Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais and Christian Fittipaldi celebrate after winning Saturday’s 12 Hours of Sebring. Photo by Michael L. Levitt LAT Photo USA
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Chevrolet’s lone triumph in the 63rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Sebastien Bourdais teamed in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Mustang Sampling Corvette DP to make new history for the Bow Tie Brigade.
Jim Hall II opened the day by running exhibition laps in the Chaparral 2 his father and Hap Sharp drove to victory in the 1965 event. The Action Express trio then took over, teaming for a dominant victory, becoming the first TUDOR United SportsCar Championship team to lap the field. They led 246 of the 340 circuits, including every lap after Barbosa passed Scott Dixon to take the lead at the seven-hour mark.
“Definitely, it’s very important for the team,” said Fittipaldi. “The teamwork starts back at the shop. It doesn’t start on Friday morning. Basically it’s back at the shop. When we left Daytona, we didn’t have the pace on track, and we made a couple of mistakes in the pits. We went back to the shop and analyzed everything we did. I think it went quite well. It’s awesome man. To be able to complete every single lap out there is more than just us drivers, it’s the whole team. We’re always trying to improve no matter what we’re doing. If we don’t improve, we learn how to minimize our mistakes. If we do that, it will pay off at the end of the year.”
“It was very special to check this one off the list,” Barbosa said. “We couldn’t have done it without a flawless car. It’s pretty amazing what our guys are doing at the shop to give us this car. The car was consistent, it was still improving over the length of the race.”
Definitely, it’s very important for the team. The teamwork starts back at the shop. It doesn’t start on Friday morning. Basically it’s back at the shop. When we left Daytona, we didn’t have the pace on track, and we made a couple of mistakes in the pits. We went back to the shop and analyzed everything we did. I think it went quite well. It’s awesome man. To be able to complete every single lap out there is more than just us drivers, it’s the whole team. We’re always trying to improve no matter what we’re doing. If we don’t improve, we learn how to minimize our mistakes. If we do that, it will pay off at the end of the year.”
“It was very special to check this one off the list. We couldn’t have done it without a flawless car. It’s pretty amazing what our guys are doing at the shop to give us this car. The car was consistent, it was still improving over the length of the race.”
“This is a place that’s been pretty mean to me many times,” Bourdaid said. “I remember losing here with Peugeot when we got a puncture with just two hours to go. Winning in Prototype with a lap on the field – on pace – doesn’t happen very many times.”
“This is a place that’s been pretty mean to me many times. I remember losing here with Peugeot when we got a puncture with just two hours to go. Winning in Prototype with a lap on the field – on pace – doesn’t happen very many times.”
Action Express Racing has also completed every possible lap in TUDOR Championship competition, totaling 3,257 laps for 10,415 miles. It was the fifth Prototype (P) victory for defending champions Fittipaldi and Barbosa.
Corvette DPs swept the podium. Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller took second in the No. 90 VisitFlorida,com Corvette DP, followed by Max Angelelli and brothers Ricky and Jordan Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP. Scott Pruett, Joey Hand and Dixon placed fourth in the 2014 race-winning Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley.
The race was slowed by only six caution periods for one hour, 58 minutes under the yellow, including a green-flag run of nearly four hours midway through the event.
The roles were reversed from the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the Prototype Challenge class. While PR1/Mathiasen spent most of the season-opening event chasing CORE autosport – pulling out the victory when misfortune struck their rival in the closing minutes – Sebring saw the team dominate the event.
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The No. 54 CORE autosport Flex-Box ORECA FLM09 trio of Colin Braun, Jon Bennett and James Gue was looking to repeat as winners at Sebring. Braun closed to within a second of Kimber-Smith during the final hour, but the British driver was able to regain momentum and win by 11.614 seconds.
Late addition Conor Daly joined Jerome Mee and James French in rounding out the PC podium in the Performance Tech Motorsports No. 38 Ric Man Construction/GO PUCK ORECA FLM09.
Ryan Briscoe, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia picked up the GTLM victory at Sebring. Photo by Richard Dole LAT Photo USA
Porsche’s misfortune was Corvette Racing’s gain Saturday night as a pair of mechanical issues in the final hour of the race propelled the No. 3 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R to the GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory for the second consecutive race to open the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season.
It was Corvette Racing’s ninth win at Sebring dating back to 2002 and completed a sweep for Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe at Florida’s two Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup classics: the Rolex 24 At Daytona and Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Running 1-2 with one hour remaining in the race, Porsche North America was looking at a potential double-podium before a pair of mechanical issues knocked its Porsche 911 RSRs out of contention.
First it was Frédéric Makowiecki who pitted the team’s No. 912 entry from the lead with one hour left. Issues with the left rear lug nut forced a second pit stop and then a brief stint in the paddock to repair the left rear upright. That misfortune handed the lead to the team’s No. 911 entry driven by Nick Tandy who shortly later slowed with a transmission issue.
The No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari F458 team of Pierre Kaffer, Giancarlo Fisichella and Andrea Bertolini finished second followed by the No. 17 Team Falken Tire Porsche 911 RSR of Bryan Sellers, Wolf Henzler and Patrick Long.
A wild final 15 minutes gave Alex Job Racing its 10th class win at Sebring in the GT Daytona (GTD) with Ian James, Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas co-driving the No. 23 Team Seattle Porsche 911.
Leading with just 12 minutes to go, Farnbacher drove off course in Turn 10 handing the lead to the No. 33 TI Automotive/Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper SRT GT3-R of Jeroen Bleekemolen. Staring at a runner-up finish, Farnbacher suddenly found himself back in the lead when Bleekemolen pitted with five minutes remaining with an engine temperature issue.
The No. 007 TRG-AMR Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Christina Nielsen, James Davison and Brandon Davis finished second, 8.837 seconds back, followed by the No. 63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 458 Italia of Bill Sweedler, Townsend Bell and Anthony Lazzaro.
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