Sebring International raceway will see it’s first full-fledged twice around the clock international race this weekend. It is the brainchild of Creventic, the Dutch-based company that has sanctioned the Dubai 24 Hours since 2006. They gradually expanded the concept into a series of 24 and 12-hour races held around Europe, culminating in it being fully recognized by the FIA in 2015. They have visited the US twice before with 24-hour events at COTA a few years back.
Heavy weather in the Atlantic forced a change to the start date for the race – that will now run Saturday/ Sunday rather than the planned Friday/ Saturday – aside from that though it’s ‘as-you-were’ for the weekend!
Creventic races include both GT and Touring categories, with regular SRO spec GT3s at the top, GT4, separate classes for Porsche Cup cars and the room for various non-homologated GTs. The Touring division typically has mostly current TCRs with some older and non-homologated models as well.
The 24H Series, as it has come to be known, is notable for several innovations such as the virtual safety car. They pioneered the Code 60 system, which requires cars to effectively remain in place and circulate at 60 km/h during an incident without the need to deploy a safety car. It has proven to be more efficient and less disruptive than other forms of neutralization and has been adopted broadly. Creventic also employs other unusual features such as the use of a central fuel depot rather than replenishing at the pits. Crews use standard pistol grip hoses rather than the quick release.
The Creventic races have developed a delightful blend of pro and am teams and drivers. Their races have become places to try out new wares, dust the cobwebs off of older cars (and drivers!) and generally have both a productive and fun time. The Dubai 24 Hours is the cream of this notion, having become THE January kickoff of the sports car season, the warm climate attracting Europeans and North Americans. The Sebring 24 Hours is bound to bookend this idea with a cosy send off to the season. It will be an opportunity for many Europeans to become acquainted with a very tough track—they will likely be truly surprised.
The 24H races have often been test beds for new models such as the Audi R8 Evo 2 this year and in the past it previewed the Mercedes GT4, the Renault RS01, and iterations of the Aston Martin and Glickenhaus. This month factory BMW team will bring the brand new M4 GT3 to Sebring for its first run on American shores. Famed BMW man Bill Auberlen will lead that effort.
The balance of the field features an excellent mix of series regulars and American guests. Several of the European based teams will field one or more Americans in their driver lineup.
GT3 is highlighted by the ongoing battle between two Porsches entered by German team Herberth Motorsport and the decidedly American CP Racing Mercedes. While this team has run all the Creventic races for the past several years their lineup of Shane Lewis, Joe Foster, Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman should require no introduction to long-time IMSA fans. Wright Motorsports is an American Porsche team that has been successful in many series and will run their first Creventic race at Sebring.
Creventic has a wonderfully healthy attitude to inclusion. It’s not quite the ‘run what you brung’ ethos of lower level endurance series but more one of ‘bring something good and we’ll find a place for it.’ GTX is one of the classes where you find interesting things you won’t see elsewhere such as the Vortex. It is a French built close-top tubeframe that uses a Chevrolet LS1 engine. Fast, not always reliable, but vastly entertaining, the Vortex appeals to fans of 1980s and 1990s IMSA when creative ideas could regularly be seen.
Nic Jonsson and Tracy Krohn had largely fallen off American fans’ radars after earlier spells in IMSA, although they have been active at Nürburgring and elsewhere. Sebring marks their return to the US with a 991 class Porsche. They will be joined by another famous American GT specialist, Andy Lally.
The GT4 class is perhaps the most North American in the field. It is dotted with regulars from the IMSA Pilot Challenge and SRO America series such as Team ACP-Tangerine Associates BMW, NOLASport’s Cayman, RENNtech Motorsports’ Mercedes, and Heart of Racing’s Aston Martin. Indeed, while their principal opposition is a Creventic regular, ST Racing is also from these shores, owned by Canada’s Samantha Tan, who is currently the top female driver in the series, this before ST step up to the GT3 class at Dubai with a pair of new M4 GT3s. Another well-known Canadian, Kyle Marcelli, will be aboard the RENNtech Mercedes which also sees a return to major league race by the Ducote family—David, Chapman and Wayne.
The TCR battle should feature a tight fight between a pair each of Audis and Volkswagen Golfs that have traded spots all season. As in the GT division, there is TCX class for cars that don’t fit other Touring categories. TCX will include a US based Ginetta and also a French entered Ligier JS2 R. The latter is a low volume special with a 3.7 litre Ford Duratec V6 that has developed a quite popular single-make series in Europe. Sebring will offer Ligier a chance to make an impression to potential American clients.
One thinks that the European contingent is in for a rude awakening. First of all, their documents refer to the track length as 6.019 kilometres, not 3.74 miles, and their principal sponsor as Hankook “Tyres” – cute. There has been an adage that 12 hours at Sebring is more than one-half of the Le Mans 24 Hours. It refers to the roughness of the surface which contrasts with the billiard table smoothness that Creventic runners usually find at their F1-groomed European haunts. This will be a journey deep into the uncharted swamps of central Florida for cars and drivers unlike.
You can follow the streaming with expert commentary plus comprehensive timing at the series website, 24hseries.com. We’ll see what unusual creatures emerge!
