Sebring 12H: Ganassi Cadillac overcomes late drama to win

Following a blisteringly hot spring day at the Florida venue, the battle in the overall Daytona Prototype international class swung back and forth between Cadillac and Acura throughout the day.

Acura held a 1-2 for a time in the heat of the afternoon, but as high daytime temperatures receded the Cadillacs showed their true dominance at the business end in the darkness. 

After its pole-sitting #1 Cadillac DPi-V.R hit transmission dramas from the opening lap, Ganassi’s #02 car – shared by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Neel Jani – hit the front just as the sun went down and the longest green flag run of the race occurred.

There was late drama, however, when Bamber – who had just taken over the #02 – clipped the #13 AWA Duqueine LMP3 car into a spin with just over an hour remaining. That lost his lead to the JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac of Richard Westbrook, in which he was partnered by defending event winners Loic Duval and Tristan Vautier. 

Bamber quickly set about atoning for his error and chased down Westbrook, retaking the top spot with 58 minutes to go. Astonishingly, further around the lap, Bamber then clipped a GTD Ferrari and spun, handing the lead back to Westbrook.

Bamber had to overturn a 6.5s deficit to Westbrook and passed him again with 45 minutes left on the clock, as the Briton came across a wayward GTD car. 

Acura's challenge imploded, most notably when Will Stevens rejoined his Wayne Taylor Racing ARX-05 via the wrong pit exit – using the lane reserved for the penalty box and not the RFID gate – which led to a costly drive-through penalty. 

The Meyer Shank Racing Daytona 24 Hours-winning version of Oliver Jarvis, Tom Blomqvist and Stoffel Vandoorne was delayed when the Belgian was attacked by the #31 Action Express Racing Cadillac of Pipo Derani that had led at half-distance. 

Podium: #02 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Neel Jani

Photo by: Chris duMond / Motorsport Images

AXR's #31 car shared by Derani, Tristan Nunez and Conway recovered from that spin, and one earlier by Conway, to complete an all-Cadillac top three ahead of the #10 WTR Acura Stevens shared with Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque, and MSR’s #60 car.

The other Action Express Cadillac, the endurance-only #48 Ally Racing entry, suffered a left-front brake disc failure with two hours to go, dropping it to sixth.

In LMP2, the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA of Scott Huffaker, Ben Keating and Mikkel Jensen dominated from start to finish, winning the class by a full lap.

Racing Team Nederland trio Giedo van der Garde, Frits van Eerd and Dylan Murry finished second, ahead of Era Motorsport’s Ryan Dalziel, Kyle Tilley and Dwight Merriman. 

In LMP3, the Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier of Malthe Jakobsen, Joao Barbosa and Lance Willsey held off the Jr III Racing version of Garrett Grist, Dakota Dickerson and Ari Balogh by some 48s.

Reigning class champion team Riley Motorsports’ race was ruined when the car driven by Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson and Kay van Berlo hit a Porsche GTD car and split its radiator. 

#3 Corvette Racing Corvette C8.R GTD: Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Nicky Catsburg

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Corvette wins in GTD Pro 

In GTD Pro there was some sensational racing as Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, Lexus and Lamborghini all fought hard near the head of the class. 

Corvette led the majority of the race, and its single-car attack was anchored by an impressive triple stint from Nicky Catsburg in the heat of the afternoon.

His team-mate Antonio Garcia brought the C8.R home to class victory after some solid stints from Jordan Taylor too. 

The #24 Rahal-run BMW M4 GT3 was its closest challenger until it was forced into an extra pitstop to top-up on oil, which allowed the TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo of Mirko Bortolotti, Andrea Calderelli and Marco Mapelli to take second, just four seconds behind the Corvette.

Lexus was on course to claim third until late drama struck the Vasser Sullivan RC F GT3 shared by Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat and Aaron Telitz, which handed the final podium spot to the WeatherTech Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Jules Gounon, Maro Engel and Cooper MacNeil.

That also left the ailing BMW of Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly fourth ahead of the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell and Mathieu Jaminet.

In the Pro-Am GTD class, Bill Auberlen was denied victory in his 500th start for BMW in Turner Motorsports’ new M4. Having earlier been savaged into a spin by Antonio Fuoco’s Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo, the Italian proved to be his nemesis by coming back from the penalty to pass the American for the lead in the final hour. 

#47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GT3: Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, Antonio Fuoco

Photo by: Chris duMond / Motorsport Images

The Cetilar Ferrari, also driven by Roberto Lacorte and Giorgio Sernagiotto, had spun twice earlier – including one off that damaged its door against the tyrewall at Turn 1 – but proved quickest in class by far when it stayed on the road. 

The Auberlen, Robby Foley and Michael Dinan-driven BMW fell to fourth in the closing stages, as Auberlen risked going over his maximum drive time.

That dropped the Turner car behind the Gilbert Korthoff Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella, Stevan McAleer and Mike Skeen and the AF Corse Ferrari of Luis Perez Companc, Toni Vilander and Simon Mann that rounded out the podium. 

