Second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is traditionally held in Florida, on the Sebring International Raceway. This year it is the 72nd running of the 12 Hours of Sebring race and it marks the 50th anniversary of Mobil1, its title sponsor. Due to this multiple teams opted for golden one-off liveries to celebrate this milestone. In the past the event has been frequently used by LMP1 factory teams as a test ground before the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Former airfield turned into a race track is famous for its notorious bumps and 12 hours of racing here are harder on the cars and drivers than 24 hour races anywhere else.
Qualifying
Beautiful sunny weather with around 30°C welcomed the field into the qualifying. As is usual in the WeatherTech championship, the first in qualifying is the GTD PRO/GTD session. The cars are the same between the two classes, but the difference is driver combination. While GTD PRO cars can be driven by any drivers, GTD line ups are required to include silver or bronze drivers. Even though the classes have separate points standings, in terms of starting order they are considered as one class - it is combined from the single qualifying session.
The qualifying was dominated by #14 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth, who managed to get half a second gap onto the whole GTD PRO field. The GTD was led by #57 Mercedes of Philip Ellis, but he was later disqualified, because his car didn't pass the post-qualifying inspection. The GTD pole was then inherited by #47 Ferrari driven by Antonio Fuoco. Other disqualifications included all four Corvettes entered in GTD PRO and GTD which were found to have been in violation of Technical Regulation according to the penalty notice, forcing all the cars to start from the back of the grid. The combined results of GTD PRO/GTD qualifying are below:
1. GTD PRO #14 Vasser Sullivan - Lexus RC-F GT3 ............................................ 1:58.714
2. GTD #47 Cetilar Racing - Ferrari 296 GT3 ............................................ + 0.300 s
3. GTD #12 Vasser Sullivan - Lexus RC-F GT3 ............................................ + 0.429 s
4. GTD PRO #23 Heart of Racing Team - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo ..................... + 0.550 s
5. GTD #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports - Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo ......................... + 0.636 s
6. GTD PRO #77 AO Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 R ............................................... + 0.732 s
7. GTD PRO #19 Iron Lynx - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 ................................... + 0.803 s
8. GTD PRO #62 Risi Competizione - Ferrari 296 GT3 ......................................... + 0.820 s
9. GTD PRO #1 Paul Miller Racing - BMW M4 GT3 .............................................. + 0.872 s
10. GTD #78 Forte Racing - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 ................................ + 1.083 s
The GT qualifying was followed by the LMP2 session. Apart from one Ligier JS P217, the field is dominated by a single chassis manufacturer - Oreca - and all of the cars are powered by Gibson engine. Similar to the GTD class, LMP2 line ups have to include at least one bronze driver, which in contrast to GTD is required to do the qualifying. The results are below:
1. #99 AO Racing - Oreca 07 .................................................................... 1:52.142
2. #22 United Autosport USA - Oreca 07 ......................................................... + 0.171 s
3. #2 United Autosport USA - Oreca 07 .......................................................... + 0.531 s
4. #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports - Oreca 07 ................................... + 0.623 s
5. #74 Riley - Oreca 07 ........................................................................ + 1.136 s
6. #04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR - Oreca 07 .................................................... + 1.384 s
7. #11 TDS Racing - Oreca 07 ................................................................... + 1.440 s
8. #88 Richard Mille AF Corse - Oreca 07 ....................................................... + 2.139 s
9. #81 DragonSpeed - Oreca 07 .................................................................. + 2.328 s
10. #18 Era Motorsport - Oreca 07 ............................................................... + 2.835 s
Last of the qualifying sessions is for the GTP class. As the top class the cars will be put to the front of the grid regardless of their relative position compared to the rest of the grid. Thanks to a convergence between IMSA and ACO the cars running here are built to the same set of regulations as they were two weeks ago in Qatar for the opening round of FIA WEC. Despite the possibility to run Hypercar cars in IMSA, all entered cars are currently built to the LMDh ruleset - using spec LMP2 gen2 chassis from Oreca, Dallara, Multimatic or Ligier, single spec Bosch MGU and their own engine free of choice. In addition to the cars running in WEC (Porsche, Cadillac, BMW and Lamborghini) there is Acura on the grid. Built on the Oreca chassis (same as Alpine), the car utilizes a 2.4 liter twin-turbo V6 engine.
