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Sebring Hour 6
[h=1]Sebring 12 Hours: Hour 6 – Nissan leads Mazda at half-distance[/h] Share on Facebook Share on Twitter



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


[h=2]Pipo Derani is leading the Sebring 12 Hours just ahead of Spencer Pigot after a caution period for advertising hoardings scattered by a wayward GTD Lexus and then another for Ricky Taylor’s Acura stopping and catching fire.[/h] Derani had pulled a 17sec lead on the field over the previous green-flag period, but a full course yellow allowed everyone to bunch before fleeing to the pitlane.
Team Penske performed a slick stop on the #7 machine, allowing Taylor to emerge from its latest stop in second, ahead of the #55 Mazda RT24-P which saw Jonathan Bomarito complete a brilliant run before handing over to IndyCar fulltimer Spencer Pigot.
However, moments after the restart, the Acura ground to a halt on course and it was towed back behind the wall. It was later declared a retirement with an oil pressure problem.
That left Pigot ahead of the second Acura, which is currently being driven by Juan Pablo Montoya. In the previous restart, the two Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.Rs of Christian Fittipaldi and Felipe Nasr were in line astern, but collided when Nasr made an ill-advised lunge, leaving Fittipaldi backward and off-track briefly.




That allowed Renger van der Zande into fifth in the Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac ahead of Eddie Cheever III in the similar car of Spirit of Daytona Racing.

Paul di Resta has also done a great job in the United Autosports Ligier, to bring it into seventh place.
In GT Le Mans, Connor De Phillippi’s #25 BMW M8 is leading ahead of Toni Vilander’s Risi Compeitizione Ferrari 488 and Nick Tandy and Laurens Vanthoor in the Porsches, and Scott Dixon in the Ford GT.
Luca Stolz is leading GT Daytona in the #33 Riley Mercedes after a superb showing by Ben Keating, with Corey Lewis up to second in the Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini and Gunnar Jeannette in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488.

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Sebring Hour 7
Sebring Hour 7: Van der Zande puts Cadillac back in front

Saturday, 17 March 2018


J.J. O'Malley / Images by Galstad/LAT

Renger van der Zande passed Johannes van Overbeek for the lead at the seven-hour mark of Saturday's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Van Overbeek took over for Pipo Derani in the No. 22 Nissan Onroak DPi, but the team's once-comfortable lead was quickly challenged by van der Zande, driving the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R.

With five hours remaining, Eric Curran was third in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac followed by Juan Pablo Montoya in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-07.
Spencer Pigot led for three circuits during the round of green-flag stops, although he had an off-course excursion on his final lap before pitting in the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda RT-24-P. He turned the car over to Harry Tincknell, who rejoined the race in seventh. Moments early, teammate Oliver Jarvis turned the fastest lap of the race – a record 1m49.002s – in the No. 77 Mazda, although that car had spent time behind the wall for brake work.
Racing went back to green at the beginning of the seventh hour, but almost immediately went back to yellow for a pair of incidents involving three of the leaders.
In a battle for fifth place between Action Express Racing teammates, Christian Fittipaldi shut the door on Filipe Nasr in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, sending the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac spinning. Fittipaldi continued, but fell to eighth.
Moments later, Ricky Taylor suddenly slowed while running second in the No. 7 Team Penske Acura ARX-05. Taylor pulled off course, and exited the car following a brief exhaust fire, which brought out the yellow. With the blaze quickly extinguished, Taylor got back in but was unable to restart.
The hour featured heated multi-car racing in GTLM. Alessandro Pier Guidi led the class in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, followed by Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT and Frederik Makowiecki in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR.
In GTD, Corey Lewis leads in the No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Hurcan GT3, followed by the two Michael Shank Racing Acuras of Katherine Legge (No. 86) and Mario Farnbacher (No. 93). Luca Stolz led much of the hour in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3 before pitting and turning the car over to Jeroen Bleekemolen.

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Sebring Hour 8: Nissan leads as Penskes retire

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


After eight hours of racing in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Johannes van Overbeek continued to show the way as the hour saw both Team Penske Acuras officially retire.

There were a pair of cautions early in the hour, resulting in several contenders falling by the wayside. The seventh full-course caution came out only five minutes into the hour. Juan Pablo Montoya – who had spun in Turn 17 after an incident with pole-sitter Tristan Vautier's No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi-V.R – tried to continue but came to a stop in the No. 6 Team Penske Acura ARX-05. Vautier was assessed a stop-and-go penalty for the incident.
Though Team Penske said the No. 6 was being worked on for a mechanical issue, the team announced 30 minutes later that both its Acuras had retired from the race.

