USC – Sébastien Bourdais stands out, good performance from OAK Racing.

If in total the day, it is the Corvette DP of Action Express Racing victorious in the 24 hours of Daytona with the Sébastien trio Bourdais – Christian Fittipaldi – Joao Barbosa was the fastest on the Sebring track in Florida at the end of the second session. It was the Frenchman who set the best mark of the day on Thursday in 1'52″480. It thus dislodges the pleasant surprise of these Winter Tests, the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan which had led the debates during the first session. It was the first time that a P2 prototype had beaten a Daytona Prototype. Most of the cars fielded ran a completely different aerodynamic package than the one used in the opening round of the United SportsCar Championship at Daytona. The aerodynamic load is much greater for a track like Sebring, in comparison with the Daytona track, which uses part of the oval used in NASCAR.

“With the temperature dropping at the end of the day there was a lot more grip. » said Sébastien Bourdais. “We had a little problem in the morning with the gearbox, but the day was good overall, the balance was good. The car is very pleasant and the additional aerodynamic downforce greatly increases driving pleasure. »

Note that the new Honda 3,5 l V6 bi-turbo engine, unveiled yesterday by Honda Performance & Development took his first laps with the Starworks Motorsport Riley DP.