The qualifying was disrupted by a high speed accident for Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche at the exit of the first corner with 9 minutes to go. He let the right rear wheel slip off the curb which sent his car into the right hand side barriers, but replays showed the car didn't feel comfortable over the bumps at the exit of turn 1. It was a similar situation to last year when Matt Campbell crashed the sister car just a few meters earlier and caused Porsche mechanics to have a lot of work to do before the race to repair the car. As the cleanup of the accident took the remaining time in the session, it was restarted with only 4 minutes to meet the minimum required qualifying time - this left the teams with one or two timed laps depending on their position in the pit lane. Because the tires require a lot of time to get up to operating temperature, the qualifying times were slower by more than 2 seconds compared to last year. The race to heat up the tires was won by #10 Acura of Ricky Taylor followed closely by Pipo Derani in the #31 Cadillac. The results didn't stand for long though as the #10 was disqualified for mechanics changing tire pressures while on the car during the red flag. The complete qualifying results are below:
1. #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R ............................................ 1:48.152
2. #01 Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R ................................................... + 0.147 s
3. #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ........................................ + 0.441 s
4. #24 BMW Team RLL - BMW M Hybrid V8 .......................................................... + 0.677 s
5. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 .................................................. + 1.027 s
6. #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports - Porsche 963 .................................................... + 1.106 s
7. #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling - Porsche 963 ........................................ + 1.122 s
8. #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx - Lamborghini SC63 ................................................ + 5.422 s
9. #25 BMW Team RLL - BMW M Hybrid V8 .......................................................... + 6.212 s
10. #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 .................................................. NO TIME
11. #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ........................................ DSQ
Race
The race started with cloudy weather but with nice 22 °C. The GTP and LMP2 got underway first with #31 of Pipo Derani leading Sebastien Bourdais in the #01, Felipe Nasr in #7 and Louis Deletraz in the #40 followed with no issues to any of the prototype runners. Back in the GTD group #14 led the GTD PRO class from the start followed by #12 GTD leader with #47 having a bad start from GTD pole and falling back to 4th in GTD. Further back it was a drama for #62 Risi Ferrari which was spun in the middle of the pack. He wasn't hit by anyone and slotted at the end of the field, but the cars were backed up so much so the two McLarens #9 and #70 collided, causing puncture for both cars and later #9 had to go back behind the wall. LMP2 pole setter spun on the formation lap which left Ben Keating in the United Autosports at the front of the field.
The first pit lane visitor was #5 serving a drive through penalty and soon after that Phil Hanson in the #85 privateer Porsche managed to overtake Louis Deletraz in traffic to get up to fourth position. The #24 BMW went soon into the pit lane to change a tire for a suspected puncture, becoming the first GTP car to make a pit stop. In the LMP2 #04 driven by George Kurtz got a puncture at the worst possible place - right before the first corner and slowly recovered to the pits. After 30 minutes the GTP field was still separated by less than 6 seconds. The #40 Acura kept losing positions, falling to 7th place behind the three Porsches and #25 BMW. After half an hour of running the first retirement of the race became the #17 Corvette of Anthony Mantella. Alternator issues forced the car to start from pit lane and it returned back to the garage immediately, completing only 2 laps. At the same time the #9 McLaren returned to the track after the repairs were finished.
Combination of LMP2 and GTD traffic caused damage to the right hand side of Phil Hanson's Porsche which fell down to 8th place with its engine cover partially open. The first caution provided the first opportunity for pit stops for all of the cars and all of the GTP runners came in. After the pit stops the GTP class was led by #31 with #40 jumping the competition to second place followed by #01, #24, #6 and #10. The Porsche #7 had a slow pit stop and fell to the back of the field from P3 which it occupied before the caution. The LMP2s were headed by #52 followed by #2 and #22. In the GTD PRO the #14 remained in the lead, followed by #23 and #1 and in GTD #12 was leading the #78 and #44. Couple of cars used this opportunity to get back one lap from the leader. Immediately after the restart Bourdais got back up to P2 ahead of Deletraz. Further down the field #5 Porsche battled the #25 BMW, blocking quite aggressively into the hairpin. At the front Derani was caught napping and Bourdais sent his Cadillac up the inside of him into turn 1, becoming a second leader of the race. Bourdais started to drive away from the rest of the field building a 3 second margin after a couple of laps. The margins between the rest of the cars increased as well, but were mostly controlled by traffic.
