Overall winning Action Express Corvette DP at the Hairpin. [Photo by Jack Webster]
All the pieces fell in place for Chevrolet at the 63rd Annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. They swept the overall podium, won the LMPC class and the GTLM Class with the Corvette C7.R. The only class they failed to win was GTD, where Chevrolet had no entries.
Perhaps foreshadowing the events to come later in the day, Jim Hall II piloted his father’s 1965 Sebring winning Chaparral Chevrolet on parade laps around the historic airport circuit prior to the race, in honor of the 50th anniversary of that historic victory, which until this race, was the last time that a Chevrolet powered car had won the 12 Hours of Sebring overall.
It was a beautiful day for racing at Sebring, perhaps a bit hot, with clear skies and the temperature hovering near 90 degrees.
The competition on the track was just as hot as the air temperature and great battles ensued right from the drop of the green flag. A pit collision delayed the pole sitting Krohn Racing Ligier early in the going, and the other P2 cars suffered a variety of problems as well, with the Corvette DP cars pretty much battling for the overall victory for most of the day.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the race came with only 8 minutes remaining and it took place in the GTD class. The #33 SRT Viper was closing very quickly on the #23 Alex Job Porsche, which by this time was completely out of front brakes. Under unrelenting pressure from Jeroen Bleekemolen in the Viper, Mario Farnbacher in the Porsche locked up the brakes going into turn 10 and the Viper shot into the lead. Farnbacher, who did a masterful job of getting the Porsche back on the track and avoiding getting stuck in the sand or hitting the tire wall, came back on course in 2nd place, thinking his shot at victory was over. However, unknown to him for at least a few seconds, the Viper was suffering engine failure on the back straight and by the end of the lap, the Alex Job Porsche was back in the lead and Farnbacher was able to nurse the car with its failing brakes to the finish and victory.
In GTLM, it looked for most of the day like it was going to be a 1-2 finish for the Porsche North America entries, until a faulty gearbox on one car and a stuck wheel nut on the sister car dropped both back in the standings. Corvette, which was in the hunt all day long, took advantage of Porsche’s misfortunes and scored an outstanding class win.
All in all, it was a classic 12 hour race. Just like the Rolex 24 at Daytona there was close competition throughout all the classes, once again showing that IMSA has it pretty much right on the BOP (balance of performance).
Next stop: the streets of Long Beach on April 18.
Here are the overall and class winners:
P Class and Overall winners:
Action Express Corvette DP, driven by Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais and Christian Fittipaldi.
LMPC Class winners:
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet, driven by Tom Kimber-Smith, Mike Gausch and Andrew Palmer.
GTLM Class winners:
Corvette Racing, Corvette C7.R, driven by Antonio Garcia, Jan Magnussen and Ryan Briscoe.
GTD Class winners:
Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing, Porsche 911 GT America, driven by Mario Farnbacher, Ian James and Alex Riberas.
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