The IMSA Prototype Challenge Presented by Mazda held the first official race of the weekend in Sebring, Florida.
First in the LMP3 class was the #7 Ligier JSP3 entered by Charles Wicht Racing. Leo Lamelas started the race and Pato O’Ward brought it home with a stellar stint in the second half to bring the car all the way up to the top step of the podium.
TJ Fischer and Austin McCusker piloted the #47 Norma M30 to a second place in class, once again falling short, similar to Daytona earlier in the year. McCusker was passed by O’Ward into turn 13 with ten minutes remaining in the race.
Rounding out the top three was the #30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier JSP3 piloted by Kris Wright and Michael Whelden.
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The pole-sitting #74 in LMP3 lead for a majority of the first half of the race but fell back after going off-track at turn thirteen when trying to pass lap traffic shortly before the pit cycle.
In MPC the 75-year-old Dave House piloted the #86 ONE Motorsports Elan DP02 to a win after surviving some tough battles in the beginning stages of the race.
Paul LaHaye in the sister car to the #75, the #36 Elan DP02 made it a one-two finish in class for the ONE Motorsports team.
Third in class was the #22 Performance Tech Motorsports Elan DP02 driven by Stephen Dawes who took advantage of a late-race retirement of one of its sister car to reach the podium.
That late-race retirement was the #18 Elan DP02 piloted by Wyatt Schwab who stopped the car the exit of the pits, just on the outside of turn one. It appeared to be a mechanical failure on the car, with no visible damage to be seen. That car was running in second place at the time, and came up just ten minutes short of a podium finish.
There were two full-course-yellows in the race, both being brought out by MPC cars who made contact with the walls of the 3.4 mile circuit. First being Robert Masson who’s #11 Elan DP02 had a right front suspension failure in the braking zone. Finally with roughly 25 minutes to go, Tim George went off at the exit of sunset bend.
