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FIA WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring, 15 March
The qualifying session unsurprisingly saw the pair of Toyota TSO 050 Hybrids lock out the front row of the
grid, with the # 8 example of Buemi / Nakajima / Alonso taking pole position ahead of the # 7 car driven by
Conway / Kobayashi / Lopez. The # 3 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Berthon / Laurent / Menezes was the best of
the rest in the LMP1 class, albeit some 2.5secs off the pole position time. In the LMP2 class it was the # 38
Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07-Gibson of Tung / Aubry / Richelmi that just stole the pole position honours
from the sister # 37 car of Heinemeier-Hanson / Stevens / King. The GTE Pro class pole was taken by the #
92 Porsche 911 RSR of Estre / Christensen, followed by the pair of Ford GTs in the order of the # 67 example
of Tincknell / Priaulx / Bomarito and the # 66 car of Mucke / Pla / Johnson. In the GTE Am class it was
another Porsche pole position, this being the # 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing entry of Ried / Andlauer /
Campbell, followed closely by the similar # 56 Team Project 1example of Bergmeister / Lindsey / Perfetti. Of
the complete entry there was only one non starter, this being the # 61 Clearwater Racing entered Ferrari 488
GTE in the GTE Am class. This was the victim of an accident in practice whilst being driven by Luis Perez
Companc, which pitched it into the wall approaching the hairpin, inflicting too much damage for repairs to be
made prior to the race.
As might be expected, barring misfortune, nobody would be able to hold a candle to the performance of the
Toyotas, and that was exactly as it turned out to be. The # 8 car led from the # 7 example from the start, and
was never headed before the chequered flag fell. The # 7 car did have a glitch in its run to 2nd place, when it
tagged the # 90 TF Sport Aston Martin, running over the kerbs and damaging the undertray, which forced an
unscheduled stop for temporary repairs. This dropped it 2 laps off the leader, but recovered through safety car
periods to only end up one lap down come the end of the race. The # 3 Rebellion of Berthon / Laurent /
Menezes which had been the quickest of the privateer runners in qualifying, remained in contention for the
final podium spot until late in the race, when a gearshift problem dropped it down the order to an eventual 7th
place finish. This opened the door for the # 11 SMP Racing entered BR Engineering BR1-AER, to claim the
best of the rest honours driven by Aleshin / Petrov / Hartley. This provided some satisfaction for the team after
the sister # 17 example had crashed out earlier, after losing downforce following another car through the
bumpy Turn 1, then careering off into the tyre wall.
As with the SMP Racing entries in the LMP1 class, it was a race of mixed fortunes for the pair of Jackie Chan
DC Racing entered Oreca 07-Gibsons in the LMP2 class. The class pole sitting # 38 example was outgunned
from the start by the sister # 37 car, and then succumbed to the advances of the # 36 Signatech Alpine after
a few laps. It then dropped further down the order with gear selection issues, eventually losing some 30 laps
whilst they were resolved, ending up the last classified finisher. Meanwhile the sister # 37 car, driven by
Heinemeier-Hanson / Stevens / King, led the class throughout the race to take the class win from the # 36
Signatech Alpine of Lapierre / Negrao / Thiriet.
In the LMGTE Pro class it was yet again a case of an inter team battle, where the slower of the pair of cars
came out on top. This time it was the works Porsche 911 RSRs, where the class pole sitting # 92 example of
Christensen / Estre lost out to the sister # 91 car of Lietz / Bruni, which took the class win after a lengthy
battle with the # 81 BMW M8 GTE of Tomczyk / Catsburg / Sims in the closing stages of the race. The # 92
Porsche suffered a problem with its rear lights, and was also given a drive through penalty for an avoidable
contact incident, which dropped it 5th in class by the end of the race. Behind the 2nd place BMW came the
quickest of the Ford GTs, the # 67 example of Priaulx / Tincknell / Bomarito, which had led during the class
during the early stages of the race, but was another victim of a penalty for unsafe release from its pit box. The
Pair of AF Corse entered Ferrari 488 GTE EVOs were never in the hunt for the class win, unless others fell by
the wayside. However, they performed strongly and reliably throughout, resulting in a 4th in class for the # 51
car driven by Pier Guidi / Calado / Serra, and a 6th in class for the # 71 Rigon / Bird / Molina driven example.
