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Keating looks to keep the good times rolling at Sebring

Thursday, 15 March 2018


J.J. O'Malley / Images by Dole/LAT & IMSA



Ben Keating isn't piling extra pressure on his team to repeat as GT Daytona class winners in Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

Keating and Jeroen Bleekemolen return in the No. 33 Team Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 that won last year's event. Luca Stolz completes the line-up, replacing 2017 winner Mario Farnbacher.


"If I felt I had to repeat as a winner, I might be worried," Keating said. "But our goal is to win the championship. We've been second three years in a row, and we don't want to be second at the end of this year. So there is less pressure to win races. There's more pressure to have consistent top-five finishes, and we have a car that we think can do that. So our goal here is to have a top-five finish, and to have some fun."
Last year's victory was not only the first at Sebring for Keating, it was also the first victory for the AMG-Mercedes GT3, then brand-new to North America. It also came on the 60th anniversary of Mercedes' only prior class win at Sebring.
The exultation of victory is just one of the widely ranging emotions Keating has felt at Sebring.
"I've had crazy finishes here," he explained. "In 2013, we ran out of fuel, one turn short of the podium. In 2014, I burned to the ground in the Viper (pictured above). In 2015, we passed for the lead with two laps to go and blew the engine. Then in '16, we broke an axle, which never happened in our history with the Viper. This race has been very difficult for us. That's why it was such a big deal to win last year."
Since that victory, the car has added weight – and the competition has gotten faster.
"We're a lot heavier than we were last year, so we're not as quick," Keating said. "Most importantly, I think the field has gotten a little better than last year. We were really strong here last year; this year, the field is pretty well balanced. But our car is really good here. This is probably the best track for the AMG-Mercedes GT3 – it's an easy car to drive here, which is the most important thing in a 12-hour race."
Aside from the prestige of the 12 Hours, Keating finds its atmosphere of this race especially engaging.
"Sebring is unique among all races, and I like to refer to it as 'the spring break of motorsports,'" Keating said. "My favorite thing is the fans, along with all the history. It's unique – it's not an FIA or F1 track, it's an old Air Force base, and it's got a lot of character. That makes it fun racing here."

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[h=2]2018 12 Hours of Sebring Resource Guide[/h] Wednesday, 14 March 2018


Marshall Pruett / Image by Levitt/LAT


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The resumption of the fifth IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship takes place this week at Sebring International Raceway as 43 cars are scheduled to compete at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

RACER will be on the ground starting Thursday morning, and be sure to follow @RACERmag and @MarshallPruett for regular updates on Twitter, and RACER.com for photos, videos, session reports and feature stories.
IMSA RADIO: Click Here
ENTRY LIST: Click Here
TICKETS: Click Here

WEATHER: Click Here

SPOTTERS GUIDE: Click Here

IMSA LIVE TIMING & SCORING: Click Here
WEATHERTECH CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT SCHEDULE:
Thursday, March 15 (all times Eastern)
11:00 - 12:00 p.m., Free Practice 1
3:10 - 4:10 p.m., Free Practice 2
7:30 - 9:05 p.m., Free Practice 3
Friday, March 16
8:00–9:00 a.m., Free Practice 4
12:30-1:35 p.m., Qualifying
Saturday, March 17
8:00–8:20 a.m., Warm Up
10:40 a.m., Race Start, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Round 2 (12 Hours)
TV TUNE-IN INFO (all times Eastern):

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[h=2]Sharp, ESM seek fresh start at Sebring[/h] Friday, 16 March 2018


J.J. O'Malley / Images by Trienitz/LAT & Galstad/IMSA


Despite discouragement over its showing at the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, Florida-based Tequila Patron ESM is confident of its prospects for better success in this weekend's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