Although starting from the back, the factory Corvettes got a helping hand from the caution, with #3 first overtaking third placed #1 BMW and then #23. At the end of lap #14 was called into the pit lane due to a penalty for hitting a crew member while leaving its pit stall. This promoted the Corvette into the class lead. In the GTD class the #12 Lexus kept on leading with #78 in behind and #57 back in top 3 after starting from the back. With 1 hour and 30 minutes of the race finished, Louis Perez Companc crashed the #88 Oreca at the exit of turn 1 - he lost the car in the same way as Mathieu Jaminet did in the qualifying. Even though the damage looked to be severe at first sight, there was only bodywork damage (front and rear) and he was able to bring the car back into the pitlane. Traffic ensured Pipo Derani was able to catch the leading #01 Cadillac and the battle was on. The first round of pit stops under green flag was started by #6 Porsche and #63 Lamborghini. They were followed a couple of laps later by the #40 Acura and most of the field pitted a lap later. Notably the #31 stayed out and got back into the lead, but he pitted only one lap later. The #31 came out with Jack Aitken behind the wheel right in front of #01 driven now by Scott Dixon. Aitken needed a lap to heat up the tires and Dixon used this opportunity to get past #31 between corners 15 and 16. The pass wasn't without contact, but the cars escaped any serious damage.
Immediately after this pass Tower Motorsports #8 Oreca 07 of Michael Dinan crashed out heavily in turn 13, funnily Tower corner, after misjudging overtake on #023 Ferrari GTD car. This caused the second full course caution of the race with GTD pit stop window approaching. As the GTP pit stops were just completed, only cars from the back of the class pitted, but almost all LMP2s visited the pit lane. The running order in GTP was #01, #31, #10, #24, #40, and #25 while all Porsches were at the back of the class, followed by the debuting Lamborghini. In LMP2 teams have switched from qualifying bronze drivers and the order was like this: #2, #22, #99, #18 and #74. In GTD PRO #64 Ford stayed out and inherited the lead after pitting right before the caution. Same happened for #57, which also stayed out and became the combined leader of GTD field. The GT class running was as follows: #57, #78, #64, #96, #23, #1, #3 and #19.
After the caution the race settled into a rhythm. Battles in GTD PRO kept the spectators entertained when the news broke the #32 Mercedes became a second retirement of the race after having engine troubles. In LMP2 the pole setting #99 in hands of Matt Brabham was using its dragon power from the livery in a battle against both United Autosports Orecas, running in between them. While Cadillacs were leading the way in GTP, Porsches were struggling at the back of the class. A contact between #66 and #21 spun the Ferrari in the first corner, which luckily avoided a high speed crash into the barriers and returned back on track. The Acura #66 immediately received a penalty for the incident. After a couple of laps #99 got in front of Nico Pino in #2 Oreca and inherited the LMP2 lead.
With the end of hour 3 approaching Lilou Wadoux parked her #88 Oreca in the hairpin, retiring the car on the spot. At this time the LMP2 cars were running low on fuel and a couple of them managed to pit before the caution came out. Some weren't so lucky and had to take emergency service to not run out of fuel. In the GTP class #25 BMW did not come into the pit lane compared to the rest of the field. Behind, #7 Porsche managed to jump everyone and came out ahead of the #31 and #01 Cadillacs which switched places, with Porsche #85, #6 and #5 completing the Porsche-Caddy-Porsche sandwich. Almost everyone came in from the GTD fields, only #77 stayed out and took the GTD PROlead. It was followed by #1, #3, GTD leading #57, #62 and #14. The # 25 BMW came into the pits after the GTD stops, so the #7 Porsche took the lead before the restart.