The LMGTE Am class honours also went to a Porsche, with the # 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing entered 911
RSR driven by Reid / Andlauer / Campbell taking the class win. They had battled long and hard with the # 56
Project 1 entered example driven by Bergmeister / Lindsey / Perfetti, but this was the victim of an
unintentional touch by the # 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari, with which it was battling hard for position. This saw it
going backwards into the tyre wall, damaging the rear diffuser, which affected its subsequent performance.
The # 54 Ferrari driven by Flohr / Castellacci / Fisichella eventually finished 2nd in class, with the Project 1
Porsche taking the final podium position.
Race Result
Overall & LMP1 Class
1st - # 8, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota TSO 050 Hybrid, S. Buemi / K. Nakajima / F. Alonso
2nd – # 7, Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota TSO 050 Hybrid, M. Conway / K. Kobayashi / J. Lopez
3rd - # 11, SMP Racing, BR Engineering BR1-AER, M. Aleshin / V. Petrov / B. Hartley
LMP2 Class
1st - # 37, Jackie Chan DC Racing, Oreca 07-Gibson, D. Heinemeier-Hanson / J. King / W. Stevens
2nd - # 36, Signatech Alpine Matmut, Alpine A470-Gibson, N. Lapierre / A. Negrao. P. Thiriet
3rd - # 31, Dragonspeed, Oreca 07-Gibson, R. Gonzalez / P. Maldonado / A. Davidson
LMGTE Pro Class
1st - # 91, Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR, R. Lietz / G. Bruni
2nd - # 81, BMW Team MTech, BMW M8 GTE, M. Tomczyk / N. Catsburg / A. Sims
3rd - # 67, Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK, Ford GT, A. Priaulx / H. Tincknell / J. Bomarito
LMGTE Am Class
1st - # 77, Dempsey Proton Racing, Porsche 911 RSR, C. Ried / J. Andlauer / M. Campbell
2nd - # 54, Spirit of Race, Ferrari 488 GTE, T. Flohr / F. Castelacci / G. Fisichella
3rd - # 88, Team Project 1, Porsche 911 RSR, J. Bergmeister / P. Lindsey / E. Perfetti
Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, 16 March
What a difference a day makes! Whereas the FIA WEC race on the Friday had been run under virtually
perfect dry weather conditions, apart from some rain in the closing stages, the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring
was a victim of the rain which continued to fall into the Saturday morning. Because of the rain and standing
water around the track, the race was started under the safety car, and this stayed out for the first 40 minutes
of the race, until the stewards decided that conditions were safe for racing to commence. However, the rain
continued intermittently, making being on the correct tyre choice at the right time difficult for all the teams. As
an aside, this was the first time that the race had started on a wet track, although the 1952 edition start had
been delayed by an hour so as to start on a dry track.
The qualifying sessions saw the # 6 Acura ARX-05 of Cameron / Montoya / Pagenaud claim pole position
from the # 77 Mazda DPi of Jarvis / Nunez / Bernhard by only 0.146sec. The # 7 Acura ARX-05 of Taylor /
Castroneves / Rossi equalled the 2nd place time, but as it set it later in the session it started from 3rd place
on the grid, whilst the top five qualifiers were covered by less than half a second. The two car LMP2 class
pole was taken by the # 52 Oreca LMP2 of McMurry / Aubry / Fjorback, by only 0.011sec from the similar #
38 example of Masson / Evans / Cassels. The GTLM class qualifying honours went to the # 911 Porsche 911
RSR of Pilet / Tandy / Makowiecki, just ahead of the sister # 912 car of Bamber / Vanthoor / Jaminet,
although the latter was relegated to the back of the class grid after a qualifying procedural error. In the GTD
class it was the # 86 Acura NSX GT3 driven by Farnbacher / Hindman / Marks that took the qualifying
honours, whilst the only Ferrari in the race, the # 63 Scuderia Corsa entry, driven by MacNeil / Vilander /
Westphal, could only manage a 7th place qualifying position.
As mentioned the race ran under the safety car for the first 40 minutes, and once the green flag was waved it
was the Cadillac DPis that moved to the head of the field. The pole sitting # 6 Acura and its # 7 sister car of
Castroneves / Taylor R. / Rossi struggled with pace in the wet conditions, from which they never fully
recovered during the course of the race, eventually finishing 4th and 9th in the reverse order of # 7 and # 6.