The No. 25 Team RLL BMW M8 GTLM of Connor de Phillippi changed brakes during the caution, losing a lap in the process. De Phillippi ran with the leaders for the remainder of the hour, trying in vain to get his lap back.
On the lap following the restart, Renger van der Zande in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac and Eric Curran in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac had side-by-side contact in Turn 3 while battling for third position. Van der Zande lost a piece of bodywork in the incident, bringing out the eighth caution of the race – although a brief one. Van der Zande then pitted under green for new bodywork.
Moments later, Joao Barbosa in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac got together with James French in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports ORECA 07-Gibson at the pit entrance. Both limped to their pits for lengthy repairs, with Barbosa falling out of contention with damaged steering.
After eight hours, van Overbeek led Curran by 4.03 seconds, with Phil Hanson third in the No. 32 United Autosport Ligier JSP217, 16.9679s back.
Frederick Makowiecki led a tight pack of contenders in GTLM in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR. He was followed by Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, Richard Westbrook in the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Ford GT and Marcel Fassler in the No. 4 Corvette Racing C7.R.
In GTD, Jeroen Bleekemolen returned the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG to the lead, followed by the Michael Shank Racing Acuras, the No. 93 of Mario Farnbacher and the No. 86 driven by Katherine Legge.

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Sebring Hour 9: Mazda back on top

Saturday, 17 March 2018
By J.J. O'Malley / Image by Levitt/LAT


Jonathan Bomarito took over the lead of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with three hours, five minutes remaining shortly after sunset Saturday at Sebring International Raceway.
Pitting off sequence, Bomarito held a 52.662s lead as the endurance classic reached the nine-hour mark in the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda RT-24-P.

Mike Conway ran second in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, followed by Nicolas Lapierre in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi, Matt McMurray in the No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac, Alex Brundle in the No. 32 United Autosports Ligier JSP217 and Jordan Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac.
GTLM is also anybody's race with the top five cars within 10 seconds. Frederic Makowiecki led in the No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR, followed by James Calado in the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE, and Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette C7.R.
GTD has Lawson Aschenbach leading in the No. 93 Michael Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 – which started the race at the back of the pack – followed by Madison Snow in the No. 48 Lamborghini, Trent Hindman in the No. 865 Acura and Jeroen Bleekemolen in the No. 33 Mercedes-AMG.
Hour nine began with green-flag pit stops which returned the off-sequence No. 55 (driven by Harry Ticknell) to the lead, giving him a 49-second advantage over Conway and Lapierre.
However, the lead was short-lived.
GTLM leader Gianmaria Bruni went wide at the exit of Turn 13, shedding most of the rear bodywork on the No. 912 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR. That brought out the ninth caution, which allowed Bruni to have the bodywork replaced under the yellow.
Ticknell pitted under yellow, turning the car over to Bomarito in fifth place. That put Conway in the lead ahead of Lapierre, Tristan Vautier in the No. 90 entry and Phil Hanson in the No. 32 United Autosports Ligier, while allowing the sixth-place No. 10 driven by Ryan Hunter-Reay to get back on the lead lap.
Lapierre then slowly began to challenge the lead Cadillac, and moved to his rear wing by the eight-hour, 40-minute mark as the sun began to set. At that point, though, Conway picked up the pace to retain the lead – and Lapierre fell back when he caught lapped traffic.
Lapierre pitted on lap 250, remaining at the wheel at eight hours, 48 minutes. Vautier pitted on the following lap, turning the No. 90 Cadillac over to McMurray.
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[h=1]IMSA: Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring 9-hour update – 3 hours left to go, action heating up[/h]