Immediately at the restart #7 of Dane Cameron was defending from the #31 - he pushed Aitken to go very close to the left hand wall before almost outbraking himself into turn 1. Cameron managed to stay on track and aggressively defended from Aitken into turn 3, before he could create a small gap to the Cadillac over the course of the lap. After a few laps #31 had a better exit out of penultimate corner and overtook #7 while braking into the last turn. Two laps later Dixon in the #01 got past Cameron in the same spot, this time with help of traffic. A lap later the #9 McLaren hit trouble again, this time running slowly at the back straight - it was hit in turn 16 by #86 Porsche leaving debris on the road, which were cleared by an LMP2 car. After 3 and half hours of racing, the #24 BMW came into the pit lane for an unplanned stop and the crew replaced the engine cover - the car was hit at the back when avoiding the McLaren-Porsche incident, losing a lap in the process. As it was later confirmed by a nose change, the BMW was hit by #5 Porsche.
Right before the 8 hour mark two separate incidents occurred. First #80 Mercedes spun in turn 16 and while recovering got stuck in the tire barrier. A lap later in turn 16 #33 Ligier LMP2 spun and wasn't able to continue. Couple of cars managed to get into the pit lane before the caution, notably #25 and #10. The #31 didn't manage to do so in time and had to take an emergency stop for 5 seconds of fuel only, losing him a lot of time and a comfortable lead. Except #25 and #10 which stayed out to take the lead, all the leading GTPs pitted - #7 led out the #01, #40 and #85 with #31 falling down to P7. Within GTDs the order after the pit stops was as follows: #14 Lexus back in the lead after a couple of hours in front of #77, GTD leading #96 BMW, #12 Lexus, #19 Lamborghini and #23 Aston Martins. After the GTD pit stops more GTPs went in after getting back on the lead lap - crew of the #6 Porsche changed its nose, similarly to #31 two laps earlier.
Nick Yelloly in the #25 led the restart and was immediately overtaken by #10 Acura of Filipe Albuquerque. In LMP2 Ben Keting led the way in the #2 Oreca. Quick full course caution followed a couple of laps later due to a piece of carbon fibre on the race track in turn 4. After two laps behind the safety car Albuquerque led the field, but there was pressure on Yelloly from the #7 Porsche of Matt Campbell from behind. Ben Keating outbraked himself at turn 10 losing the lead and falling down to fifth place in class. Great battles were in the production based classes when #62 was recovering from losing time before. Frankie Montecalvo driving the #12 outbraked himself in the same place as Ben Keating did before and fell down to P6 in GTD. #31 now in hands of Tom Blomqvist was slowly making its way up the field - first overtaking #6 Porsche and then #85 Porsche. After another round of pit stops, this time under green flag, Blomqvist managed to catch up all the time he lost with previous troubles and he was only 1 second behind the leading Acura #10. In GTD PRO #77 of Laurin Heinrich got ahead of #14 Lexus and was leading the class with a 5 second advantage. As the halfway mark approached, the race was stabilized with only local battles, but the #99 pole setting car in LMP2 class went off with 15 minutes to the halfway point. This caused a full course yellow with multiple leading cars being able to get into the pit lane before it closed. In the pit lane #01 Cadillac was hit by #12 Lexus exiting its pit stand. During the GTD pit stops, a mechanic from #1 knocked the mirror from the #62 Ferrari. As the race started the traditional WEC race length, the field was bunched up again with all GTP cars on the lead lap.
