USCC – Sébastien Bourdais shines at Sebring

The two days of USCC testing which ended yesterday at Sebring served as the scene for the first confrontation between DP and LM P2, which will constitute the premier category of the United SportsCar Championship next year. Improved (diffuser, spoiler, carbon brakes, etc.), it was a Daytona Prototype which set the best time of the two days, in this case the Action Express Racing Corvette DP. Yesterday, Sébastien Bourdais completed a lap in 1'53"748, succeeding at the top of the hierarchy to his teammate Joao Barbosa, reference from the day before in 1'53"266. As a reminder, the Le Mans will support the Portuguese Joao Barbosa and the Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi at the 24 Hours of Daytona, the 12 Hours of Sebring and at Petit Le Mans.

“The modifications made really change the feeling we have with the car but do not change its character, underlines the new resident of KVSH Racing in IndyCar Series. She's faster. I think we'll gain about three seconds at Daytona. The diffuser really helps stabilize the rear of the car. These cars didn't have a lot of downforce before, they clearly have more now. »

In second place in the hierarchy, in 1'55"688, we find another Corvette DP, that of Marsh Racing. But it does not have all the new developments, starting with the carbon brakes. The DeltaWing is third with a time of 1'57"508 and ahead of the first LM P2, namely the HPD ARX-03b n°02 of Extreme Speed ​​Motorsports in 1'57"812. But it was unable to set a truly significant time after encountering some mechanical problems. Last March, LM P2 pole position went to the No. 03 HPD ARX-551b of Level 5 Motorsports in 1'51"159. The best lap in the race was set by the Greaves Motorsport Zytek Z11SN-Nissan in 1'52"691. However, it is difficult to compare with different track conditions...and different tires, all the prototypes now being fitted with Continental, while the best LM P2s were fitted with Michelin in the ALMS.

The only LM PC entered, the Oreca 09 FLM of Pickett Racing set the 5th best time of this second day in 1'58"035 while the Viper GTS-R SRT was the fastest of the GT LM in 2' 01 »619. In GTD, a Viper also stood out, namely the Riley SRT Viper GT3-R, with a time of 2'04"539. Times each time faster than those achieved the day before.

The competitors have now headed to Daytona, where two new days of testing will be held tomorrow and Wednesday.