Sebring 12 Hours result:

Cla	Class	Num	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time
1	DPi	02	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Neel Jani	Cadillac DPi	351	12:01'46.148
2	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier Richard Westbrook Loic Duval	Cadillac DPi	351	12:01'52.619
3	DPi	31	Pipo Derani Tristan Nunez Mike Conway	Cadillac DPi	351	12:02'00.764
4	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor Filipe Albuquerque Will Stevens	Acura DPi	351	12:02'13.106
5	DPi	60	Oliver Jarvis Tom Blomqvist Stoffel Vandoorne	Acura DPi	351	12:02'13.769
6	DPi	48	Mike Rockenfeller Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Cadillac DPi	346	12:03'29.046
7	LMP2	52	Ben Keating Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker	ORECA LMP2 07	345	12:02'11.676
8	LMP2	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Dylan Murry	ORECA LMP2 07	344	12:01'56.235
9	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman Kyle Tilley Ryan Dalziel	ORECA LMP2 07	344	12:03'27.909
10	LMP2	11	Thomas Steven Josh Pierson Jonathan Bomarito	ORECA LMP2 07	343	12:02'07.664
11	LMP2	22	Jim McGuire Guy Smith Duncan Tappy	ORECA LMP2 07	342	12:01'55.274
12	LMP2	20	Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach Fabio Scherer	ORECA LMP2 07	340	12:02'49.469
13	LMP3	33	Joao Barbosa Malthe Jakobsen Lance Willsey	Ligier JS P320	331	12:02'28.758
14	LMP3	30	Ari Balogh Garett Grist Dakota Dickerson	Ligier JS P320	331	12:03'17.344
15	LMP3	38	Daniel Goldburg Rasmus Lindh Cameron Shields	Ligier JS P320	323	12:02'21.719
16	GTD PRO	3	Antonio Garcia Jordan Taylor Nick Catsburg	Corvette C8.R GTD	323	12:03'10.748
17	GTD PRO	63	Marco Mapelli Andrea Caldarelli Mirko Bortolotti	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	323	12:03'15.186
18	GTD PRO	97	Cooper MacNeil Jules Gounon Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG GT3	322	12:02'03.294
19	GTD PRO	24	Philipp Eng Marco Wittmann Nick Yelloly	BMW M4 GT3	322	12:03'01.419
20	GTD PRO	9	Matt Campbell Mathieu Jaminet Felipe Nasr	Porsche 911 GT3 R	322	12:03'14.579
21	GTD PRO	79	Cooper MacNeil Julien Andlauer Alessio Picariello	Porsche 911 GT3 R	322	12:03'27.370
22	GTD	47	Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GT3	321	12:02'03.776
23	GTD	32	Mike Skeen Stevan McAleer Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3	321	12:02'53.124
24	GTD	21	Simon Mann Luis Perez Companc Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GT3	321	12:03'03.964
25	GTD	96	Robby Foley Bill Auberlen Michael Dinan	BMW M4 GT3	321	12:03'39.495
26	GTD PRO	14	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	320	11:57'54.330
27	GTD PRO	93	Ashton Harrison-Henry Kyle Marcelli Tom Long	Acura NSX GT3	320	12:02'52.784
28	GTD	70	Brendan Iribe Ollie Millroy Jordan Lee Pepper	McLaren 720S GT3	320	12:02'58.896
29	GTD	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	319	12:02'55.477
30	LMP3	13	Orey Fidani Kuno Wittmer Lars Kern	Duqueine D08	319	12:03'00.500
31	GTD PRO	62	Daniel Serra Davide Rigon Eddie Cheever III	Ferrari 488 GT3	318	12:02'17.049
32	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo Scott Andrews Richard Heistand	Lexus RC F GT3	318	12:02'22.583
33	GTD	99	Rob Ferriol Katherine Legge Stefan Wilson	Porsche 911 GT3 R	318	12:02'53.536
34	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett Colin Braun George Kurtz	Ligier JS P320	308	12:02'04.503
35	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande Sébastien Bourdais Ryan Hunter-Reay	Cadillac DPi	307	12:02'10.727
36	GTD	28	Michael de Quesada Daniel Morad Maximillian Goetz	Mercedes-AMG GT3	306	12:02'16.575
37	GTD	16	Ryan Hardwick Zacharie Robichon Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	305	12:02'07.805
38	GTD	66	Kyffin Simpson Till Bechtolsheimer Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3	305	12:02'08.395
39	GTD	57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Marvin Dienst	Mercedes-AMG GT3	287	12:02'31.324
40	GTD	39	Robert Megennis Corey Lewis Jeff Westphal	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	287	12:03'33.051
41	GTD	59	Jon Miller Patrick Gallagher Paul Holton	McLaren 720S GT3	276	11:15'45.247
42	LMP3	40	Max Hanratty Todd Archer James Vance	Duqueine D08	262	12:01'53.094
43	GTD	27	Roman De Angelis Ian James Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	256	12:02'45.710
44	GTD	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Erik Johansson	BMW M4 GT3	256	12:03'45.641
45	GTD PRO	25	Connor de Phillippi John Edwards Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	246	12:02'21.527
46	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Kay van Berlo	Ligier JS P320	232	9:06'53.343
47	GTD PRO	23	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	230	11:21'54.594
48	LMP2	8	John Farano Louis Deletraz Rui Andrade	ORECA LMP2 07	220	10:04'29.211
49	LMP3	7	Mark Kvamme Anthony Mantella	Duqueine D08	204	9:08'03.784
50	LMP3	6	Efrin Castro Moritz Kranz Ugo De	Duqueine D08	128	6:23'24.639
51	GTD	42	Don Yount Jaden Conwright Mateo Llarena	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	105	3:57'50.669
52	LMP2	81	Henrik Hedman Juan Pablo Montoya Sebastian Montoya	ORECA LMP2 07	83	2:41'34.276
53	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti Josh Burdon Gabby Chaves	Ligier JS P320	1	11'18.877
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