In an excellent move onto the #1 Extreme Speed HPD, already in the night, and more importantly, in their first race in Sebring as a prototype team, Chip Ganassi's #01 Ford EcoBoost-Riley DP, Marino Franchitti broght the car to checkered of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, partnered with Ganassi stars Memo Rojas and Scott Pruett, after 291 grueling laps.
To prove that today's TUSCC/NAEC race was hard fought until the end, the difference to the 2nd placed ESM was only of 4.682 seconds, little to a race as long as this one. Rolex 24 winners #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP crossed the finish line in third, almost 9 seconds behind the winner.
The race was marked by lots of accidents and yellow flags (some of them even longer than it could be), specially caused by the PC class machines and the reckless behavior of some drivers. The most significant ones were the fire that took #33 Viper GT3-R, forcing them to retire, the crash involving the Momo NGT Porsche and Risi Competizione Ferrari, when Matteo Malucelli didn't saw a coming group of cars and was rammed in the back by mentioned Porsche, and finally, the PC class cars collisions of the #52 PR1/Mathiasen and the #38 Performance Tech cars, when both retired due to heavy damage, and finally, between the #87 BAR1 Motorsports and the #08 RSR Racing, when Gaston Kearby, who already made some trouble before, tried to get back to track after a spin, but didn't saw Alex Tagliani coming, and then, they had a huge side collision. Luckily in that crashes, everybody went out fine of their cars.
The GTLM class was as balanced as in Daytona, but the triumph came again to Porsche North America, just changing the fact that the #912 car, with Patrick Long, Michael Christensen and Jörg Bergmeister finished first in class. In second was the #93 SRT Viper, and grabbing the third position was the #55 RLL BMW Z4 GTE, in their second straight podium of the season.
To prove that today's TUSCC/NAEC race was hard fought until the end, the difference to the 2nd placed ESM was only of 4.682 seconds, little to a race as long as this one. Rolex 24 winners #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP crossed the finish line in third, almost 9 seconds behind the winner.
The GTLM class was as balanced as in Daytona, but the triumph came again to Porsche North America, just changing the fact that the #912 car, with Patrick Long, Michael Christensen and Jörg Bergmeister finished first in class. In second was the #93 SRT Viper, and grabbing the third position was the #55 RLL BMW Z4 GTE, in their second straight podium of the season.
The PC class finished with the #54 CORE Autosport grabbing their second straight victory, with Jon Bennett, Colin Braun and James Gue at the wheel, after battling to the finish with the #09 RSR Racing car. Completing the PC podium comes the #8 Starworks Motorsport car.
The GTD class was exciting too, with tough fighting from start to finish, and saw #44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America win, with John Potter, Andy Lally and Marco Seefried, leaving behind the #555 AIM Autosport Ferrari 458, which belonged to Level 5 Motorsports in Daytona. The podium was completed by the Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America.
Despite things like the yellow flags, the race was nice to watch. The Prototype class, which was the one that everybody was expecting to watch to see the BoP changes in action, was full of action, with lead changes between DPs and LMP2s from start to finish, proving that the changes were effective. The other classes were on a nice display, except for the PC class, when became evident the amateur behavior on track of some drivers.
The next round of the United Sportscar Championship is the Tequila Patrón Sportscar Showcase, in Long beach, next month.
The North American Endurance Championship returns only in the end of June, with the Sahlen's 6 Hours of The Glen.
Photos: motosport.com, TUDOR Championship/Twitter, CORE Autosport/Twitter, Marco Seefried/Twitter
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