"Daytona was a huge disappointment," conceded Extreme Speed Motorsports owner Scott Sharp (pictured above). "In the middle of the night we felt we were in great shape, running in second place and keeping pace with the leader. Our No. 22 car had some problems but they bounced back pretty strong, so we felt that both of our cars were in great contention. Then our problems were devastating to everybody. We worked so hard, and you hate to see the chance to win a race go away."
This weekend, Sharp will co-drive the No. 2 Nissan Onroak DPi with Ryan Dalziel and Olivier Pla. Pipo Derani, Johannes van Overbeek and Nicolas Lapierre share the No. 22 machine. Two years ago, Sharp, Derani, van Overbeek and Ed Brown were overall winners at Sebring.
"Since Daytona, the entire organization has been working very hard," Sharp said. "Nissan and NISMO have been working on some of their problems, and we've been working with Xtrac to deal with the issue that put us out of the race, which was a main seal in the gearbox. And we've tested here twice.

"Racing, unfortunately, has lots of disappointments to it," Sharp noted. "Everyone here has lots of experience, and they've dealt with both the highs and lots of lows. You've just got to pull your pants up and keep moving."

The Sebring race has additional motivation for Sharp, a Connecticut native who lives in nearby Jupiter. The team is also based on Florida's East Coast, in Riviera Beach.


"Obviously, we consider this our home track," Sharp said. "We're an hour and a half from here, and we come over here and testing a lot with these cars and our P3 cars. Any time we have an issue in testing, the guys jump in the truck and go right back to the shop to get what they need. A lot of people from West Palm Beach come here for the race, and some of the people on the team are actually from Sebring."
In addition to winning the 2016 Sebring event, Sharp is a two-time winner of the Rolex 24. He won Daytona's 1996 race with Wayne Taylor and Jim Pace, and doubled up in the Florida endurance classics 20 years later.
"This race is probably tougher [than Daytona]," Sharp admitted. "It beats the car up so badly. It's a tough track to get a handle on setup-wise, and it's a grueling track for a driver, fitness-wise. The straightaways look long, but you don't get much of a break, and you're pretty exhausted after a double stint here.


"I feel pretty good here for our team. We've tested well here, but at the same time it's going to be mighty competitive up front. I'm expecting to see an eight- or 10-car train for the lead almost the whole race."

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02Go3cIX_ok
[h=1]2018 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring - Part 1[/h] 9,414 views




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IMSA Official
Published on Mar 20, 2018




Relive all the action from the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, the second race of the 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and Round 2 of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djp9rIW-ass
[h=1]2018 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring - Part 2[/h] 3,671 views




138 1 Share


IMSA Official
Published on Mar 20, 2018




Relive all the action from the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, the second race of the 2018 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season and Round 2 of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup.

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Sebring Hour 1: Taylor leads; dramatic early wreck

Saturday, 17 March 2018


J.J. O'Malley / Images by Marshall Pruett


Ricky Taylor held the lead one hour into Saturday's 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with the opening 60 minutes including a scary flip in a two-car incident in Turn 17 20 minutes into the race, while contenders from each of the three classes were involved in separate incidents on the opening lap.
Taylor took the lead in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05 during pit stops under caution. He was followed by Felipe Nasr in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R and Pipo Derani in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi. The trio held positions for the remainder of the hour.
Jesse Krohn had led all the way in GTLM in the No. 24 Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM, chased by the Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GTs of Richard Westbrook (No. 67) and Joey Hand (No. 66).
Jack Hawksworth led in GTD in the No. 15 3GT Racing Lexus RC F GT3, followed by Madison Snow in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and Dominik Baumann in the No. 14 3GT Lexus RC F GT3.

• RACER's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Resource Guide

The caution waved 20 minutes into the race when Sebastian Saavedra, driving the No. 52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier JSP217, had light contact while lapping Frank Montecalvo in the No. 64 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3 while exiting Turn 17. Montecalvo flipped, impacting the outside barrier with the car coming to a stop on its roof. Saavedra tagged the tire barrier at the inside of the turn and was able to continue to the pits. The team replaced the front bodywork and Saavedra was able to continue.
"I had nowhere to go," said Montecalvo, whose car was retired following the incident.
Polesitter Tristan Vautier led the opening 14 laps in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R, with the lead cycling to Taylor following caution-flag pit stops.

