer Pumpelly. The pit lane is now open and they are doing the pass through for the GT Daytona and GT Daytona cars and then the pit lane will be open for prototypes next time around. The #88 AF Corse LMP2 car is on the crane and is very well out of the race. Game over for Lilou Wadoux, Nicklas Nielsen, and Luis Perez-Companc.
World War II history is still prevalent here at Sebring even well after the place has become a world class race track. Bob Tulius who ran the Group 44 Jaguar's in the 1980s version of GTP, he still has some WW. II. planes here at Sebring. Drivers and teams have their own planes. Cadillac #01 in the pit lane and so is the #31 Whelen Cadillac. Both teams are double stinting and cleaning the windscreen. There is a slight radio gremlin for the #31 team. Hopefully they get that fixed. We see the Cadillac's, one of the BMWs, and many of the Porsche's, both the factory cars and the customer cars, have made scheduled pit stops.
There are even Lego versions of the BMW's, the GTP car and the GT Daytona M4 GT3. Up front we have seen great racing between the two Cadillac's and the BMW is now leading over the Porsche. Maxime Martin in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 now leads Dane Cameron in the #6 Porsche 963. You win and lose this race with teamwork. If one person messes up, it is hard to come back. Pit crews help their drivers by being fast on the stops.
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