Action Express leads first two Sebring 12 Hours practice sessions
The Action Express Racing team took an early stranglehold on Sebring 12 Hour proceedings as its two entries locked out both of Thursday's opening IMSA SportsCar Championship practice sessions
Dane Cameron lapped the 3.74-mile circuit in an unbeaten time of 1m52.447s in the morning's hour-long session in the #31 Chevrolet Corvette DP, 0.779 seconds clear of the #5 sister car.
That was piloted by Scott Pruett, who will race in both of the team's machines this weekend.
The Daytona-winning Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier wasn't far off the pace in third in the hands of Johannes van Overbeek in the morning, while Oswaldo Negri Jr set the fourth fastest time in Michael Shank Racing's own Ligier JSP2.
In the afternoon session Christian Fittipaldi's early lap of 1m53.850s meant it was the #5 car that ended second practice with the fastest time, while Pruett - this time in the #31 - rose to second once more with a fast lap in the final five minutes.
The #25 BMW Team RLL led the GT Le Mans field in the opening session, while in GT Daytona Jeroen Bleekemolen set the pace in the Riley Motorsports Dodge Viper GT3-R, also in the morning session.
There was no repeat of the promising pace that the DeltaWing was able to display at Daytona, as its drivers struggled in the Floridian sunshine.
Katherine Legge was at the wheel of the DeltaWing-Elan/Mazda DW13 in the opening hour of practice but clouted the Turn 17 wall with 20 minutes of the session remaining, causing a red flag.
In the afternoon, Andy Meyrick could manage only the 11th-fastest time in the Prototype field, marginally quicker than Prototype Challenge pacesetter Jonathan Bennett in the #54 CORE Autosport ORECA FLM09.
LEADING PRACTICE ONE TIMES
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | D.Cameron, E.Curran, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m52.447s | - |
2 | C.Fittipaldi, J.Barbosa, F.Albuquerque, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m53.226s | 0.779s |
3 | S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, P.Derani | Tequila Patron ESM | Ligier/HPD | 1m53.312s | 0.865s |
4 | J.Pew, O.Negri, O.Pla | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Ligier/HPD | 1m54.132s | 1.685s |
5 | H.Hedman, N.Lapierre, N.Minassian | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Nissan | 1m54.180s | 1.733s |
6 | R.Taylor, J.Taylor, M.Angelelli, R.Barrichello | Wayne Taylor Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m54.283s | 1.836s |
7 | R.Dalziel, M.Goossens, R.H.-Reay | Visit Florida Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m54.483s | 2.036s |
8 | J.Bomarito, T.Nunez, S.Pigot | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m55.091s | 2.644s |
9 | J.Bennett, C.Braun, M.Wilkins | CORE Autosport | ORECA/Chevrolet | 1m55.469s | 3.022s |
10 | J.Miller, T.Long, B.Devlin, K.Ihara | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m55.529s | 3.082s |
LEADING PRACTICE TWO TIMES
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | C.Fittipaldi, J.Barbosa, F.Albuquerque, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m53.850s | - |
2 | D.Cameron, E.Curran, S.Pruett | Action Express Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m54.283s | 0.433s |
3 | C.de Quesada, D.Morad, C.Lawrence, D.Farnbacher | Alegra Motorsports | Riley/BMW | 1m54.334s | 0.484s |
4 | J.Pew, O.Negri, O.Pla | Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Ligier/HPD | 1m54.428s | 0.578s |
5 | R.Dalziel, M.Goossens, R.H.-Reay | Visit Florida Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m54.581s | 0.731s |
6 | H.Hedman, N.Lapierre, N.Minassian | DragonSpeed | ORECA/Nissan | 1m54.701s | 0.851s |
7 | J.Bomarito, T.Nunez, S.Pigot | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m54.947s | 1.097s |
8 | R.Taylor, J.Taylor, M.Angelelli, R.Barrichello | Wayne Taylor Racing | Corvette/Chevrolet | 1m55.015s | 1.165s |
9 | J.Miller, T.Long, B.Devlin, K.Ihara | Mazda Motorsports | Lola/Mazda | 1m55.747s | 1.897s |
10 | S.Sharp, E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, P.Derani | Tequila Patron ESM | Ligier/HPD | 1m55.972s | 2.122s |
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