At the start, the No. 60 pole winning Michael Shank Racing Honda leads the No. 2 Patron Honda with the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette in close pursuit. [Joe Jennings Photo]
By Joe Jennings
Sebring, Fla. – The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring is known to be one of the most demanding endurance races in the world and the 2016 edition turned out to be just that, as competitors had to deal with not only intense competition but heavy rain and scary lightning. And those conditions took place during the first half of the 64th annual event.
When the lightning strikes started, the race was stopped to protect everyone on the grounds, ranging from the racers to the corner workers and to the fans, the latter of whom were advised to take cover. The red flag conditions lasted for 2 hours and 36 minutes.
Racing resumed on a wet track at approximately 4 p.m.
At the beginning, the pole winning Michael Shank Racing Honda powered into the lead closely pursued by a pair of Action Express Racing Chevrolet DPs. The latter duo powered into the lead after the first hour and held command at the halfway point.
By this time, the track had dried and the teams were replacing their rain tires with slick rubber.
The lead Action Express DP was being driven by Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa, Scott Pruett and Felipe Albuquerque. This group completed 86 laps around the 3.74-mile road course.
In the potent GTLM class a pair of factory Porsche’s held command.
A Lamborghini was the GTD class leader with the pole winning PC Challenge car of Colin Braun and company in front.
In a crash at the end of hour 7 that changed the standings in GTLM, the No. 3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and the No. 911 of Kevin Estre crashed hard in turn 1 while battling for second. No injuries were sustained but both factory cars were eliminated from competition.
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