Standings after 6 hours
GTP
1. #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R ....................................... 169 laps
2. #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ................................... + 1.014 s
3. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 ............................................. + 2.606 s
4. #01 Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R .............................................. + 3.414 s
5. #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ................................... + 4.091 s
LMP2
1. #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports - Oreca 07 .............................. 167 laps
2. #11 TDS Racing - Oreca 07 .............................................................. + 2.943 s
3. #81 DragonSpeed - Oreca 07 ............................................................. + 5.788 s
4. #74 Riley - Oreca 07 ................................................................... + 6.318 s
5. #22 United Autosport USA - Oreca 07 .................................................... + 7.318 s
GTD PRO
1. #14 Vasser Sullivan - Lexus RC-F GT3 ................................................... 160 laps
2. #77 AO Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 R ...................................................... + 2.978 s
3. #19 Iron Lynx - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 .......................................... + 3.769 s
4. #3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motortsports - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R ......... + 14.106 s
5. #1 Paul Miller Racing - BMW M4 GT3 ..................................................... + 15.539 s
GTD
1. #57 Winward Racing - Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo .............................................. 160 laps
2. #120 Wright Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3 R ............................................ + 13.064 s
3. #96 Turner Motorsport - BMW M4 GT3 ..................................................... + 14.168 s
4. #12 Vasser Sullivan - Lexus RC-F GT3 ................................................... + 14.980 s
5. #27 Heart of Racing Team - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo ............................ + 16.306 s
At the restart the leading Cadillac #31 set out to run away from the field with #7 and #01 overtaking the #10 Acura in the first corners. The #4 Corvette was brought to the pits and didn't come out after a regular pit stop, falling down the timing screen. Soon after, the #85 JDC-Miller Porsche slowed down on track but managed to get into the pit lane. The engine cover was taken off with a laptop connected to the car signalling more serious issues - the car was pushed behind the wall by mechanics and later on retired for broken driveshaft. As the traffic dictated the flow of the race, the race leader suddenly lost all of his gap to the cars behind. A lap later Felipe Nasr managed to capitalize on traffic and got the #7 Porsche into the lead again. Pipo Derani never got an opportunity to get back into the lead, but he pushed Nasr until the end of the stint. The pit stop cycle was started by the #63 Lamborghini quietly running at the back of the GTP field. A lap later Nasr followed him with the rest of the field coming in in the next two laps. Derani and Bourdais both came out of the pits in front of Nasr, again showing the effect of cold tires requiring a lap or so to heat up. Nasr overtook Bourdais immediately, but the gap to Derani was too large to catch. After 20 minutes Derani managed to build a 12 second margin over the closest competition.
The dominance though was ended by a misjudgement between Derani and the #21 Ferrari of Miguel Molina and the contact has caused the #31 to hit the barriers in turn 9. The car ended up on the tyre barriers upside down with Derani stuck in the car. Thankfully he wasn't injured and was talking to the team, giving the rescue teams enough time to safely get him out. The car was slowly lifted and Pipo got out with help of the rescue team, he even waved to the spectators to signal he is ok while going to the rescue car. It was later confirmed that both cars involved in the incident were retired from the race. This brought out another full course yellow with #7 Porsche leading the way. At the restart the field was led by the 2 BMWs followed by #6 Porsche and both Acuras. Immediately at the restart Jaminet in the Porsche overtook #24 but #25 used the opportunity and in the hands of Maxime Martin created a gap of 2.5 seconds. The running was interrupted by a large piece of debris at the exit of turn 1 - #55 Ford Mustang lost its diffuser after being pushed off the track while battling for position. At the next restart Jamient tried to get by Martin in the first corner but wasn't successful.
As the race settled down again the race leader had contact with #60 Lamborghini, which spun off the track in turn 15. A lap later the #18 in the hands of upcoming MX-5 star Connor Zilisch spun at the exit of turn 1, masterfully managing the spin and returned back with only a few seconds lost. In the LMP2 traffic Ricky Taylor managed to overtake Jaminet for second place braking into the first corner and went on to catch the leading BMW. Although the car appeared to be smoking from the right exhaust, there was still a lot of pace in the car. In the GTD PRO the battle for the lead was on - Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette caught #1 BMW of Madison Snow, but it was interrupted by the BMW pitting for driver change. The battle for the overall lead continued and traffic had a say in this as well. Ricky Taylor overtook Maxime Martin into turn 10 going three wide with the BMW and a GTD Mercedes. The next round of the pit stops was started by #40 Acura, which just ran wide in the turn 7 hairpin. On the same lap there was an incident in the hairpin where #74 turned around the #8 Oreca, with both cars able to continue - bad luck remained with #8 when it was pushed off the track only a few corners later by a Corvette, but returned to track.
