Sebring International Raceway is one of the classic circuits. Vigilance is required, with the bumps and sightings of wildlife. In a sport characterized by change, Sebring and it's 3/4s of a century history, remains constant. History is made and legends are born here. We are about to write another new chapter, our grid is stacked with nine brands and our pals in SRO Europe are at Brands Hatch in England for their sprint championship opener. Wright Motorsports in Pro and CrowdStrike with Riley in Pro-Am, plus ST Racing with their BMW M4 GT3's, and don't forget the new Chevrolet Corvette C8 GT3.R for DXDT Racing. Heros established, champions rising to the occasion.
We're ready for race one with a light breeze, hot temperatures, blue skies, and fluffy clouds. It is a pleasure to have your company as we welcome our commentary team of Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the booth and Amanda Busick in the pit lane. Engineering and setups must be of the utmost as we ready for this hour and a half race, with Sebring moving to spring from fall. Such great history at this speedway. The hottest Sebring 12 Hours was in 1965 with Chapparal and Chevrolet, Shelby and Ford, and privateer Ferrari's with Enzo Ferrari protesting rule changes and only customer Ferrari's raced.
Fabulous footage in 1965, Ms. Sebring, Patricia Schnaar. Graham Hill would race a Lola that day and the focus was on the Chapparal II with a Chevrolet motor. 67 drivers going racing. A lightweight Corvette led early doors with a record pole speed with Jim Hall and Hap Sharp in their Chapparal, the first sub three-minute lap in Sebring history and there was a massive accident with a Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe, and a Volvo. The rain came at 5:25 P.M. and it bucketed down. Jim Hall and Hap Sharp took the win, nearly 60 years ago.
Chevrolet are back with the new Corvette this weekend. We are going for a hot lap with Calvin Fish and Parker Thompson over this rollercoaster ride in Sunset Bend. Take a deep breath, going through the bumpiest corner in North America. Pit entry wall, your brake marker, blind over the bumps through turn one. Into Kristensen Corner at turn three, brake at the 200 marker. Be disciplined on exit. Out of turn five, hug the right side of the road. An important braking zone in the hairpin at turn seven going for the four marker! Yikes!
Into Fangio curve and into Collier Curves at turn ten. Set up for turn 11. Do everything to make the Tower Corner entrance flat. Get in earlier than you think. Flat out on the back stretch through Bishop Bend. Don't get distracted by the airport. Find the 200-meter marker and use the runoff road, opening your hands and then go down the Ulmann straight and get ready for the bumpiest turn in North America at Sunset Bend. Do not change this circuit. It's unique and it's awesome! Drivers, start your engines. Let's do this!
Philip Ellis for Regulator Racing in the Mercedes-AMG GT3 #91 on the pole. They want a green flag race to let Philip Ellis jump into a lead and they will do the opposite for tomorrow's race. DXDT Corvette Racing with Scott Smithson are ready to go. It is a miniature prototype wrapped in a GT3 skin. Reinforcements are waiting in the wings in a couple weeks at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. We have a dozen cars ready to go. A single formation lap. Tire warmers available in GT3. Regulator Racing could play a blinder with Jeff Burton and Phillip Ellis.
The field is formed up and we have a green flag and it is go time! Charlie Bell from Pete's Foreign Otto Shop waves the flag. Pumpelly in the RS1 Porsche brings the fight to Ellis who squeezes in front. Their entire strategy relies on building a gap. RS1 in the Pro class. Kyle Washington putting pressure on Justin Rothberg. Varun Choksey in the #28 ST Racing BMW, making the move on the Acura NSX GT3 of Luca Mars, the #93 Racer's Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3. Choksey and Mars new to racing in GT3. Mars a GT racer and Choksey an open wheel racing veteran. Wright Motorsports swept both Pro and Pro-Am classes here last fall.
Choksey holding off Luca Mars. Samantha Tan beginning to make inroads on Adam Adelson. Turner Motorsports, ST Racing, they have all been strong running the M4 GT3 platform. The #38 Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen car is on pole for race two tomorrow. Scott Smithson has now falled back to the final spot in 12th making his race debut in the new Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Chouest protecting the inside line. Be proactive and don't react to a move from behind. Elias Sabo has had a great start to this event in the #8 and Ross Chouest is behind him in the #50 Chouest Povoledo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Ellis is the only Pro in a Pro-Am lineup in the car now. Compare him to Samantha Tan in the BMW in sixth. Ellis needs to sprint away and build a gap and Jeff Burton will be taking the car to the flag. He needs green flag racing. His strategy is viable due to a rule change based on team nominations and not on FIA driver grading. No mandatory pit window and rather, maximum and minimum stint lengths. The earliest any GT3 cars can come in is at 38:41 on the clock with a minimum pit transition delta of 79 seconds. Ellis will maximize his time before handing off to co-driver Jeff Burton. George Kurtz and Justin Rothberg battling again as they did in GT America powered by AWS a race that Kurtz dominated.