Action began moments following the "waving of the green" for the St. Patrick's Day event. Outside front-row starter Olivier Pla made a bid to pass Vautier for the lead entering Turn 1, but went wide to the right in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi and slid onto the concrete run-off area. He managed to avoid the barrier, but pitted at the end of the lap. The team worked on the car for five laps on pit road, and then pushed the car behind the wall to work on a gearbox issue. The car was officially retired at the half-hour mark without completing a lap.
The opening lap also saw cut left-rear tires for defending GTLM race winner Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R, and GTD pole winner Daniel Serra in the No. 51 Spirit of Racing Ferrari 488 GT3. Both cars continued after stops.
The No. 99 JDC-Miller Motorsports GAINSCO ORECA 07-Gibson took the green flag on pit road after a frantic bid by the team to have the car ready for the race. The car would not start when Stephen Simpson attempted to fire up the "Red Dragon" for morning warm-up. Since then, the crew went through "miles of wiring" to trace down the problem. The car was able to start, although the team reported that the car had no power steering or telemetry.
The team is being cheered on by 200 Miami-based GAINSCO employees, with the car running 12th on the lead lap at the end of the hour.

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Sebring Hour 2: Mazdas rise to the top

Saturday, 17 March 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Image by Marshall Pruett


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Mazda driver Spencer Pigot held the lead two hours into the running of Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, running under sunny skies with the temperature nearing the 80-degree mark.

Pigot, piloting the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda RT-24-P, took the lead midway through a round of green-flag pit stops after Felipe Nasr pitted in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. At the two-hour mark, Pigot led teammate Oliver Jarvis in the No. 77 Team Joest Mazda and Curran, who had taken over from Nasr.
Team Penske pitted both of its cars 10 minutes before the two-hour mark. Graham Rahal took over for Ricky Taylor in the No. 7 Acura ARX-05, which had been running in the top three. Taylor had a close call during the hour, brushing the lapped No. 54 Core autosport ORECA 07-Gibson while overtaking Jon Bennett in Turn 17. Meanwhile, Simon Pagenaud replaced Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6, with the team losing time to change rear wings, opting for a different wing angle.

James Calado led GTLM for much of the hour in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE prior to a pit stop. At the end of the hour, Richard Westbrook led the class in the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT, followed by Toni Vilander in the No. 62 Ferrari and Joey Hand in the No. 66 Ford.
GTD leader David Heinemeier was penalized for running over an air hose during a pit stop for the No. 15 3GT Racing RC F GT3. That moved Sheldon van der Linde into the lead in the No. 29 Montaplast Audi R8 LMS GT3, followed by Corey Lewis in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 and Kyle Marcelli in the No. 14 GT3 Racing Lexus.
Kenny Habul had a close call in the No. 75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 when he had an off-course excursion and nosed into a tire barrier while running 12th in GTD. He was able to continue, with the race remaining under green-flag conditions throughout the hour.
Antonio Garcia took the 2017 GTLM-winning No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R24 to the paddock 90 minutes into the race. The team changed batteries, losing six laps before Jan Magnussen took over and returned to the event.
The late-starting No. 99 JDC-Miller Motorsports Gainsco ORECA 07-Gibson also needed an extra stop when Chris Miller could not secure the door following a pit stop.
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[h=1]Sebring 12 Hours: Hour 2 – Nasr leads after action-packed start[/h]

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Get alerts By: Charles Bradley, Global Editor-in-Chief
2018-03-17


[h=2]Felipe Nasr led the Sebring 12 Hours after the second hour of the event in his Action Express-run Cadillac DPi, following a wild start to the race that saw the front row starters collide and a Ferrari on its roof.[/h] There was drama right from the green, as pole man Tristan Vautier and Olivier Pla collided at Turn 1, sending Pla sliding off into the grass. He rejoined but would pit immediately and the ESM team retired the Nissan DPi citing too much damage to fix in time.
Also in trouble was the #4 Corvette of Tommy Milner, which sustained a left-rear puncture, and the GTD pole-sitting Ferrari of Daniel Serra also got a puncture after a clash with the #15 Lexus of Jack Hawksworth.
Vautier’s Spirit of Daytona Cadillac led Ricky Taylor (Penske-Acura) and Nasr (Action Express Cadillac) in the early going, before the race’s first full-course yellow that was required when Sebastian Saavedra spun his Ligier at the final corner, and the following Frankie Montecalvo hit him and flipped over his Ferrari 488 against the tirewall.
#64 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 GT3, GTD: Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell, Frankie Montecalvo upside down after crash
Photo by: YouTube screen grab

