Sebring 12 Hours: Ganassi's Pruett, Rojas and Franchitti take win
Chip Ganassi Racing claimed victory in the Sebring 12 Hours at the first time of asking in a dramatic 62nd running of North America's oldest enduro
The Ganassi Riley-Ford EcoBoost DP shared by Scott Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti won the second round of the new United SportsCar Championship by just under five seconds as nine cars in the Prototype class finished on the lead lap.
The winning Ganassi car looked out of it after Rojas and then Franchitti spun over the course of the final two hours, but an early stop just before the safety car came out for one final time gave Franchitti track position for what turned out to be a 20-minute run to the flag.
Franchitti exploited the three cars lined up between him and chasing fellow Scotsman Ryan Dalziel to open up a six-second lead over the first two green-flag laps.
Dalziel, who shared his Extreme Speed Motorsports HPD ARX-03b LMP2 with Scott Sharp and David Brabham, came back at the Ganassi Riley over the final five minutes before settling for second after hitting traffic two laps from home.
Franchitti said: "When I was backwards at the hairpin, I didn't think it was going to happen. To be honest the car was a real handful."
The best of the Action Express Racing Coyote-Chevrolet Corvette DPs driven by Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais appeared on course to repeat its victory in the USC-opening Daytona 24 Hours late in the race.
Bourdais was the fastest man on the track early in the final hour and closing down race leader Dalziel with ease before the yellow flags came out.
The Action Express car dropped to fourth in the pits, then quickly took third from Olivier Pla in the OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan LMP2 after the restart.
But Bourdais was unable to challenge Dalziel and ended up four seconds adrift of the ESM car at the chequered flag.
CORE PORSCHE WINS GTLM
An early stop for the factory CORE Autosport Porsche 911 RSR gave Jorg Bergmeister track position for the run to the flag in the battle for GT Le Mans class honours.
The German, who shared the car with USC regulars Patrick Long and Michael Christensen, had a clear advantage over the chasing SRT Viper GTS-R driven by Jonathan Bomarito when the race went green and had no problems completing a Daytona-Sebring double for CORE and Porsche.
The best of the factory Chevrolet Corvette C7.Rs looked on course for class honours in the hands of Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Robin Liddell until the closing stages.
Two spins for Gavin and a fuel pump problem, which also delayed the sister Corvette earlier in the race, left the car sixth at the finish.
Prototype Challenge honours went to the CORE ORECA-Chevrolet FLM09 driven by Colin Braun, James Gue and Jon Bennett. Braun came out on top over the RSR Racing entry driven by Bruno Junqueira over the final 20 minutes.
An early final pitstop was also crucial in victory for Magnus Porsche drivers Andy Lally, John Potter and Marco Seefried in the GT Daytona class.
Results - 291 laps:
Pos Cl Drivers Team/Car Time/Gap
1. P Pruett/Rojas/Franchitti Ganassi Riley-Ford 12h00m09.985s
2. P Sharp/Dalziel/Brabham Extreme Speed HPD +4.682s
3. P Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais Action Express Corvette DP +8.965s
4. P Pla/Brundle/Yacaman OAK Morgan-Nissan +11.994s
