The Cars to Watch at the 12 Hours of Sebring
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http://www.hotrod.com/events/coverage/1603-the-cars-to-watch-at-12-hours-of-sebring/
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While the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona tends to get top billing for its race length, the 12 Hours of Sebring may be the most grueling date on IMSA’s WeatherTech Sportscar Championship (WTSC) calendar. What it lacks in distance, the 12-hour race more than accounts for in the torture it applies to the dozens of high-performance sports cars that attempt it. With Ford GTs, Chevy Corvette C7s, and Dodge Viper GT3-Rs entered at Sebring, we’ll be keeping a close eye on how the challenging race unfolds this weekend.
Sebring International Raceway remains one of the most storied and unique racing circuits in the entire world. Originally built during World War II as a B-17 training base, Sebring held its first half-day race on the wide concrete runways and adjoining roads in 1952. The course has changed significantly from the original layout, but the 2016 edition will use some of the concrete originally laid down for the airfield in 1941.
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As one can imagine, that original pavement offers little grip and the entirety of Sebring is littered with concrete and asphalt patches on and off the racing line. Not only does that mean changing grip from corner to corner—not to mention changing as the temperatures arc throughout the day and as rubber is laid down—it also means the track uniquely contains some of the bumpiest surface on any race track. Nowhere is this more evident than on the exit of Turn 17, which leads back to the front straight.
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The accommodations for fans and teams alike are quaint. You’ll find no massive grandstands on the property and no F1-style garages. Tradition is the word, which means contending with unique concerns about lighting (or the lack of it), heat, temperamental Florida weather, track conditions, and four dozen cars fighting elbowing each other for space. There’s a reason many Le Mans teams test at Sebring: You will find no shortage of drivers and engineers who proclaim 12 hours at Sebring considerably tougher than 24 at Le Mans.
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For Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR), that makes this an important litmus test for the Ford GT they’ll be taking to Le Mans. Last month, CGR was granted entry to Le Mans with four cars so they’ll hope to make the most of the two entered in WTSC’s GT-Le Mans class at Sebring.
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The Ganassi crew come off a patience-testing Daytona weekend that found them fighting gear-actuation problems with the sequential gearboxes. When running full-song, the Fords carried enough pace to look formidable for the rest of the WTSC season, but they’ll be hoping for improved reliability at Sebring. At open testing a few weeks ago, they seemed a bit slower. This did come after a 10-kilogram weight penalty and boost changes in the 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 engines by IMSA in the Balance of Performance adjustments so it remains to be seen what race pace looks like.
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The Fords see the full-time driver lineup of Joey Hand and Dirk Muller in the #66 with IndyCar ace Sebastien Bourdais as the car’s very quick third set of boots. In the #67, Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook hold down full-season duties with 2015 IndyCar champion Scott Dixon filling in the third spot.
Ford’s classic rival Ferrari also campaign a new car this year, the 488. The new turbocharged Italians looked a solid at Daytona and Risi Competizione’s 488 finished fourth place on the lead lap. They didn’t quite match the Fords’ pace, but reliability is key in long-distance racing. If the Fords get sorted, expect the continuity of the half-century-old rivalry not only this season.
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Corvette Racing made history at Daytona in the GTLM class with the closest finish ever in the Rolex 24, when Oliver Gavin in the #4 car held off charging Antonio Garcia in the #3 by a nose. One expects those checkered flag photos will be hung in offices at GM headquarters and in the shops at Pratt & Miller, the extremely experienced shop that oversees the Corvette program. The Corvettes had plenty of pace at Daytona, resulting in the same 10-kilogram weight addition the Fords were given. However, Corvette Racing skipped the open Sebring tests so it’s unclear how that might affect their performance.
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Skipping tests is no big deal for a team that’s gathered incredible amounts of data at Sebring since they first raced the Florida classic in 2000 with nine class wins in those 16 races. The full-season entries remain as they have for the last few seasons with Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the #3 alongside Gavin and Tommy Milner in the #4. Former Audi factory driver Mike Rockenfeller fills the third seat of the #3 this weekend while current Audi factory stud Marcel Fassler will drive the #4.
