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12h Sebring 2017 ... Konica Minolta Cadillac Dpi-VR of Ricky and Jordan Taylor ably assisted by Alex Lynn, that took the victors laurels


CP Cadillac DPi Ricky Taylor _ Jordan Taylor _ Alexander Lynn  Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

CP Cadillac DPi Ricky Taylor _ Jordan Taylor _ Alexander Lynn Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R

 

Sebring, 15 – 18 March, 2017

The 2017 edition of the 12 hours of Sebring fuelled by Fresh from Florida and Round 2 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, was the 65th running of this now legendary endurance race. Race fans also had a packed support race programme, comprising of five races run on the Thursday and Friday preceding the main race on Saturday. The 12 Hour Race attracted a strong 46 car entry over the four classes, with 11 cars in the Prototype class, 4 cars in the Prototype Challenge class, 10 cars in the GTLM class and 21 cars in the increasingly popular and well supported GTD class. The whole four days of the programme took place under predominantly clear blue skies, with pleasantly warm ambient temperatures during the day, but with an overnight chill in the air.

The series is very “fan friendly”, with a 45 minutes long autograph session in the paddock on the Friday morning, together with a 55 minutes long grid walk in the pit lane prior to the race on the Saturday morning, the former allowing fans to meet and greet the drivers, and the latter lets them get up close to the cars. Other off-track attractions included manufacturer displays along the midway with its array of food and beverage vendors, the always well populated Corvette and Porsche car corrals, the Gallery of Legends display, the Spring Break Party Zone with live entertainment and the new for 2017 Club 12, a full service bar, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then there was a showing of the fabled Steve McQueen film “Le Mans” on the midway on Thursday evening, plus firework displays on the Friday evening and after the race on Saturday evening, and that was without the passive entertainment provided by many of the attendees themselves, with their costumes and elaborate viewing structures.

After three daytime practice sessions of 1 hour duration, and a 90 minutes night practice session on the Thursday evening, there were individual class qualifying sessions each of 15 minutes duration on the Friday afternoon. The results from these qualifying sessions saw the overall pole position going to the # 13 Rebellion Racing ORECA of Buemi / Heidfeld / Jani, with the latter handling qualifying duties, posting a time of 1min 48.178secs. This was less than a 1 / 10th of a second quicker than the # 5 Cadillac Dpi of Barbosa / Fittipaldi / Albuquerque, closely followed by the # 31 example of Cameron / curran / Conway. The Daytona 24 Hours winning example could only manage 6th fastest time, 1.363secs off the pole position time. In the Prototype Challenge class it was the # 26 BAR 1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09 of Drumwright / Ducote / Yacaman / Thompson that took pole position by under 1 / 20th of a second from the # 38 example of French / O’Ward / Masson.

In the GTLM class it was a battle of the Ford GTs for pole position, with eventually the # 67 example of Briscoe / Westbrook / Dixon claiming it by 0.236sec from the # 66 example of Mueller / Hand / Bourdais, whilst the # 4 Corvette of Gavin / Milner / Fassler was quickest of the rest. The # 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE driven by Vilander / Calado / Fisichella languished at the tail of the class times, 1.536secs off the pole position time. In the GTD class the pole position was taken by the lurid purple, gold and orange # 75 Mercedes-AMG GT3 entered by SunEnergy1 Racing, and driven by Vautier / Habul / Said. They were 0.752sec quicker than the # 29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 of De Phillippi / Mies / Gounon, which in turn was just under half a second quicker than the # 16 Change Racing entered Lamborghini Huracan GT3 driven by Lewis / Mul / Sandberg. The only Ferrari in the class, the # 63 Scuderia Corse example driven by Nielsen / Balzan / Cressoni was only 10th fastest, a similar amount off the class pole time as the # 62 Ferrari in the GTLM class. So with only two cars in the entire field, and both off the ultimate class pace in qualifying, there was little cheer in prospect for Ferrari fans.

