World News – AU – Sebring 12 Hours: Mazda wins the race, Acura takes the title

With 2 hours and 40 minutes to go to car No. 6 of Team Acura in hands of Juan Pablo Montoya I carried 4. 7sec leads Pipo Derani from Action Express Racing, with Olivier Pla and Ryan Hunter-Reay in third and fourth places in Mazdas, with JDC-Miller Cadillacs from Loic Duval and Matheus Leist in fifth and sixth places.

However, Mazda drivers were on the verge of getting an unexpected bonus, because Dirani 10 minutes later was on Montoya’s tail. He tried to pass at turn 10, but ran away, dashing into the grass by Montoya at the corner exit. Dirani responded in the fifth turn in a failed attempt at a pass. Rotated Montoya to and from fourth place, while both sustained a penalty and lost three laps to repair damage..

This resulted in Mazdas 1-2 starting, and Pla gradually pulled away from the 55th car now driven by Jonathan Pomaretto, who was 90 minutes before launch was under heavy pressure from Duval.

Next, Pla agitated from the lead by 80 minutes to hand him over to Oliver Jarvis, while Duvall instigated the # 5 JDC-Miller and ceded his seat to Borday. Bomarito stops next time to give No. 55 to Harry Tincknell, with Montoya giving up # 6 Acura ARX-05 to Dane Cameron. This Acura go to the platform’s website.

Unfortunately, the Cadillac # 5 AXR will have to return to the pits to get a new rear end after being hit in the rear by a Porsche # 912, and so Pordies fell behind teammate Scott Andrews, two laps of the lead.

Suddenly, Jarvis sprinted toward victory 25 seconds before the sister car, suffered a hole in the left-hand rear and ran off the road at Turn 10. Then, as Mazda drove into the potholes, he let go of the tire, spraying the car body straight onto the back and causing the first full-lane warning of about three hours..

That left Tinknell in the lead over Cameron, Jarvis and Stephen Simpson in the # 85 JDC-Miller and Bordyce. After the last reboot 17 minutes before the end of the match, Cameron and Jarvis had an impressive second-place duel, nine seconds behind Tinknell, even after two laps from the end Cameron consolidated his lead and finished second.. .

The team’s biggest celebration was, after seven laps, Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves – with the skilled help of Alexander Rossi – clinched the second successive Acura Team Penske title. It’s Hilio’s first tournament since 1989!

After a slight struggle with Porsche at the end of the third quarter, the BMW M8 # 25 looked as if it had been made, especially when the Jordan Taylor No.3 Corvette suffered from the failure of the rear left suspension. But both Earl Bamber (appeared in # 912) and Fred Makewski in # 911 kept Porsche heavily in play in the tag final (for now) IMSA GT Le Mans. The BMW # 24, unfortunately, suffered from brake problems that cost the crew a lap, which put them in fourth place.

Nick Tandy took over the driving of # 911 in the final two stages, and after his final stop 40 minutes earlier, he left Connor de Felipe nine seconds ahead in the # 25 BMW M8 he shared with Colton Herta and Bruno Spengler. The yellow Mazda car brought Tandy and Bamber to close range, but they didn’t need to do anything because GTD driver Lawson Achenbach did it for them, trying to follow De Felipe by bypassing the GTD captain. He missed the throttle point and sent the BMW off the track, so the M8 had to do a drill to fix the hole.

And so Tandy and Bamber were left first and second place, lap behind Krohn, and signed the GT Le Mans project in perfect style. It was Sebring’s third straight win for Tandy and Makovetsky.

With nearly two hours left to start the race, Matt McMurray’s Acura NSX relinquished class lead to Alessandro Balzan’s Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488, then Wright Motorsport’s Porsche 911 GT3R from Pat Long, but his margin over Riley Motorsports who Fourth place Mercedes-Benz AMG GT3 was 20 seconds, so the MSR Championship looked safe.

Long stopped with 1h47m to hand him over to Jan Heylen. The Belgian then reduced his deficit against Balzan until he was less than a second behind, 80 minutes before the match. . Ten seconds earlier, MSR Acura’s Mario Farnbacher was trying to snatch third place out of the heart of the Aston Martin Vantage for Roman De Angelis, but in reality both were lowered by Lawson Achenbach at Riley Mercedes during the following period.

Balzan boosted his lead over Heylen to 4 seconds by the time they both qualified for under 55 minutes – along with third-placed Achenbach – and when they appeared, Jeff Westphal was at Ferrari and it was 11 seconds ahead of Long who quickly gave up For the second driver of a Mercedes driver.

After his last restart, Aschenbach tried to follow BMW’s flagship GTLM after Westphal and instead collided with the rear of the German car and sent it to Ferrari and off the track. Not only did Achenbach get a penalty, he also suffered terminal damage at Mercedes.

That let Pat Long win the Wright Motorsports Porsche race he shares with Heylen and Ryan Hardwick, and while that wasn’t enough to stop MSR Acura claiming the title by finishing third, it was Wright’s first win this year.. Equally admired, Roman de Angelis led HoR Aston Martin to the runner-up position.

Sebring International Racetrack, 12 Hours of Sebring, WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, International Motorsports Association, Motorsports