Rothberg has the measure on the driver he raced against in the 40-minute sprint we saw earlier today. Rothberg stymied in the corner at turn three. Rothberg is teamed up with veteran Robby Foley. This is the first of two races this weekend, the third of the season. There will be quite the dynamic for Jeff Burton. If it plays to their script, Burton should have a massive lead but he will be back in the field against the professional drivers in race two tomorrow. Ellis, Pumpelly, Choksey, Mars. Big news for this battle, but also, a drive through penalty for George Kurtz, race start violation.
Typically, that is crossing over the columns before the start/finish line. He popped his nose out just at the green. That was a squeaker. Elias Sabo vs. Ross Chouest vs. Scott Smithson. Smithson getting his first experience in the new Chevrolet Corvette C8 GT3.R sharing with Bryan Sellers. Team boss David Askew is reporting a slight power issue in the 5.5-liter V8. At the top of the shop, 2:01.786 is the new CrowdStrike Fastest Lap set by Phillip Ellis. Ellis leading Pumpelly, Choksey, Mars, and Adelson. Ellis has fastest sector time in each of the three sectors.
Pumpelly was up on the wheel and Ellis made his move while Spencer Pumpelly hung tough. The Mercedes is very compliant over the bumps. Jeff Burton tells us their strategy is to change the dynamic for the amateur drivers and teams. Since Sonoma they want to prove they can and will move forward. Burton is challenging himself to push. Ellis broke the track record. He's an incredible driver. This is entertaining to watch for sure. Ellis has been a Mercedes-AMG factory driver since 2022. He has also brought an engineer from Europe who knows how to get the best out of the Mercedes platform. Ellis won the 12 Hours of Sebring here back in March in a GT3 Mercedes.
A yellow flag wuld turn their strategy upside down as off track goes Ross Chouest and back on again and something is wrong on the right rear corner. Yikes! Some contact there between the Corvette and the Mercedes. Smithson saw a move but he has damage to the Corvette. They need race time to get the car dialed in. Chouest is also in. These two do not know each other's driving styles and sadly, I think the wheel is busted on the Mercedes. Tire placed for the Corvette. Game over for the Chouest Povoledo Mercedes team.
The Corvette is still wriggling around it looks like. In this onbaord replay, he dives in and Ross Chouest did not know he was there. Slide down to the inside, establish yourself. The stewards are looking at the shemozzle. Again, game over as well for Chouest Povoledo Racing as we see a battle in the Pro divisoon, second and third, Varun Choksey vs. Luca Mars. BMW vs. Acura. Choksey runs wide on the Ulmann straightaway, and you are allowed just one defensive move. He cannot afford another move. Luca Mars incredibly impressive early in his development cycle, graduate of the HPD/HRC Driver Academy.
A locked wheel, hit in the right rear by the Corvette. Unfortunate for Chouest, the 2022 GT America GT4 champion and now the Corvette's suspension is damaged plus a drive through penalty that will need to be taken. DXDT Corvette Racing, team owner David Askew, over the moon at the introduction last fall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There will be a second car coming for Alec Udell and Tommy Milner. There's over an hour of racing to go and maybe Bryan Sellers can use the rest of the race as a test session. So, Philipp Ellis is really faster than everyone else.
Spencer Pumpelly leads the Pro class over Samantha Tan by 20 seconds plus. RS1 are back and they dominated last year with Stevan McAleer and Eric Filgueiras. The were not on the grid at all at Sonoma but will be in the fight for the rest of the year. Trent Hindman is a race winner, and a champion and Jake Pedersen has amazing potential as well. Spencer Pumpelly is a Silver rated driver but is a top professional. Trent Hindman is filling in for Jake Pedersen this weekend. Find the right key to unlock the potential. Last year, Jake Pedersen ran with Vesko Kozarov who is an Am. But Spencer Pumpelly is a true professional, showing the young drivers what to do to prepare for the races and tick every box.
Pedersen is racing in Miami in Porsche Carrera Cup supporting Formula 1 in Miami. Pedersen will also race in GT4 later in the year. Pedersen is also a musician and a music major at University of California Berkeley. ST Racing has the Starry Night, Vincent van Gogh livery on their cars. So. Choksey is escaping from Mars. Varun Choksey has been impressive as a driver thus far and it's been pretty incredible to watch. Don't let Spencer Pumpelly get too far away. Choksey will hand the #28 ST Racing BMW M4 GT3 to Bill Auberlen for the second half of the motor race.