As the sun started to go down, Ricky Taylor was on fire in the lead, building a 4 second gap after only a couple of laps. Soon he pitted for a full service stop and the rest of the GTP cars followed him in. Brendon Hartley took over the #10, #01 now in hands of Renger van der Zande came out second and #25 driven now by Nick Yelloly came out in third. Soon after the GTP pit stops there was a severe accident for the #66 GTD Acura in the final corner - the car was hit by #6 Porsche driven by Makowieci before hitting the left hand side wall heavily. Almost the whole GTP field took the opportunity to go into the pit lane, mechanics of the #10 took off the engine cover to inspect the suspected oil leak and even though they lost a lap the car went back out on track. The biggest loser of the GTD pack was the #3 Corvette, which didn't manage to pit before the start of the caution while most of the field was able to do so. This put the car at the back of the GTD PRO field, which for the first time in this race had a full lap advantage over GTDs. For the restart the GTP field was led by #6 and #7 Porsches with #01 Cadillac and both BMWs behind. After a few laps the #6 Porsche went off from the lead in the turn 7 hairpin - the left rear tire seemed to have punctured right on the exit of the corner causing the spin. This handed the lead to the #7 Porsche of Matt Campbell, who was closely followed by #01. As the #6 came into the pits, mechanics had to remove the remaining bits of the tire from the driveshaft and the car was able to come back on track, losing two laps in the process. The LMP2 class had a nice battle for the lead with Nico Pino in the #2 overtaking #11 of Hunter McElrea who remained in his wheel tracks. They were closely followed by #22 of Paul di Resta and Toby Sowery in #04.
Wonderful sunset was glowing in the background at the time the battle for the lead was on again when the cars caught the GTD pack. In front of the leaders there was #63 Lamborghini desperately trying to stay on the lead lap, followed by race leader #7, #01, #25, #40 and #24. The first to pit was #7 Porsche which pitted much earlier than expected. Going for the same strategy was the #01 Cadillac, pitting early as well, both cars receiving fuel and new tires. It went the way of the Cadillac, which came out in front of the Porsche and remained there after heating up its tires. At the front of the field #40 of Colton Herta got into the lead of the race after overtaking Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW, then he overtook the lapped Lamborghini and set off into the distance, quickly building a multiple second advantage. After the full field cycled through the pit lane, the #01 emerged in the lead with 3 seconds to spare from #7, followed by #40 another 10 seconds behind. In the LMP2 the lead changed with an incredible pass of Hunter McElrea (#11) on Nico Pino (#2), in which they were split in the final corner by the GTD PRO #14 Lexus. Pino was then overtaken by #04 of Toby Sowery on the next lap.
Again the #7 started the pit stops, the car seemed to pit early again. Driver was changed to Felipe Nasr to finish the race, the car expected to pit only once before the end. Couple of laps later the Cadillac returned to the pits to take its penultimate stop. The car came out with Bourdais staying behind the wheel. These two pit stops meant the #40 returned to the lead closely followed by #25 BMW, but both expected to pit twice before the end. Connor de Phillippi didn't want to settle for second place and was attacking Jordan Taylor. This battle was interrupted by a full course yellow for a large piece of debris on the track in turn 16 from the #65 Ford Mustangs. Both of the factory Mustangs cars were having a quiet race not fighting for the top positions in the GTD PRO class. The pit stops for GTP class saw almost all of the cars to appear on the pit lane - the only missing out were the #10 and #63 returning back on the lead lap and #6 getting a lap back. The order after they came out of pit lane was #01 Bourdais leading #7 of Nasr, Deletraz in #40, De Phillippi in #25 and Eng in #24. The LMP2 class was led by #81 of Malthe Jakobsen ahead of #11 of Mikkel Jensen, Colin Braun in #04 and Ben Hanley in #2. After the GTD stops the GTD PRO was led by #3 Corvette of Juncadella followed by #14 of Hawksworth and #19 of Bortolotti. The GTD class saw Andy Lally in the #44 Aston Martin to inherit the lead after not pitting. He was followed by #57 Mercedes, #120 Porsche and #47 Ferrari. Immediately after the restart #81 Oreca received a 3 minute stop&go for an improper wave-by losing the lead.
