IMSA comprised three race series, seven classes and a total of 106 cars to make up the majority of Michelin and Sebring’s record setting weekend, for 15 hours and 45 minutes of racing. In the process, several other track records fell.
For the second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, Michelin teams and drivers exercised their strategic arsenal to battle both the weather and the grueling Sebring International Raceway circuit.
The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring began behind the safety car as persistent but not overwhelming rain hovered over the track. However after nearly 40 minutes, the race resumed with drivers restarting while on the MICHELINu00ae Pilotu00ae Sport GT Rain tires.
By the third hour, the rain eased off to provide teams their crossover point back to Michelin’s dry weather slick compounds, the IMSA medium for DPi/LMP2, the GTLM range and the MICHELIN Pilot Sport GT S8M for GTD. Lap times instantly fell as a result, even as the conditions remained overcast and muggy.
Only four additional full-course cautions slowed the pace, including a final caution with 15 minutes to go for a car stopped off course, which nearly changed the final complexion.
In the end, Cadillac, Porsche and Lamborghini emerged as winning automotive brands in the second WeatherTech Championship race of the year.
The Action Express Racing team’s trio of Felipe Nasr, Pipo Derani and Eric Curran drove the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R to the overall victory. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Wayne Taylor Racing and No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing cars completed an all-Cadillac DPi podium. Cadillac combined to lead 334 of the 348 race laps; the 348-lap count tied the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring distance record.
Porsche GT Team repeated a pair of wins at Sebring. Its FIA WEC team won the 1000 Miles of Sebring in GTE-Pro on Friday (Bruni/Lietz driving). On Saturday, Porsche’s Nick Tandy, Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowiecki overcame an early race deficit to take the lead from Ford in the final hour of the race. This trio has now won this race in back-to-back years.
Ford finished second (Hand/Mueller/Bourdais) and Corvette finished third (Magnussen/Garcia/Rockenfeller). The highest BMW finished fourth to make it all four GTLM manufacturers in the top four positions.
Lamborghini went 1-2 in the GT Daytona class. The GRT Grasser team (Breukers/Bortolotti/Ineichen, No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo) won over the Magnus Racing team (Potter/Lally/Pumpelly, No. 44 Lamborghini). Bortolotti held off Lally at the finish. Lamborghini has swept both the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for a second consecutive year. Scuderia Corsa Ferrari (Vilander/MacNeil/Westphal) completed the podium.
Performance Tech Motorsports (Masson/Cassels/Evans) won the LMP2 class in its No. 38 Oreca 07.
IMSA records set and other notes this weekend included:
IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: Top 9 DPis beat existing qualifying record. DPi and GTLM also set new fastest race laps.
IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge: Top 6 GS cars beat existing qualifying record, top 10 TCR cars beat existing qualifying record. In the race, 16 GS cars broke the previous fastest race lap, and 9 TCR entries broke the previous fastest lap.
WeatherTech Championship gap of 1.030 seconds was the closest margin of victory in race history.
Both IMSA Challenge series also raced as part of the SuperSebring weekend. These two series combined for three hours, 45 minutes of racing on Thursday and Friday.
In the MICHELIN Pilot Challenge series’ Alan Jay Automotive Network 120, Tyler McQuarrie and Jeff Westphal delivered Carbahn Motorsports its first series win in GS. They drove the No. 39 Audi R8 LMS GT4. In the TCR class, Tom O’Gorman and Shelby Blackstock shared the No. 37 L.A. Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R for their second win in as many races to start the season.
Stevan McAleer claimed the victory in the No. 43 Robillard Racing Norma M30 in Thursday’s IMSA Prototype Challenge race.