Love yellow? Get to know Porsche privateer JDC Racing

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emailBy Marshall Pruett | March 15, 2024 3:23 PM ET

Marshall Pruett chats with John Church about his team JDC Racing, and how they are punching about their weight in their first season with their bright yellow Porsche 963 in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge.

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JDC-Miller Porsche and Vasser Sullivan top second Sebring practice

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emailBy Richard S. James | March 14, 2024 5:24 PM ET

Phil Hanson shocked the GTP field by putting the No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Porsche 963 on top at the end of Thursday’s second practice session for the Twelve Hours of Sebring. Hanson put the Porsche at the top with a1 m48.149s lap, nearly a quarter second better than the next car. .

Even though the session didn’t include time set aside for the Pro-Am and Pro classes only, which the second practice of the weekend usually does, several of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams used the final minutes of the session to run qualifying simulations with low energy stores and sticker tires in preparations for tomorrow’s mid-day session. That included the No. 01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, in which Sebastien Bourdais set the second-quickest time of the session as the timer hit zero, 0.146s off Hanson. Pipo Derani headed the time sheet for much of the session with a 1m48.483s lap in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac Racing V-Series.R before being pipped first by Hanson and then Bourdais.

“As we all know, Sebring is up and down – the heat of the day or the cold at night,” said Derani. “This session was important because qualifying will be at a similar time of the day and the forecast is similar to today. And most of the race will be under similar conditions. It’s good that we get to run a clean practice and understand that. The car is good and we’re running through our program well. We seem to be competitive so we hope in qualifying tomorrow we can show that.”

It was three different manufacturers in the next three, led by Louis Deletraz with a 1m48.720s time in the No. 40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, followed by Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963 and Nick Yelloly in the No. 25 BMW M Team RLL M Hybrid V8. The No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx SC63 found some pace, Matteo Cairoli posting a time 1.344s off Hanson’s best to finish the session ninth of 11 cars.

Lexus continued its dominance of the GT classes, posting the two best times of the session. This time it was Parker Thompson putting the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Racing GTD-class RC F GT3 at the head of all the GT cars, his 2m0.237s lap 1.208s better than the next GTD car. Behind Thompson is was seven of the GTD PRO cars, led by his teammate Jack Hawksworth in the No. 14 Lexus RC F at 2m0.304s. Davide Rigon kept the No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 toward the front, his 1m0.758s good for second in GTD PRO, despite the car causing the session’s sole red flag when it rolled to a stop on course.

Oliver Jarvis put the Pfaff Motorsports McLaren 720S, still boasting that new-car smell, into the top three for the first time with a 2m1,121s lap. Earl Bamber in the No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and Seb Priaulx in the No. 77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R rounded out the top five.

Both GTD PRO Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3s stayed in the paddock for the session.

Loris Spinelli kept the No. 78 Forte Racing Powered by USRT Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 toward the top of GTD with a 2m1.445s lap, as did Mikael Grenier in the No. 32 Korthoff Preston Motorsports Mercedes AMG, another 0.33s back. Elliott Skeer (No. 120 Wright Motorsports Porsche) and Albert Costa Balboa (No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296) completed the top five in GTD.

Josh Burdon put the No. 74 Riley Motorsports ORECA at the top of LMP2 with a 1m52.078s lap, with Toby Sowery in the No. 04 CrowdStrike Racing ORECA 0.136s back. Tom Dillman was third with a 1m52.214s lap in the No. 52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA. Nicklas Nielsen was fourth for the No. 88 Richard Mille AF Corse entry, followed by Nico Pino in the No. 2 United Autosports entry.