Orlando, FL (February 12, 2012) – With the final tune-up completed last week at the historic Sebring Raceway, the upcoming Mobil 1 12 hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida looks to be thrilling. For the 60th running of the race, it will also be the first race for FIA World Endurance Championship this is a partnership between the ACO and the FIA. This is a new championship that will be global competition that takes place this season on three continents and eight countries.
With this being the last open test, Flying Lizard Motorsports was one of three teams is trying to get their new Porsche GT3 RSR up to speed. Paul Miller Racing and Team Falken are the other two customer teams. The four new 911 GT3 RSRs will be competing in the American Le Mans Series. The car can also compete at the Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA World Endurance Championship, and the Le Mans Series, as well as the International GT Open and in other series and races according to a Porsche release.
“Our customer teams can expect a technically mature, high performance race car with which they will be highly competitive at international long distance races,” assures Hartmut Kristen, Head of Porsche Motorsport. “Our test program on various international race tracks is currently running at full speed. We are very pleased with the car’s performance and drivability.”
Extreme Speed Motorsports was testing their three Ferrari 458’s and when you have a driver like Gianmaria Bruni at the test, you know Ferrari is very serious about this season. Ferrari has a storied history at Sebring with 12 overall wins and 20 class victories.
Corvette with their new look seemed happy with their test. Announced last month as the third driver for the Sebring, LeMans and Road Atlanta endurance races, new driver Jordan Taylor, will be teaming up with veterans, Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia. This a great opportunity for him and was able to chat Jordan about his test. He was just thrilled about being picked for the chance to drive for Corvette because the competition just to get the seat is like winning a race. He added, “There aren’t a lot of pportunities like this around.” This shows that the ladder system and hard work does pay off. Here is Jordan who started in Go Karts and progressed to this point, moving up a class almost every year. Taylor adapted quickly to both his new race car and new team. “It’s been exciting so far, being teamed with Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia for the three long-distance races,” Taylor said. “It’s a lot of pressure, but also a huge opportunity for me to drive with these guys and to learn from them. Every time I get out of the car, I compare the data with them to see where I can improve,” Taylor explained. “Yesterday Jan was helping me with Turn 1 and now I’m on pace with the quicker guys. Things are going really well so far!”
There are was another American driver also there and that is Joey Hand. Hand has been a long time BMW driver and he will be driving in the European DTM series this year and is very happy to get this chance. He said he has had a couple of tests and is really feeling good about the team and opportunity. He said they started to gel right at the first test and really feels that he could be contender.
According to Audi Sport, Audi Team Joest has entered two cars for the new FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Audi plans to field additional cars at selected races such as the 12-hour race at Sebring (USA) and in the 6-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium) which doubles as a dress rehearsal for Le Mans for the Audi squad. At the 80th running of the French endurance classic, Audi competes with the start numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’ (hybrid drive) as well as ‘3’ and ‘4’. As stipulated by the regulations one driver per car is now nominated. Those drivers are Andr
Eddie has been involved in motorsports for over 30 years as photographer, columnist, and driver. Eddie also is now a retired racer (well, retired unless a good ride pops up).
Eddie LePineOn The RoadUnited SportsCar Championship