CGR No. 2 team leads Cadillac sweep at IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring.
No. 2 CGR Cadillac wins Dpi by 6.5-seconds over the No. 5 JDC Miller Mustang Sampling Cadillac.
The No. 52 PRI wins LMP2 class for the second consecutive year in temperatures hovering near 90 degrees.
Jordan Taylor. Nicky Catsburg and Antonio Garcia wheel the No. 3 Corvette to the win in the GTD PRO class.
Ferrari takes the GTD class in front of an estimated crowd of 100,000.
Chip Ganassi Racing may be out of the NASCAR business, having sold his teams last year, but he remains solidly into sports car racing, where his No. 2 Cadillac Racing DPi triumphed Saturday in the 70thrunning of the Mobil1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with drivers Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani, a last-minute replacement for Kevin Magnussen, who was recalled to the Haas F1 team.
It was Bamber, a former Porsche factory driver, who carried much of the load en route to a 6.5-second victory over the No. 5 JDC Miller Mustang Sampling Cadillac of Tristian Vautier, Loic Duval and Richard Westbrook. Rounding out the podium was the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Tristian Nunez and Mike Conway.
Yes, Cadillac swept the podium, relegating the Rolex 24 at Daytona winner, the No. 60 Meyer Shank Acura, to fourth place, and the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura to fifth.
Provisional Results IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring
IMSA
“It comes down to the drivers. Those guys have to push the buttons and make it happen. They’re the ultimate quarterbacks for the team and we try to give them the tools they need to win races and today they did that,” said team principal Chip Ganassi. Indeed, all the drivers had their 12 hours cut out for them, as the typically temperate Twelve Hours had temperatures soar to 91, and there were reports of some cockpit temperatures reaching 140 degrees.
“We have air conditioning, but it doesn’t feel like any air conditioning I know,” said Ben Keating, the Texas car dealer who won the LMP2 class in his No. 52 PRI Mathiasen Oreca-Gibson with co-drivers Mikkal Jensen and Scott Huffaker for the second year in a row, finishing almost 100 seconds over second place, the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry.
In LMP3, the Daytona winner, the No. 74 Riley Motorsports entry, seemed to have the race well in hand when contact with another car relegated the Ligier to the garage, finishing last in the 53-car field. That left the door open for the No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier, with drivers Joao Barbosa, Malthe Jakobsen and Lance Willsey.
“This is one of the toughest races to win,” said Barbosa, who has three overall wins at the Rolex 24. “I’m glad we got it done today.”
Ben Keating, the Texas car dealer won the LMP2 class in his No. 52 PRI Mathiasen Oreca-Gibson with co-drivers Mikkal Jensen and Scott Huffaker for the second year in a row
IMSA
In the GT Classes, Corvette Racing won the GT Daytona Pro class, with Jordan Taylor. Nicky Catsburg and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 car. Garcia drove the car home with a 4.5-second lead over second place, the TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan of Mirko Bortolli, Andreas Caldarelli and Marco Mapelli. It was the reconstituted Corvette’s first win in the GT3 configuration, with last year’s GT Le Mans car adjusted to meet the rules of GT3. “It was hot and rough out there, but we did our jobs and brough it home first,” said Taylor.
In GT Daytona, the winner was the No. 47 Centilar Ferrari 488 GT3 of drivers Antonio Fuoco, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Roberto Lacorte. A last-minute shakeup in the standings, both taking place in the pits, involving the Allegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the Turner Motorsports BMW M4 GT3 gave second place to the Gilbert Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Corvette Racing won the GT Daytona Pro class, with Jordan Taylor. Nicky Catsburg and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 car.
IMSA
Unlike the WEC’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring the day before, there were no serious accidents in the Twelve Hours, though there were plenty of yellow flags near the race’s midpoint, but no one was injured. It was one of the largest fields to run at Sebring in a while, and a massive, and as yet uncounted, crowd jammed the facility, with attendance expected to total over 100,000. As usual, partying went on deep into the night in the mildly infamous Green Park area, and a good time was had by all, right up until the time they passed out.
Keyword: Chip Ganassi Racing Takes Overall Win in IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring