Acura gets biggest weight penalty but power increase for Sebring 12 Hours
Acura has been hit with the biggest weight handicap of all GTP manufacturers for the second round of the IMSA SportsCar Championship, the 12 Hours of Sebring, on 18 March.
Acura, Cadillac, Porsche and BMW all had to adhere to the same minimum weight limit of 1030kg for the first race for IMSA's new breed of hybrid-powered LMDh cars, the Daytona 24 Hours in January.
But the sanctioning body has decided to increase the minimum weight by a varying degree for each of the four manufacturers, with the Daytona-winning Acura ARX-06 now required to run at or above 1054kg.
This marks a 24kg increase over the season opener and means the ARX-06 will be 16kg heavier than the rebranded Cadillac V-Series.R, which will now be the lightest car in the category at 1038kg.
The BMW M Hybrid V8 and the Porsche 963 must weigh 1040kg and and 1048kg respectively, without taking into account the driver or the fuel load.
The power figures for Sebring have also been adjusted, although in this case Acura has received the biggest boost.
The Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing-run Acuras will be allowed to race at a maximum power of 520kW, a 20kW bump from Daytona - where power units of all four manufacturers were capped to 500kW.
The Porsche 963 entered by the factory Penske team will be the closest to the ARX-06 in this regard, with the German manufacturer allowed to run at 517kW.
#02 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-LMDh: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard Westbrook
Photo by: Art Fleischmann
The Cadillac (fielded by Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing) and the BMW (entered by the works RLL outfit) have been allotted the same useable power at 513kW.
The maximum energy allowed in a stint has correspondingly been increased to 917kW for the Acura, 912kW for the Porsche and 905kW for both the Cadillac and BMW.
Last year's edition of the 12 Hours was won by the #02 Cadillac of Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani, with the General Motors brand locking out the podium spots between its CGR, AXR and JDC-Miller teams.
MSR goes to Sebring on the back of its second consecutive victory at Daytona, but was hit with a $50,000 fine and a loss of 200 championship points after being found guilty of manipulating tyre pressure data.
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