After the ensuing first round of pitstops, Taylor rejoined in the lead from Nasr, with Vautier dropping to third. Vautier lost another two places in the second stint, with Pipo Derani (ESM Nissan) and Filipe Albuquerque (Action Express Cadillac) both getting past him.



At the second round of stops in hour two, Nasr took over at the front – undercutting ahead of Taylor by pitting earlier. Johannes van Overbeek was running third, after taking over from Derani in the ESM Nissan. Vautier moved back to fourth, with Renger van der Zande moving up to fifth in Wayne Taylor Racing’s Caddy.
[h=3]BMW out front in GT Le Mans[/h] BMW held an early 1-2 in GT Le Mans, with Jesse Krohn out front in the #24 car, but his tail gunner Connor de Phillippi slumped back to eighth from second in the #25 sister car after the first round of pitstops.
The chasing Ford GT challenge almost expired in comic fashion when Joey Hand and Richard Westbrook collided exiting their pit boxes after the first round of stops, but they run second and third in class, ahead of the Risi Ferrari and two works Porsches.
Corvette’s dreadful start to the race was compounded when the #3 car went behind the wall in the second hour.
David Heinemeier Hansson took over the leading GT Daytona Lexus from Hawksworth, with Sheldon van der Linde running second in the #29 Audi, ahead of Corey Lewis in the #48 Lamborghini.

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Sebring Hour 3

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Sebring Hour 4
[h=1]Sebring 12 Hours: Hour 4 – Bizarre yellow flag puts Penske into lead[/h]

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By: David Malsher, US Editor
2018-03-17


[h=2]Nicolas Lapierre’s ESM Nissan was leading the 66th running of the Sebring 12 Hours but just before the fourth hour was complete, an awning blew from a spectator area onto the track, bringing out a full-course caution.[/h] The timing was perfect for the Penske team which was already servicing its #7 Acura ARX-05, and so Helio Castroneves rejoined the track in front and made the best of a restart but there was another caution period almost immediately with Alex Brundle spinning the United Autosports Ligier at the final turn.
Behind Castroneves, Pipo Derani now behind the wheel of the #22 ESM Nissan continued a fierce battle with the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac over second.
Jonathan Bomarito is now fourth in the #55 Mazda RT24-P despite co-driver Harry Tincknell earlier getting a drive-through penalty for bumping a backmarker. The sister #77 Mazda had been legitimately into third before a long stop with major braking issues.
So the second Penske Acura is now fifth with Dane Cameron at the wheel, ahead of the Spirit of Daytona Cadillac with Eddie Cheever III in the cockpit.


Jordan Taylor survived an odd pit-exit bump with the Magnus Racing Audi in the middle of the previous stint, but the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac needed an extra stop to top up with water after failing to replenish during his regular fifth stop, so it has fallen to eighth, now with Ryan Hunter-Reay at the wheel, chasing Filipe Albuquerque in the second AXR Caddy.
In GT Le Mans, the Corvette of Oliver Gavin benefited in a similar manner to Castroneves, having just stopped before the full course caution and so on the restart he was desperately trying to hold off James Calado in the Risi Competizione Ferrari, the works Porsche 911 RSRs of Patrick Pilet and Earl Bamber, and the BMW M8 of Alexander Sims.
In GT Daytona, the Lexus RC Fs of Jack Hawksworth and Philipp Frommenwiler ran 1-2 ahead of Alvaro Parente in the Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX and Bryan Sellers’ Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini.

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Sebring Hour 5