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The Corvettes and Fords will face stout opposition from the Porsche North America effort, which seemed to have last year’s race in hand during the closing hours until an engine failure and a stuck wheel during a tire change knocked both Porsches from competition, giving the lead and eventual win to Corvette. BMW Team RLL—that’s (Bobby) Rahal, (David) Letterman, and (Mike) Lanigan—bring back their two new-for-2016 BMW M6 GTLM cars, one of which finished on the Daytona podium. The RLL and Porsche entries are always quick at Sebring, giving GTLM a lot of depth.
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The GT-Daytona field is made up of FIA GT3-spec cars, which played out in dramatic fashion at Daytona. The Lamborghini Huracan GT3 cars seemed impossibly quick and, as it turns out, they were impossibly quick because they were likely using unapproved air restrictors that gave them significantly more power. It didn’t help them win anyway, but expect to see a leveled playing field this time out.
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For Riley Motorsports, Sebring represents a bogey for their Dodge Viper. Last year, Riley and team owner Ben Keating came up just short of a class win when the transmission failed on Jeroen Bleekemolen in the #33 car with just five minutes left. Bleekemolen and his broken Viper remains an enduring image of last year’s race and a motivational tool for the Viper squad. A year prior, Keating could only watch helplessly as a fuel fire burned the Viper Exchange car to the axles at Sebring. Sebring cares little for kindness and has had no problem being the Riley squad’s foul mistress.
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However, the Riley Viper heads to Sebring with significant momentum. Clever pit strategy and a brilliant final stint from Irishman Damian Faulkner—the only non-Texan in the car—landed the #93 a third-place finish against cars that were much quicker throughout the race. Riley is only bringing a single entry to Sebring, but with lots of long straights and low-speed corners at Sebring, the Viper’s torquey V10 should fare well..
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They’ll have plenty of competition in GTD, where the depth of both the GT3 machinery and the team’s operating the cars is astounding. The Viper faces the aforementioned Lamborghinis, Audi R8s, Porsche 911s, BMW M6, and Ferrari 458 and 488s.
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The top Prototype class will, barring unprecedented attrition, contain the overall winner. The Corvette Daytona Prototypes should be strong on the long straights; expect solid contributions from the Action Express Racing Corvettes and the Wayne Taylor Racing entry. Wayne Taylor’s two sons, Jordan and Ricky, might be the fastest brothers in the world right now and they’ll both also drive the Corvette GT cars at Le Mans in June.
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Also in the class are a number of LMP2 chassis. Extreme Speed Motorsports comes off an utterly dominating 12 Hours of Sebring victory with their Ligier, powered by a twin-turbo 3.5-liter Honda V6. While endurance racing is a team sport, Luis Felipe “Pipo” Derani’s performance at Daytona was simply incredible. ESM will race the four longest rounds of the WTSC this year, which comprise the North American Endurance Cup, and will also race in the World Endurance Championship, including a run at Le Mans in the LMP2 class.
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Similarly, perennial underdogs Michael Shank Racing will take a crack at Le Mans this year for the first time in their Ligier-Honda. The MSR car has never struggled for pace, but the 2012 winners at Daytona have experienced a variety of heartbreaks that simply seem like bad luck. This will be an important weekend for the Shank team to iron out the bugs and work through a solid driver lineup for Le Mans.
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Resources:
Spotter Guides
http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/16imsa/
http://www.spotterguides.com/portfolio/16imsa/
Full Timetable:
http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/schedules/2016_Sebring_FanFriendlySchedule.pdf
http://www.imsa.com/sites/default/files/schedules/2016_Sebring_FanFriendlySchedule.pdf
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12 Hours of Sebring Race
Saturday, March 19 (All Eastern Daylight Time)
10:30 a.m. to Noon - FOX Sports 1
Noon to to 7:00 p.m. - FOX Sports 2
7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. - IMSA.com streaming
10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. - FOX Sports 1
Saturday, March 19 (All Eastern Daylight Time)
10:30 a.m. to Noon - FOX Sports 1
Noon to to 7:00 p.m. - FOX Sports 2
7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. - IMSA.com streaming
10:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. - FOX Sports 1
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All races and qualifying also on IMSA Radio (via RadioLeMans.com) with audio only.
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