12h Sebring: victory for the Acura of Wayne Taylor / Andretti

SPRINT FINALE The 12 Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA Weathertech sportscar Championship now in its 73rd edition, was decided in the final minutes. At the Florida circuit the decisive maneuver of the race occurred with three laps to go when Louis Deletraz attacked the leading Cadillac on the outside and managed to overtake. Wayne Taylor’s Acura team’s advantage in Andretti Global’s participation is very narrow. Not even nine tenths of a second separated the crew of Deletraz and Jordan Taylor, assisted by Colton Herta, from the Ganassi crew of Renger Van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon.

EXCITING IN DERANI Pipo Derani was also the protagonist of Action Express Dallara/Cadillac. The Brazilian had initially signed into the lead in the early stages of the race, but a collision with a Ferrari during a lap caused him to hit the tires at high speed and the car flipped over the barriers. The driver was uninjured and it was a race to forget for the small American team. A tough race too for the Porsche 963 which won the first heat at Daytona with Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr and Matt Campbell. The trio finished in third place, slowed down by technical problems. The second Oreca of Taylor/Andretti took fifth while the first BMW, improving after its first season, took fourth. Lamborghini also performed well, making its first race in America after the WEC test in Qatar, seeing the checkered flag again (seventh). In LMP2, success went to the Era team of Connor Zilisch, Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman.

THE INCREDIBLE LEXUS In GTD PRO Lexus of Vasser/Sullivan was the winning car with Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Kyle Kirkwood taking pole and victory. Ferrari, which had won the 24 Hours of Daytona with Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon and James Calado, had to settle for second place after damage sustained in a collision with a Cadillac. Iron Lynx’s third place finish was impressive with Franck Perera and Jordan Pepper led by Hypercar driver Mirko Bortolotti.

TWO SECOND FERRARI Placing well behind the leaders also for the Cetilar Racing Ferrari in the GTD class. Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto and Antonio Fuoco finished behind the Mercedes AMG of the Winward team who repeated the Daytona victory once. The three Italians return to the podium at Sebring where they won in 2022 after Fuoco’s many attacks raised hopes of a second success. Followed by Wright’s Porsche team and HRT’s Aston Martin. The fifth was the Huracan of the Forte team.

(photo: courtesy of IMSA)

12h Sebring, Race (top five in class)