When the pace car pulled off after two formation laps, it was the pole sitting # 13 Rebellion Racing ORECA that led the pack through Turn 1, however it had the Cadillac DPis chasing hard. It maintained the lead until lap 19, when it succumbed to pressure from the # 10 Cadillac and shortly after the # 31 example also passed it. The # 10 Cadillac pitted on the next lap handing the lead to the # 31 car as the first round of pit stops panned out. Full course yellows are an integral part of almost any race meeting today, and the first occurred just over an hour into the race, when the # 70 Mazda went into the tyre wall at the final Turn 17. Even this early in the race some cars were experiencing problems, notably the # 2 Nissan with gearbox maladies, and two og the GTLM class contenders, the # 24 BMW, which had to go behind the wall to resolve some unspecified problems, and the # 4 Corvette which had overheating problems that would lead to its eventual retirement. Whilst some had mechanical problems, others incurred penalties for pit lane infringements, which obviously upset their race strategy.

When the track went green again after a 17mins caution period, it was a trio of Cadillacs that headed the field , in the order # 31, # 5 and # 10. A little under 2 ½ hours into the race and Turn 17 caused another full course yellow, when the # 31 Cadillac clipped the # 22 Nissan, which was slowing to enter the pit lane, spinning both cars, with the Cadillac stalled broadside in  the centre of the track at the exit of the blind turn. Fortunately everybody managed to take avoiding action before it was removed to safety. The time lost recovering it and getting it started again dropped it well out of contention for the lead battle, which then continued to rage between the # 5 and # 10 cars once the track had gone green again. The battles in the other classes were equally tight, with multiple lead changes, and by quarter distance both Ferraris, in the GTLM and GTD classes respectively, were running in podium positions, after their lowly start positions.

The third full course yellow a short while before halfway through the race, when the # 24 BMW, back on track after its earlier problems, suddenly turned sharp right going through Turn 1 ending up embedded in the tyre wall, fortunately without injury to the driver, Nicky Catsburg. As the 6 hour point came and went there was still only around 3secs between the two leading Cadillacs, so barring problems it was still either teams race to win. There were also similar time scales between the top three runners in both the GTLM and GTD classes, with constant lead changes through the pit stop sequences and on track, with the trio of Ford GTs putting in a strong performance in the GTLM class, although they were constantly harried and split by the sole remaining Corvette, the lone Ferrari and the pair of Porsches, with the # 25 BMW also getting a look-in on the action on occasion. In the GTD class the Mercedes-AMG entries were putting in impressive performances, as was the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari, which was nearly always near the top of the leader board.

A spin at Turn 14 by the # 14 Lexus at around two thirds distance brought out the full course yellow flags for the 4th time, and shortly afterwards dusk started to fall, and by the time the race reached the three quarter mark it was in darkness. The # 5 and # 10 pair of Cadillacs were still fighting tooth and nail at the head of the field, covered by about 4secs, whilst the # 31 example had fought its way back up to 3rd place overall after its earlier problems, but was still 2 laps adrift of the leaders. In the PC class the # 38 ORECA held a 2 lap advantage over the # 8 entry, whilst in the GT classes it was still very close and still almost anybody’s race. The 5th full course yellow happened with around 2 ½ hours remaining, when the # 27  Lamborghini had an off at Turn 8, then the 6th and final one occurred with just over an hour remaining, when the # 54 Porsche fell victim of Turn 1.

At this stage there was only a little over 2secs covering the leading # 10 Cadillac of the Taylor brothers, Ricky and Jordan, with Alex Lynn and the # 5 example of Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Filipe Albuquerque, and only a few more seconds covering the top runners in the GTLM class. In the GTD class the # 33 Mercedes-AMG of Keating / Bleekemolen / Farnbacher had managed to put some space between itself and its pursuers, who still running quite close together. In the PC class the # 8 car had reduced the deficit to the leading # 38 car to one lap, but this would extend to 2 laps again by the end of the race.