Varun Choksey is from Alpharetta, Georgia, starting in single seaters in Formula Regional America, ran two seasons for Wright Motorsports in Porsche Carrera Cup North America and is now in GT3. Luca Mars has run the 24 Hours of Daytona, Mazda MX-5 Cup, touring cars, and Ford Mustang GT4 racing in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge. Mars sharing with former IndyCar racer Zach Veach, former IndyCar and Lexus GT3 driver in IMSA, now for the Acura program with Racer's Edge. Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson finished on the podium alongside Jan Heylen in the 12 Hours of Sebring a couple of months ago.
Adam Adelson was runner up in Pro-Am in SRO GT World Challenge America in 2023. He was also runner up in 2022 in Pirelli GT4 America, Adelson and Skeer sharing it. Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson are inseparable both on and off track. They are teammates but they are also buddies. They tick all the boxes. More Pro ranked cars are coming at the next round of the championship at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. ST Racing, Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen, the two of them are leading on their strategy. One yellow flag and their pace and strategy could come into focus.
Verhagen is on pole for race two tomorrow. So, we have run 1/3rd of this race, half an hour. The race will likely be between Burton and Tan and Neil Verhagen will have traffic to work with. #91 and their team have established a gap while Verhagen will be the hound chasing the rabbit. The professional drivers will not give it up. The teams can play with strategy, admittedly, though, if there's a safety car, all that stuff goes out the window and we grab a clean sheet of paper and write a new strategy, in pencil of course. Luca Mars has a head of steam but the BMW of Choksey does not defend and Mars is not close enough.
You cannot run over the driver right in front of you. Ellis resets the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap of the motor race for the Regulator Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 EVO. Choksey defends into the hairpin over Mars. Choksey does not flinch. Pumpelly and Hindman, those tw chaps are motoring away. Auberlen, Skeer, and Veach, all of them are going to have a tougher time in the second half as Elliott Skeer is getting suited and booted and Trent Hindman is ready, on his return to SRO America competition in either GT3 or GT4. Hindman may be racing against his old team, the Racer's Edge Acura.
Suspension technology has moved so far that you can absorb the bumps. New CrowdStrike Fastest Lap to Phillip Ellis at 2:01.552. The pace is still blistering. Ellis is on a tear. Choksey drifts wide and Mars, for a fleeting moment, he was very close. In North America, the Pro-rated class requires a Silver driver alongside a Gold or a Platinum which Europe, Asia, and Australia, don't require. Choksey is doing a great job holding off Mars for the time being. The overcut, with these fastest laps being uncorked, is far more viable with negligible pace between these teams and cars.
Adelson, look, is closing the gap down to both Mars and Choksey. Elliott Skeer and Jeff Burton are both getting ready to race their stints. 51 minutes on the board to the end of the race. Wright Motorsports and ST Racing both in the lane and they are chabnging drivers now over to Skeer in the Porsche and Verhagen in the BMW. We wait to see Ellis pit to hand off to Burton. 79 second pit transit time. Fuel added and tires changed. Elias Sabo from tenth overall, goes off the road. I think he downshifted into the wrong gear and is now back on his way.
The CrowdStrike by Riley Mercedes was delayed as George Kurtz is now handing over to Colin Braun. Oh dear. A five second post-race penalty now for Neil Verhagen and ST Racing. Oy yoy yoy. Was not expecting that. Spencer Pumpelly now in the #85 Porsche replacing Trent Hindman. Now, Bill Auberlen has taken over from Varun Choksey beating Racer's Edge out of the lane with a delay on the driver change between Mars and Veach. Auberlen right on the nose as Skeer, on a flyer, on warmed up tires, off in the dirt for the BMW. Yikes. Essentially, this race is half over.
Wright Motorsports nailed it on their pit stop. They win, no matter the championship, here at Sebring. IMSA, SRO, it doesn't matter. Neil Verhagen will now have to chase down Jeff Burton. Elliott Skeer just uncorked a 2:01 dead! Holy smokes! That is a monster lap time! What did they do with the tire pressures? Is he immediately in the sweet spot on those Pirelli tires? We'll see, as we cross the halfway mark and into the second half of the motor race. Ellis and company have yet to pit. Trent Hindman leads Pro over Elliott Skeer with Auberlen next in the serial. Porsche, Porsche, BMW.
