Action Express and Porsche (Pilet-Mako) win the 12 Hours of Sebring

American races have the advantage of being spectacular. The trackside stop of the Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 led to a final yellow flag and the final eight minutes of a hellish sprint. Imperturbable, Felipe Nasr did not allow himself to be impressed by Jordan Taylor (Cadillac n°10 of Wayne Taylor Racing) and went on to take his first victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring. If it is also the first for Eric Curran, Pipo Derani – author of a very high performance – signs his third success on the Florida clock tower in four attempts!

The mission was not easy, the rain having forced the race management to opt for a start behind the safety car. Starting from pole, the No. 05 Acura ARX-6 was surprisingly slow in these conditions. Tristan Nunez (Mazda n°55) took advantage, but did not hold off for long against the two Action Express Racing Cadillacs, led by Felipe Albuquerque and Pipo Derani, who quickly took the advantage over his teammate.

Subsequently, the trio at the wheel of the No. 31 Cadillac recited a score without the slightest false note, while the No. 55 Mazda was forced to retire due to electrical problems. A few hours later, the #77 also lost its chances of victory, Jonathan Bomarito shooting straight into the tires during the second downpour.

The rest, you know it. The No. 31 Cadillac won by less than two seconds over another DPi-VR, the No. 10 from Wayne Taylor Racing, winner of the 24 Hours of Daytona at the end of January. Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande shared the wheel for the occasion with Frenchman Matthieu Vaxiviere, author of a flawless performance which deserves to be saluted as he discovered the event. Cadillac signs a hat-trick thanks to the No. 5 of Action Express Racing entrusted to Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa and Brendon Hartley, already on the podium yesterday in WEC with SMP Racing.

The top five is completed by the No. 05 Acura ARX-7 from Team Penske (Alexander Red-Helio Castroneves-Ricky Taylor) and the No. 54 Nissan Onroak DPi of Core Autorsport (Colin Braun-John Bennett-Romain Dumas).

© Courtesy of IMSA

In GTLM, Porsche – already winner yesterday in GTE Pro in WEC – imposes his magical trio Patrick Pilet-Nick Tandy-Frédéric Makowiecki… winner last year! Short of fuel, the Briton was not unhappy to see the final yellow flag arrive, which allowed him to save as much as possible for the final final sprint. On the restart, Ryan Briscoe (#67 Ford GT) spun trying to catch up. It is therefore finally the other GT stamped with the blue oval, the n°66 of Sébastien Bourdais-Dirk Müller-Joey Hand who finished second at 1”9. She is ahead of the #7 Corvette C3.R of Antonio Garcia-Jan Magnussen-Mike Rockenfeller. Followed by the #8 BMW M24 GTE and the #911 Porsche 912 RSR.

In GTD, there are two Lamborghini Huracan GT3s in the first two places, the first going to the car which has already won the 24 Hours of Daytona, namely the no. 11 of the Bortolotti-Breukers-Ineichen GRT. Potter-Lally-Pumpelly (Magnus Racing) finished 2”7 behind while the Ferrari 488 GT3 from WeatherTech Racing from Westphal-Vilander-MacNeil took a good third place.

Finally, no suspense in LM P2, the No. 07 Oreca 38 of Performance Tech (K. Masson-A. Evans-C. Cassels) finishing 13 laps ahead of that of PR1/Mathiasen (G. Aubry- M. McMurry-A. Fjordbach).

The next round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship is scheduled for Long Beach on April 13. Only Prototypes and GTLM will be there, for a 1h40 event.