By the time the chequered flag fell at 14.40pm, there were still 35 of the 46 starters still running, and at the all important head of the field it was the # 10 Cadillac Dpi entered by Konica Minolta Cadillac Dpi-VR of Ricky and Jordan Taylor ably assisted by Alex Lynn, that took the victors laurels. This was the second in succession for the Taylor brothers and their Cadillac, after their Daytona 24 Hour win with Jeff Gordon and Max Angelelli. In the PC class it was a comfortable win for the # 38 Performance Tech Motorsports entered ORECA LM09 driven by James French, Patricio O’Ward and Kyle Masson.

In the GTLM class the # 911 Porsche 911 RSR of Pilet / Werner / Makowiecki came on strong in the closing stages and was heading for the class win before a stuck rear wheel during a tyre change, then finally a puncture, ruined its race. The class win was taken by the # 3 Corvette after a spectacular last stint by Antonio Garcia to hold off the might of the Ford challenge, which in the end turned out to be the # 66 car of Mueller / Hand / Bourdais with his team mates, Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller, heaping praise on his performance, in what clearly wasn’t the fastest car in the class. James Calado brought the Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, that he shared with Toni Vilander and Giancarlo Fisichella, home in 3rd place after overtaking the # 67 Ford GT of Briscoe / Westbrook / Dixon on the final lap. As in the 24 Hours of Daytona, the Risi Ferrari won the Dekra Green Challenge award for the fastest and most efficient car in the race, whilst James Calado set the fastest class race lap in a time of 1min 57.896secs. In the GTD class it was a Mercedes-AMG victory, with the # 33 Riley Motorsports-Team AMG entered example driven by Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Mario Farnbacher, by a lap from the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 of Christina Nielsen, Alessandro Balzan and Matteo Cressoni. They were the meat in a Mercedes sandwich, as the # 75 SunEnergy1 Racing example of Tristan Vautier, Kenny Habul and Boris Said took the final podium place.

Overall and Prototype Class

1st – # 10, Konica Minolta Cadillac Dpi-V.R, Cadillac DPi, R. Taylor / J. Taylor / A. Lynn

2nd – # 5, Mustang Sampling Racing, Cadillac DPi, J. Barbosa / C. Fittipaldi / F. Albuquerque

3rd – # 31, Whelen Engineering Racing, Cadillac DPi, D. Cameron / E. Curran / M. Conway


Prototype Challenge Class

1st – # 38, Performance Tech Motosports, ORECA LM09, J. French / P. O’Ward / K. Masson

2nd – # 8, Starworks Motorsports, ORECA LM09, G. Grist / M. Hanratty / S. Rayhall

3rd – # 26, BAR 1 Motorsports, ORECA LM09, M. Drumwright / C. Ducote / G. Yacaman / C. Thompson


GTLM Class

1st – # 3, Corvette Racing, Chevrolet Corvette C7.R, A. Garcia / J. Magnussen / M. Rockenfeller

2nd – # 66, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing, Ford GT, D. Mueller / J. Hand / S. Bourdais

3rd – # 62, Risi Competizione, Ferrari 488 GTE, T. Vilander / J. Calado / G. Fisichella


GTD Class

1st – # 33, Riley Motorsports-Team AMG, Mercedes-AMG GT3, B. Keating / J. Bleekemolen / M. Farnbacher

2nd – # 63, Scuderia Corsa, Ferrari 488 GT3, C. Nielsen / A. Balzan / M. Cressoni

3rd –  # 75, SunEnergy1 Racing, Mercedes-AMG GT3, T. Vautier / K. Habul / B. Said

 

Ferrari Entry

Race #

Model

Chassis #

Team

Colour

Drivers

Position

 

O / A

Cl.

Class GTLM

 

 

62

Ferrari 488 GTE

3810

Risi Competizione

Red

G. Fisichella / T. Vilander / J. Calado

9th

3rd

Class GTD

 

 

63

Ferrari 488 GT3

3808 (Orig’ GTE)

Scuderia Corsa

Red-White-Chrome

C. Nielsen / A. Balzan /
M. Cressoni

17th

2nd

 

Keith Bluemel         
03 / 2017.