The only consolation being that the # 7 car was still on the lead lap, and only just over 11secs behind the
winner, at the chequered flag. The pair of Mazda DPis had an even more torrid time, despite having the
performance to run near the head of the field, as technical issues with the # 77 car, that had qualified 2nd,
plus an off track excursion, dropped it to the tail of the field. The sister # 55 car was running strongly until an
argument with a barrier and subsequent repairs cost it 3 laps, its only consolation being the fastest race lap
in the latter stages by Harry Tincknell.
The battle for the overall win turned into a fight between the # 5 and # 31 Action Express racing entered
Cadillacs, driven by Nasr / Curran / Derani and Albuquerque / Barbosa / Hartley respectively, and the # 10
example entered by Wayne Taylor Racing and driven by Van Der Zende / Taylor J. / Vaxivierre. There was a
constant juxtapose of positions throughout the 12 hours, with the # 31 Action Express car eventually
emerging victorious, finishing a mere 1.03secs ahead of the # 10 Wayne Taylor Racing entry, whilst the # 5
Action Express car was only a further 3secs down the road after 12 hours of racing. The LMP2 class win went
to the # 38 Performance TechMotorsports Oreca 07-Gibson of Masson / Evans / Cassels.
In the GT classes, initially the battle for GTLM honours was being fought between the Ford GTs and
Corvettes, as the Porsches which had come out on top in qualifying struggled badly in the early wet
conditions, and didn’t really get back into the reckoning until the later dry part of the race. However, once they
were on slick tyres they came back strong, and the class pole sitting # 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Pilet /
Tandy / Makowiecki, translated it into a class victory, whilst the sister # 912 car of Bamber / Vanthoor /
Jaminet recovered to finish 5th in class. The # 66 Ford GT in the hands of Hand / Mueller / Bourdais finished
2nd, whilst the # 3 Corvette driven by Garcia / Magnussen / Rockenfeller made it three different makes on
LMGT podium. In the GTD class it was the # 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Hargrove /
Robichon / Kern that was at the sharp end of the class for much of the early part of the race, until a problem
with the brakes late in the race dropped them out of contention. This left the door open for the pair of
Lamborghini Huracan GT3s, namely the # 11 GRT Grasser Racing example of Ineichen / Bortolotti / Breukers
and the # 44 Magnus Racing entry of Potter / Lally / Pumpelly to fight for the class victory, with the former
taking the win by just under 3secs. There may have only be one Ferrari in the race, but it ran faultlessly, with
strong performances from the driving squad of MacNeil / Vilander / Westphal, to take the final podium place in
the dying minutes of the race, after a battle with the # 29 Montaplast by Land Motorsport entered Audi R8
LMS GT3 of Morad / Mies / Feller.
Race Result
Overall & DPi Class
1st - # 31, Whelan Engineeriing Racing, Cadillac DPi, F. Nasr / E. Curran / P. Derani
2nd - # 10, Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-VR, Cadillac DPi, J. Taylor / M. Vaxiviere / R. Van Der Zende
3rd - # 5, Mustang Sampling Racing, Cadillac DPi, B. Hartley / F. Albuquerque / J. Barbosa
LMP2 Class
1st - # 38, Performance Tech Motorsports, Oreca LMP2, K. Masson / A. Evans / C. Cassels
2nd - # 52, PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports, Oreca LMP2, G. Aubry / A. Fjorback / M. McMurry
No other starters
GTLM Class
1st - # 911, Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR, N. Tandy / F. Makowiecki / P. Pilet
2nd - # 66, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Team, Ford GT, S. Bourdais / J. Hand / D. Mueller
3rd - # 3, Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, A. Garcia / M. Rockenfeller.J. Magnussen
GTD Class
1st - # 11, GRT Grasser Racing Team, Lamborghini Huracan GT3, M. Bortolotti / R. Breukers / R. Ineichen
2nd - # 44, Magnus Racing, Lamborghini Huracan GT3, S. Pumpelly / J. Potter / A. Lally
3rd - # 63, Scuderia Corsa, Ferrari 488 GT3, T. Vilander.J. Westphal / C. MacNeil
Keith Bluemel
03 / 2019
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