With one hour remaining on the clock, the Lamborghini Urus safety carcame in and the race was restarted. Bourdais in the #01 had a perfect restart and started to drive away from the field, followed by Nasr in the #7 Porsche and #40 Acura. Julien Andlauer made a great job overtaking both BMWs on the first lap after the restart and joined the battle for second place in front. Deletraz overtook the Porsche in the final corner after having much better exit out of turn 16 and even though #7 remained alongside the Acura, Nasr wasn't able to fight back in the fist corner. The #12 Lexus was spun by the #4 Corvette in turn 4 in the middle of the GTD pack, but was able to recover. The #55 Ford Mustang stopped on track at turn 9 with Corey Lewis behind the wheel, the car looking to have no drive. Full course yellow was called to recover the car. Right in the first corner after restart Connor de Phillipi recovered the places he lost before with a great move around the outside of the sister BMW and #10 Acura. The field was led by #01 followed by #40 with a small break to the battling Porsches #7 and #5. The whole LMP2 field pitted right after the restart for their final stop with #18 Era Motorsport driven by Connor Zilisch getting out first followed by #74 of Felipe Fraga and #04 of Colin Braun. As the leading duo was battling, the full rear bumper of the #64 Mustang came off bringing out a full course yellow for debris. After the previous restart, #62 of Daniel Serra managed to get by the #14 Lexus to get into the lead of GTD PRO. In the GTD class the #57 was leading the #47 and #120. The only pit lane visitor from the GTP class was the #10 Acura of Filipe Albuquerque with the rest of the field confident to be able to go to the finish.
At the restart Bourdais drove off but behind him Deletraz pushed off the #5 Porsche of Julien Andleauer, who overtook Nasr into turn 1 but lost the place two corners later. The race in GTD PRO took off with Hawksworth in #14 first overtaking #3 of Juncadella in the hairpin and then surprising Daniel Serra in the #62 into turn 1, overtaking him by pushing him out of track with Serra dropping to P3. In LMP2 class Colin Braun touched the Oreca of Felipe Fraga fighting for P2 and spun the car, falling to the back of the class. After a few laps #40 caught back up to #01 of Bourdais. The GTD PRO battles continued with great exchanges between #62 and #77 of Heinrich, who after 3 overtakes got up to third and joined the battle for first place. With 10 minutes to go the lead cars caught the back of the GT field. Coming onto the finish straight Deletraz managed to get alongside Bourdais but was on the wrong side coming into turn 1, same repeated exiting turn 7 and into turn 10.The next lap they caught another GTD traffic in the middle of turn 4 slowing Bourdais down and giving Deletraz amazing run out of turn 5. He made a dummy move on Bourdais into turn 7, first indicating going left and then sending it up the inside. He went a bit wide but managed to get a good exit and into turn 10 he was in the lead. In the following corners Bourdais lost momentum in traffic and Deletraz was allowed to breathe. After this battle #3 Corvette was spun from second place by #77, which received a drive through penalty for the incident.
Race results
GTP
The race for the overall lead was entertaining for the whole 12 hours. All the manufacturers apart from Lamborghini led the race at one point, but it was Acura who came out on top. The #40 won the race with a move with 8 minutes to go into turn 7 and never looked back. The car driven by Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta completed 333 laps, eclipsing last year's distance and GTP class record by 11 laps. The #01 Cadillac put on a great defense but came just 0.891 seconds short. The podium was completed by the Rolex 24 winning #7 Porsche. The first BMW finished in fourth with #25 putting 4 manufacturers in the top 4 with the debuting Lamborghini finishing in 7th.