5. P Brown/van Overbeek/Pagenaud Extreme Speed HPD +17.027s
6. P Dixon/Kanaan/Karam Ganassi Riley-Ford +17.837s
7. P Angelelli/Taylor/Taylor Taylor Corvette DP +34.229s
8. P Frisselle/Frisselle/Fogarty Action Express Corvette DP +39.559s
9. P Pew/Negri/Wilson Shank Riley-Ford +40.568s
10. PC Bennett/Braun/Gue CORE FLM +3 laps
11. PC Ende/Junqueira/Heinemeier Hansson RSR FLM +3 laps
12. GTLM Long/Christensen/Bergmeister CORE Porsche +5 laps
13. GTLM Bell/Bomarito/Wittmer SRT Viper +5 laps
14. GTLM Auberlen/Priaulx/Hand RLL BMW +5 laps
15. GTLM Krohn/Jonsson/Bertolini Krohn Ferrari +5 laps
16. GTLM Henzler/Sellers/Holzer Falken Porsche +6 laps
17. GTLM Gavin/Milner/Liddell Corvette +6 laps
18. GTLM Farnbacher/Goossens/Hunter-Reay SRT Viper +7 laps
19. GTLM Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe Corvette +8 laps
20. GTLM Tandy/Lietz/Pilet CORE Porsche +9 laps
21. PC van der Zande/Bird/Fuentes/Cheng Starworks FLM +10 laps
22. PC Miller/Kraut/Simpson JDC/Miller FLM +11 laps
23. GTD Potter/Lally/Seefried Magnus Porsche +13 laps
24. GTD Sweedler/Bell/Mediani/Segal AIM Ferrari +13 laps
25. GTD James/Farnbacher/Riberas Alex Job Porsche +13 laps
26. GTD MacNeil/Keen/Frommenwiler Alex Job Porsche +13 laps
27. GTD Neiman/von Moltke/Albuquerque Flying Lizard Audi +13 laps
28. GTD Mies/Putman/Espenlaub Fall-Line Audi +13 laps
29. P Westbrook/Valiante/Rockenfeller Spirit Corvette DP +13 laps
30. P Tremblay/Long/Devlin SpeedSource Mazda +13 laps
31. GTLM Muller/Edwards/Werner RLL BMW +14 laps
32. GTD Cameron/Dalla Lana/Palttala/Lewis Turner BMW +14 laps
33. GTD Canache/Pumpelly/Latif/Winkelhock Flying Lizard Audi +15 laps
34. GTD Plumb/Snow/Heylen/Plumb Rum Bum Porsche +18 laps
35. GTD Faulkner/Faieta/Avenatti GB Porsche +19 laps
36. GTD Sofronas/Welch/Basseng GMG Audi +20 laps
37. PC Kimber-Smith/Marsal/Lux/Rayhall 8Star FLM +20 laps
38. GTD Miller/Haase/Bell Miller Audi +21 laps
39. GTD Griffin/Cioci/Rugolo/Gerber Spirit of Race Ferrari +21 laps
40. GTD Roda/Ruberti/Venturi Spirit of Race Ferrari +28 laps
41. P Curran/Said/Cosmo Marsh Corvette DP +42 laps*
42. GTD Dempsey/Davis/Foster/Siedler Dempsey Porsche +47 laps
43. GTD Davis/Riddle/Wilson TRG Aston Martin +49 laps
44. GTD Lindsey/Vess/Estre/Norman Park Place Porsche +56 laps
45. GTD Case/Marcelli/Balzan/Westphal Corsa Ferrari +57 laps*
46. PC Bielefield/Ducote/Plowman/Drissi BAR1 FLM +63 laps
47. GTD Block/Carter/Davison TRG Aston Martin +76 laps
* Not running at finish
P Graf/Luhr/Mardenborough Pickett ORECA-Nissan 204 laps
P Pace/DeFoor/Hinton Highway Riley-Dinan 200 laps
P Meyrick/Legge/Chaves DeltaWing 185 laps
GTD Bamber/Gimple/Melgrati Muhlner Porsche 154 laps*
PC Cumming/Tagliani/Mitchell RSR FLM 125 laps
GTD Engelhart/Ineichen/Konrad Dempsey Porsche 113 laps
PC Kearby/Hamilton/Kasemets BAR1 FLM 112 laps
P Miller/Nunez/Vautier SpeedSource Mazda 104 laps
PC Guasch/Montecalvo/Jeannette PR1/Mathiasen FLM 89 laps
PC Shears/Matos/Ostella Performance Tech FLM 88 laps
GTLM Bruni/Malucelli/Fisichella Risi Ferrari 62 laps
GTD Cisneros/Nielsen/Giermaziak NGT Porsche 61 laps
GTD Lindsey/Vess/Estre/Norman Park Place Porsche 34 laps
P Mayer/Kaffer/Saavedra/Popow Starworks Riley-Honda 26 laps
GTD Bleekemolen/Bleekemolen/Keating Riley SRT Viper 13 laps
GTD Bamber/Verdonck Muhlner Porsche 0 laps
* Running again at finish
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