Jerry Bonkowski

NBC Sports•Mar 17, 2018, 7:49 PM







With nine hours complete, there are three hours left in the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring endurance race at Sebring Raceway in central Florida.
The event has picked up in terms of harder racing, increased contact and a number of drivers either knocked out or are lagging behind by several laps.
Just minutes into the start of the second half of the race, Team Penske saw one of its two cars suffer a premature end to its day.
Team Penske was riding high in the fourth hour of the race, with Helio Castroneves checking out on the rest of the field.
But as the second half began, Ricky Taylor suffered a race-ending oil pressure issue that ended the day for the No. 7 Acura DPI.
With 5 hours, 14 minutes to go, Prototype leader Harry Tincknell in the No. 55 Mazda DPI pitted for fuel and service, then stalled several times while he was trying to exit his pit stall, before finally getting going.
With just under five hours, Juan Pablo Montoya spun the Team Penske Acura No. 6 in Turn 17 but was able to get going again.
But something apparently broke on the car in that spin as Montoya limped the car to the pits and the damage was enough to end its day, as well, ending any Penske hopes for a decent finish in the second half of the event.
Shortly after, the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPI came into the pits to have its front end replaced.
The No. 10 Wayne Taylo Racing Konica Minolta Cadillac DPI made contact with another car that damaged its rear wing, bringing out the caution.
But the team chose to keep the car on the track for one lap after the restart before bringing it in for repairs, replacing the wing and deck, all in one minute, five seconds.
With 4:26 left, the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPI made contact with the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports LMP2, with the No. 5 suffering front end damage that needed to be repaired in the pits.
With about 3 hours, 50 minutes to go, the Porsche 912 GT team suffered major rear end damage that required a full pit stop to replace the rear wing, diffuser, bumper, all four tires and more. But the team did an outstanding job, repairing the damage in less than five minutes.
Here’s how the three classes look with thee hours to go:
Prototype
Jonathan Bomarito (No. 55 Mazda DPI), holds the lead, followed by Mike Conway (No. 31 Cadillac DPI), Nicolas LaPierre (No. 22 Nissan DPI), Matthew McMurry (No. 90 Cadillac DPI) and Alex Brundle (No. 32 Ligier LMP2).
GT Le Mans (GTLM)
Frederic Makowiecki (No. 911 Porsche 911 RSR) has the lead, followed by James Calado (No. 62 Ferrari 488 GTE), Tommy Milner (No. 4 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R), Giamaria Bruni (No. 912 Porsche 911 RSR) and Bill Auberlen (No. 25 BMW M8 GTLM).
GT Daytona (GTD)
At the front of the pack is Lawson Aschenbach (No. 93 Acura NSX GT3), followed by Madison Snow (No. 48 Lamborghini Huracan GT3), Trent Hindman (No. 86 Acura NSX GT3), Jergen Bleekemolen (No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT3) and Alessandro Balzam (No. 63 Ferrari 488 GT3).

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Sebring Hour 10

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Sebring Hour 11

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Sebring Hour 12

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ESM Nissan wins Sebring; class wins for Porsche, Paul Miller Racing

Saturday, 17 March 2018
J.J. O'Malley / Images by Marshall Pruett & Levitt, Dole/LAT


Pipo Derani, Nicolas Lapierre and Johannes van Overbeek drove a flawless race to win Saturday’s 66th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the No. 22 Tequila Patron ESM Nissan Onroak DPi.
"[It was] maximum [fuel conservation]” said Derani, who made what proved to be the winning pass with one hour, 35 minutes remaining.

• Results

"The pit was every lap telling me the gap and I was trying to save fuel as maximum as I could. "In the end it was really, really tight. We got the low fuel on the last lap, but we finally made it, I can't believe it.

"Thanks to this amazing team, we've been working so hard. This one is for my dad – he's fighting really hard for health and I love him so much, this is for you, man."
The winners completed 344 laps – 1,286.56 miles – on the 3.74-mile circuit. Derani nursed his fuel to the finish to give Nissan its fifth triumph in the Sebring classic, and first since Clayton Cunningham Racing took the overall victory in the 1994 event in a Nissan 300ZX.
"It's a real testament to ESM,” van Overbeek said. "Today saw some of the best teams and some of the best manufacturers have a lot of trouble.
"Of course my co-drivers did an awesome job. I don’t think there’s a scratch on the car."
It was the second Sebring triumph in three years for ESM. Derani and van Overbeek joined co-owners Scott Sharp and Ed Brown in the winning Tequila Patron Honda Ligier JS P2 in the 2016 event.
Derani held off a determined run by the No. 55 Team Joest Mazda RT-24-P, which showed both serious pace and superior fuel mileage throughout the event. Harry Ticknell was running a competitive second when the top five Prototypes pitted with 41 minutes remaining. Tincknell had trouble restarting the car, resulting in a lost lap and a sixth-place finish for the car shared by Jonathan Bomarito and Spencer Pigot.
With the No. 55 falling out of contention, Renger van der Zande finished second in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R co-driven by Jordan Taylor and Ryan Hunter-Reay, 12.427 seconds back, with the team battling overheating throughout the second half of the event.
"We were testing in the heat and the race finishes in the night when it is cool, so you are in survival mode during the heat of the day," note van der Zande. "The car really comes alive at night. The engineers are superstars and they know what they are doing. They give me everything I need to perform.
"It was an eventful day. I got tapped on the rear and they made a quick fix. I have a lot of faith in my new team. They don't give up and they stay calm when things happen. We were the best of the rest today."
Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran and Mike Conway placed third in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, running in contention throughout the race. Also finishing on the lead lap were the No. 54 CORE autosport ORECA 07 Gibson of Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and Romain Dumas, and the No. 32 United Autosports Ligier JSP217 Gibson of Phil Hanson, Paul DiResta and Alex Brundle, who was filling in for an ill Bruno Senna.
Both of the Mazda Team Joest RT-24-Ps led the event. The No. 77 of Tristan Nunez, Oliver Jarvis and Rene Rast lost 10 laps due to a brake issue but rallied to place eighth, turning the fastest lap of the race in the process.
The winners managed to avoid the attrition that took struck many of the contenders in Round 2 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The sister No. 2 ESM Nissan was hit on the very first turn of the race by the pole-winning No. 90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac DPi – suffering from enough damage that it failed to complete a lap. The No. 90, driven by Tristan Vautier, also had a massive shunt during the final two hours.
"It started from the beginning of the out lap – I flat-spotted a tire because I was too impatient trying to change a switch on the car," related Vautier. "When I got to Turn 17, I locked up a bit. I didn't feel as though I was as wide as I was, but when I realized my left-side tires were in the marbles, I tried to get on the gas. But once you're in the marbles, it's like ice, and the wall came to me pretty quickly."
The Daytona-winning No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R of Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque and Christian Fittipaldi lost 20 laps to replace broken steering components following an incident near the pit entrance. That resulted in a 10th-place finish, while both Team Penske Acura ARX-05s were struck with mechanical DNFs while running in contention.