GTP Results
1. #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ................................... 333 laps
2. #01 Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R .............................................. + 0.891 s
3. #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 ............................................. + 8.898 s
4. #25 BMW Team RLL - BMW M Hybrid V8 ..................................................... + 12.056 s
5. #10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti - Acura ARX-06 ................................... + 13.398 s
6. #24 BMW Team RLL - BMW M Hybrid V8 ..................................................... + 28.438 s
7. #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx - Lamborghini SC63 ........................................... + 28.501 s
8. #5 Proton Competition Mustang Sampling - Porsche 963 ................................... + 44.807 s
9. #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport - Porsche 963 ............................................. + 2 laps
10. #31 Whelen Cadillac Racing - Cadillac V-Series.R ....................................... RETIRED
11. #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports - Porsche 963 ............................................... RETIRED
LMP2
After the bronze drivers completed their mandatory drive times in the first half of the race, it was battle of the pros in the almost spec class full of Orecas. There were moments this class produced great battles and at the end the #18 Oreca 07 driven by Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel and finishing Connor Zilisch brought home the class victory. They were followed by #11 TDS Racing Oreca, #22 United Autosports and surprisingly the only Ligier in the field entered by #33 Sean Creech Motorsport.
LMP2 Results
1. #18 Era Motorsport - Oreca 07 .......................................................... 330 laps
2. #11 TDS Racing - Oreca 07 .............................................................. + 1.127 s
3. #22 United Autosport USA - Oreca 07 .................................................... + 4.977 s
4. #33 Sean Creech Motorsport - Ligier JS P217 ............................................ + 7.603 s
5. #74 Riley - Oreca 07 ................................................................... + 8.141 s
GTD PRO
The battle in GTD PRO was full of contacts in the closing minutes with Corvette losing second place 3 laps from the end. It was last year's GTD PRO champions who took the win in the #14 Vasser Sulivan Lexus driven by Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood. In second place was the #62 Risi Ferrari followed by #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini and #1 Paul Miller BMW.
GTD PRO Results
1. #14 Vasser Sullivan - Lexus RC-F GT3 ................................................... 316 laps
2. #62 Risi Competizione - Ferrari 296 GT3 ................................................ + 0.121 s
3. #19 Iron Lynx - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 .......................................... + 2.983 s
4. #1 Paul Miller Racing - BMW M4 GT3 ..................................................... + 6.260 s
5. #23Heart of Racing Team - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo ............................. + 7.064 s
6. #60 Iron Lynx - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 .......................................... + 8.721 s
7. #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports - Ford Mustang GT3 ..................................... + 30.792 s
8. #65 Ford Multimatic Motorsports - Ford Mustang GT3 ..................................... + 31.596 s
9. #77 AO Racing - Porsche 911 GT3 R ...................................................... + 37.121 s
10.#3 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R ........... + 3 laps
GTD
The GTD win was a redemption for the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes of Russel Ward, Philip Ellis and Indy Dontje, who were stripped of their pole position after a post qualifying disqualification. Always in the mix during the race was the second placed #47 Cetilar Ferrari and it was followed by #120 Wright Porsche, which got into this position thanks to great pit stops performed by its mechanics.
GTD Results
1. #57 Winward Racing - Mercedes AMG GT3 Evo ............................................... 314 laps
2. #47 Cetilar Racing - Ferrari 296 GT3 .................................................... + 0.646 s
3. #120 Wright Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3 R ............................................. + 2.244 s
4. #27 Heart of Racing Team - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo ............................. + 4.597 s
5. #78 Forte Racing - Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 ........................................ + 5.475 s
6. #96 Turner Motorsport - BMW M4 GT3 ...................................................... + 9.372 s
7. #70 Inception Racing - McLaren 720S GT3 Evo ............................................. + 12.081 s
8. #43 Andretti Motorsports - Porsche 911 GT3 R ............................................ + 30.475 s
9. #13 AWA - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R .................................................. + 35.759 s
10. #44 Magnus Racing - Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo .................................... + 40.735 s
The combined 36 hours of Florida are finished, but more action from IMSA competition is scheduled soon with the Grand Prix of Long Beach with only GTP and GTD classes represented. At the same weekend there will be FIA WEC round 2 at Imola, giving a packed sportscar racing weekend to the fans.