Wayne Taylor Racing and Acura win at the 2024 12 Hours of Sebring!

Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti end a seven-year drought with 72 wins^e edition of the 12 Hours of Sebring. Louis Delétraz gave victory to his team and teammates in the No. 40 Acura ARX-06, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta.

The final substitution narrowed the gaps and reshuffled the card with a restart 23 minutes from the delivery of the checkered flag. Back at the top of the lead at the start of the final hour, Sébastien Bourdais kept his eyes on him and controlled every restart to maintain the advantage.

Behind him, Louis Delétraz did not give him a single second of rest with constant pressure placed on No. 40 Acura ARX-06. Imagine, a tenth of a gap 10 minutes from the finish, all in traffic. Such was the case at the end of this thrilling transatlantic race.

After several unsuccessful attempts, the young Helvetian entered the rat hole 8 minutes before the presentation of the checkered flag, this time, taking control at the expense of the Frenchman.

I. Only. Love This. Game 😍#Sebring12 pic.twitter.com/sjwwDdG5OG

— Mobil 1 The Grid (@Mobil1TheGrid) March 17, 2024

Thanks to a good final stage, Louis Delétraz won the Florida classic together with Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta; the first since 2017 for Wayne Taylor Racing and the Andretti team. Sébastien Bourdais finishes 2 races^e, 0.891 seconds back in the #01/Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac shared by Renger van der Zande and Scott Dixon. Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona winners Matt Campbell, Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr finished third on the podium with Porsche 963 n°7/Porsche Penske Motorsport.

The top five is completed by No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Connor De Philippi, Maxime Martin, Nick Yelloly and second Wayne Taylor Racing and Andretti Acura ARX-06 driven by Ricky Taylor, Brendon Hartley and Filipe Albuquerque.

The Lamborghini SC63 completed its first race on North American soil. The team made up of Romain Grosjean, Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli gave a more than respectable performance during this very difficult event with 7.^e position, 28.5 seconds behind the winners.

There is no fifth victory for Pipo Derani

Pipo Derani, a true reference at this circuit with his fourth victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring, suffered a serious off-track accident. With less than four hours left, the driver of No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R of the Action Express Racing team hit the tire wall and ended up on the roof following a slight contact with Ferrari 296 GT3 n°21 of. the AF Corse team, then driven by Miguel Molina.

Derani said: “I had a lead of 12 seconds and everything was going well. We pass thousands of cars in a race like this. It’s one of those days where things turn upside down. » He added: “Fortunately everything was fine, the security team intervened very quickly. In general, I didn’t feel pain, nothing. I think the tire barriers reduced the impact a lot. »

LMP2: And two for Era Motorsport

Era Motorsport repeated its Daytona feat with a second straight win of the season thanks to a standout performance by the No. 18 Oreca 07, driven by Connor Zilisch, Dwight Merriman and Ryan Dalziel. TDS Racing also had a strong race, moving up to second with the #11 driven by Mikkel Jensen, Hunter McElrea and Steven Thomas while the #22 United Autosports USA, driven by di Resta, Garg and Goldburg, completed the podium.

© Courtesy of IMSA

GTD Pro: Vasser Sullivan replied

After overcoming their disappointment at Daytona, Vasser Sullivan and the defending champions in the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 entered the race aiming for their first win of the season. Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, supported by Kyle Kirkwood, were able to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them, allowing them to put themselves at the front of the race, especially after gaining a good position the day before.

The staff of No. 14 Lexus won the GTD Pro class, narrowly beating the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 of Davide Rigon, James Calado and Daniel Serra, which finished in tenth place a second behind at the finish line. . The No. 19 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 of Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper and Mirko Bortolotti completed the podium, taking third.

In the lead group in the final minutes of the race, the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller Motorsports went off the track while being driven by Daniel Juncadella after making rear-end contact with another competitor.

© Courtesy of IMSA

GTD: The Champions League continues to amaze

Just a few weeks after their win at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, Winward Racing shined again this Saturday by winning the 12 Hours of Sebring. Despite starting at the back of the grid due to a late qualifying penalty, the number 57 Mercedes-AMG GT3, driven by Russell Ward, Phillip Ellis and Indy Dontje, was able to account for its drivers and strategists. of the team.

At the end of a suspenseful race, the team managed to win, ahead of No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 of Antonio Fuoco, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Roberto Lacorte, which started from 12th position earlier, and No 120 Wright Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by Adam Adelson, Elliott Skeer and Jan Heylen.

The next IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competitors meet at the Long Beach local circuit on April 19 and 20.