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Penske suffers double disappointment in Sebring

Saturday, 17 March 2018


By Marshall Pruett / Image by Galstad/LAT


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Acura Team Penske had the pace to win the 66th annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, but the other two ingredients – mechanical reliability and luck – were missing.

Credited with 40th and 41st in a field of 43 cars, the pair of Acura ARX-05 Daytona Prototype internationals succumbed to engine failure with Ricky Taylor behind the front-running No. 7 entry, and side-to-side contact with Juan Pablo Montoya behind the wheel of the No. 6 severed the connection between the engine and transmission.
"We were just settling in and everything was going to plan," Taylor said. "The whole Acura Team Penske crew had done an amazing job leading up to the race. We were settled into the top three for the entire day. Unfortunately, this [mechanical problem] knocked us out. We had such a solid plan moving forward. We were really looking forward to battling at the end."

When added to the reliability issues on the team's debut at Daytona, the problems at Sebring have given the brand-new Acura DPi program a significant hole to dig out of in the season-long championship. With a shift to shorter events in the months ahead, Taylor is confident the pace of the ARX-05s will allow Team Penske to begin mounting a comeback when the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns next month in California.
"It's one thing if we were never competitive and fell out," he added. "To have this kind of speed and put on this kind of show so far excites us to move onto Long Beach and hopefully get a win there."

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Derani dedicates Sebring victory to sick father

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By: David Malsher, US Editor
2018-03-18


Pipo Derani has dedicated the ESM team’s victory in the 66th Sebring 12 Hours to his father after he, Nicolas Lapierre and Johannes van Overbeek captured the squad’s second win there in three years.

The second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship saw the ESM Nissan regularly able to edge away from even its closest rivals, including the fastest Cadillacs, Mazda RT24-Ps, and Penske-Acuras. Crucially, the #22 crew also provided slick pitstops.
Said Derani: “Just unbelievable. It’s the second victory [here] in three attempts. From 2016 [victory], to having a problem last year, and coming back to win is just amazing.
“This victory goes to my dad who is watching us back in Brazil and is fighting for his health. I’m just so happy to be able to win and know that he’s watching my race.
“I just have to thank the entire team for giving me this opportunity to win again and win in front of him.”

The similarly impressive Lapierre added: “What an amazing day at one of the toughest races in the world. It was a really special day. It was a really great job from everyone on the team: the strategy, the setup of the car, the team in the pit stops, and my teammates on the track.
“Everything was perfect today, and we made no mistakes. We weren’t lucky in Daytona, but we fought back hard to be here. I’m really proud of everyone.”
Team manager and co-owner Sharp said: “We needed this so badly. We were really heartbroken after Daytona. To win a major endurance race is humongous. We needed this as a team, and we needed this for Tequila Patron.
“It looked a little bleak after the first lap [when his own #2 car was damaged in an accident] but that’s why we have two bullets in the gun.
"These guys just did a great job and with flawless moves. The pit stops were great, the car performed, and Nissan did a fabulous job.”