Ellis must be in the pit lane before the clock hits 40 minutes to go. The Skeer and Auberlen battle we will watch as Neil Verhagen goes 2:00.8! New CrowdStrike Fastest Lap for Verhagen! Yikes! Verhagen now chasing Auberlen. 2:00.808 for Verhagen. ST Racing will have a mano e mano battle between their two cars. Last year they won on the road but were disqualified after post-race scrutineering for a minor infraction. Ellis, I think, will be pitting. Is it going to be enough? He ducks to the lane to hand over to Jeff Burton at Regulator Racing, a caution free race so far.
Smooth sailing here. Burton is super fit and in the heat, mental toughness is key. DXDT ran this team. Regulator is a ski hill that Jeff Burton and David Askew ski on it. Burton, he stalled it! Jeff Burton, in the Florida heat will be dreaming of snow and ice. Andy Lee is going by in the Aston Martin for Flying Lizard Motorsports. Hindman and Skeer in the Porsche's will be pushing for class victory. Bill Auberlen being told, don't hold Neil Verhagen up. Let him go, work together. Verhagen has to catch and gap Burton for the Pro-Am victory.
The hang up on the Racer's Edge pit stop was the seat insert. Team owner John Mirachi said that driver comfort is the compromise because Luca Mars is a tall drink of water and Zach Veach is shorter. The gap back to Verhagen is 25 seconds. Verhagen is pushing and he has caught the sister car of Bill Auberlen. How will ST Racing play this deal? Auberlen needs to look at the big picture on this. You know he is going to go for it but maybe will be wiser against a teammate. Breathe the throttle, and tuck in behind.
Verhagen is moved up another spot. Jeff Burton just turned a 2:03.8. Verhagen, even in traffic has cut a 2:01.5. Jeff Burton must find more pace but don't make a mistake. The professional drivers can get up on the wheel immediately but the Am drivers need a bit more time to get things together. Burton could still get on the podium. Robby Foley and Thomas Sargent are farther behind. Regulator Racing could still get a podium place. Verhagen's pace could very well be too strong. Hindman is coming and fast. Trent Hindman ran in 2020 driving for Racer's Edge with Shelby Blackstock. Hindman ran the Indianapolis 8 Hours with Wright Motorsports at the end of last year.
Hindman won the 2016 SCCA Runoffs GT2 championship, Lamborghini World Finals and Super Trofeo Pro title in 2017. Pirelli GTS World Challenge champion, two-time IMSA GT4 and GT3 champion, and more. Hindman is a star driver. Skeer, 4/10ths quicker. Half an hour to go. Hindman might have a gap over Skeer but cannot afford to let the delta get larger. The debut of the DXDT Corvette went pear shaped aftetr contact with Ross Chouest and so it is game over with a broken lower control arm and a damaged steering rack for Bryan Sellers and Scott Smithson. The steering rack is far more serious damage than the control arm. I hope, I think they will have spare parts. Of course they have their second car in the Pro class for Circuit of the Americas for Tommy Milner and Alec Udell.
Burton leads overall but Hindman is coming in a big, big hurry. Hindman and Skeer's pace both are absolutely remarkable. The Pirelli P Zero tires are strong and consistent with very little tire degradation in the heat and on the punishing pavement here at Sebring, the concrete slabs, the bumps, the rough patches. Robby Foley is very quick as well. But he is seventh in the order ahead of Tom Sargent. Hindman closing in on Jeff Burton. Hindman is right there. Into the hairpin, Hindman is not close enough. He is in a major scrap with Elliott Skeer.
Burton lets Hindman play through into the overall lead. Hindman is digging deep, and he will see Elliott Skeer in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche very, very soon. Burton and Neil Verhagen are battling for Pro-Am honors. ST Racing has copped a 4.2 second post-race penalty for their short pit stop. If Hindman caught traffic at the wrong time, Skeer could have an extra lap on the board to make a move before the checkers as Robby Folley moves past Zach Veach in Sunset Bend. Foley wants clear road ahead as he is in hot pursuit of Neil Verhagen and of Jeff Burton. He is 28 seconds behind currently. Foley could catch Burton before the end. Tom Sargent, barring a mistake from Jeff Burton might run out of time.
Skeer, coming up on Jeff Burton. This is into turn one on another lap. Jeff Burton needs to keep his head down and just go for it. It is a facsimile of what we saw with Hindman. Skeer is just not close enough to Burton going into Tower corner. Skeer is going to try and just barely gets through. Burton let him play through, but that was close! Skeer is a tenth of a second quicker than Trent Hindman. 20 minutes to go now. Burton back to Foley is 20 seconds. Foley could catch him. We'll see. Jeff Burton has had two podiums over the last two seasons. Read the rulebook, view it in terms of an opportunity. We could see a lead change before long. Verhagen is closing in on Burton. Verhagen is coming in a big hurry as I said.
