Entry Changes
The 37 car entry has seen a couple of changes since the provisional entry was published The LMP3 entry saw an additional car, WIN Autosport adding an LMP3 to their regular LMP2 effort with the #83 Duqueine for Niklas Kruetten and Matt Bell (who have also been named this week as two-thirds of the COOL Racing ELMS LMP3 effort) and Rodrigo Sales.
Forty7 Motorsports left it late to name 2019 IMSA Prototype Challenge Champion Austin McCusker alongside Jim Norman and Oliver Askew in their #7 Duqueine.
There was though a further, even later change for the team as Jim Norman pulled out after Free Practice to be replaced by Steven McAleer in the line-up.
Trent Hindman makes a second appearance for Wright Motorsports as Ryan Hardwick, who is on-site at Sebring, continues his final recovery from a concussion injury suffered in the Michelin Pilot Challenge at Daytona. Also sitting out the race this weekend this time due to an unspecified illness is Misha Goikhberg, Stephen Simpson replaces him in the #19 GRT Lamborghini.
United Commit To More Enduros
The United Autosports ORECA 07, contesting the LMP2 class at Sebring in the hands of Jim McGuire, Guy Smith and Wayne Boyd is set to stay in the US at the team’s newly acquired facility and will contest the remaining enduro races of the season at Watkins Glen and Road Atlanta too.
The ORECA is believed to be the brand new car acquired by the team for a planned and then cancelled second FIA WEC LMP2 entry. United are also evaluating other options in the US.
Qualifying Format
There’s a new qualifying format for the GT Daytona (GTD) class. Each segment is 15 minutes in length. The first will see a Silver- or Bronze-rated driver in each GTD car vying for race starting position decided by the best-timed laps, with the fastest qualifier earning the Motul Pole Award. The second segment mandates a driver change, likely to a Platinum- or Gold-rated professional, to determine the team and driver qualifying points, again set by the fastest laps turned.
Zacharie Robichon, co-driver of the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R along with Laurens Vanthoor and Lars Kern this weekend, said qualifying has been a hot topic of conversation among the drivers and team.
“We’ve been exchanging lots of emails about it,” Robichon said. “It’s certainly going to be different. I think the way we prioritize time during practice will be a little less straightforward than it has been in the past with the two separate qualifying sessions. I think what you’ll see is perhaps a differentiation on how you approach it depending on which race it is. Where the focus will stand over who gets the qualifying stint may change on the individual track and the characteristics.”
The GTD driver who participates in the first qualifying segment must start the race. Teams have the option to change tires between segments but must start the race on the Michelins used in the first segment.
Qualifying for the other WeatherTech Championship classes, Daytona Prototype international (DPi), Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) and GT Le Mans (GTLM) will each remain a single segment that decides both points and race starting position.
The pole winner in every class earns 35 points, with 32 for second fastest, 30 for third and downward from there. With 10 races scheduled for DPi, GTLM and GTD, that means the maximum points equivalent of a race win is available for the taking in qualifying throughout 2021.
“I think it definitely adds a strategy point,” Robichon said. “You can always make up places on the racetrack but you can’t make up points, so I think that’s something that you have to keep in mind.”
This is the first weekend that the new format will be conducted. Qualifying points and race starting position for the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January were determined by results of the Motul Pole Award 100 qualifying race.
Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring qualifying begins at 11:15 a.m. ET Friday and streams live on IMSA.com. The 69th edition of the famed 12-hour race begins at 10:10 a.m. Saturday.
DSC’s Resource Guide for the Sebring 12 Hours can be found here >>