The Hindman and Skeer scrap for the overall lead is not done and dusted by any stretch. Meanwhile, Samantha Tan likes what she sees looking on. The battle is on between Jeff Burton and Neil Verhagen with 17 minutes left before the race ends. Verhagen tries to go for it and Burton won't go quietly into the night, but he misses the mark and goes off in the dust! He controlled his speed and got back onto the pavement. He lost a bucketload of time. Or maybe not. Foley has to keep digging here or he is going to run out of time and needs two plus seconds a lap assuming Burton keeps up his pace, otherwise Foley will get swamped.
Four seconds now the margin between Hindman and Skeer. Hindman has raced for both Wright Motorsports and Racer's Edge. 15 minutes of racing on the board yet. Wright Motorsports are the benchmark Porsche team in North America in the GT3 ranks winning IMSA and SRO championships and all the big races. RS1 has done so well in GT4 and in Porsche Club North America club racing and they announced their presence last year, RS1, with Eric Filgueiras and Stevan McAleer. Everyone has an ego. Everyone wants to be the best.
Neil Verhagen's penalty is over the gap, so the penalty will not sting so much. The gap stands at 12 seconds. Six laps, twelve minutes, on a two-minute lap average. Hindman and Skeer are still going for it and now, Trent Hindman has answered the bell and he won't give up easily. Skeer is two and a half, three tenths up on this lap. Spencer Pumpelly has great experience while Adam Adelson is relatively a fresh face in GT3 competition. We'll do more racing tomorrow with new strategies. Now, Hindman has gapped Skeer by 3.10ths of a second. Maybe Trent Hindman has been looking after his equipment. Maybe the undercut plan has not worked the best for Wright Motorsports.
That said, they were able to leapfrog both Racer's Edge and the #28 ST Racing team. Foley is ten seconds down on Burton. Foley was promoted to full factory driver status at BMW last year. He was mentored by Bill Auberlen and now Foley is mentoring young drivers. Of course, Auberlen and Foley are now on the same team at ST Racing and Auberlen raced with both Turner Motorsports and Bimmerworld in the past. Auberlen has a contract extension with BMW through 2026. Next year is the 50th anniversary of BMW North America and 30th next year with BMW. More starts ever than anyone at BMW. Schnitzer could be eclipsed as the winningest BMW team by Turner Motorsports. Schnitzer synonymous with BMW and success in sports and touring cars alike.
Ominous skies in the distance. Could we see rain later for one of the final races of the day? Skeer, six tenths quicker than Trent Hindman. Elliott Skeer bearing down on Trent Hindman in his first start in GT World Challenge America since his championship win in 2020. There could be a podium in the offing for Regulator Racing with five minutes on the board. We are into the final few laps. Can Trent Hindman hang on? The rate of closing has reduced substantially as Trent Hindman answers the bell. Burton, Auberlen, Foley.
The skies above Sebring are darkening. Here come the BMW's right together and Foley makes his move, and he can set his sights on Jeff Burton's Mercedes for second in the Pro-Am class with two laps to go. This has been a spicy motor race the whole way. The gap decreases to 1.4 seconds between Hindman and Skeer. Robby Foley now right on Burton's six. No defending, no movement. Set up a draft down the Ulmann straightaway and try making a move. Foley weaves to the outside, side by side to the white flag. Foley chops Burton's nose off for second place! One lap to go. Skeer is as close as he has been to Hindman.
Trent Hindman and Elliott Skeer have similar resumes, both looking for manufacturer stardom, and that fell by the wayside. Cameron Castles revived the career of Hindman. Same with Elliott Skeer and Adam Adelson coming together. But it is RS1's day! Trent Hindman wins the race with Spencer Pumpelly ahead of Elliott Skeer by 7/10ths of a second! ST Racing with Samantha Tan and Neil Verhagen win the Pro-Am class and on the overall podium!
Overall/Pro: #85 Pumpelly/Hindman RS1 Porsche 911 GT3R (992)
Pro-Am: #38 Tan/Verhagen ST Racing BMW M4 GT3
Wow! We will see you tomorrow for race two at Sebring for Fanatec GT World Challenge America. Will it be as gripping and close as today? Stay tuned and we'll find out together tomorrow. So long, for now, everybody, from Sebring.
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