Hour 1
We are past the first hour of a race that for several instances this week looked like it would not happen. It’s a race that took massive amounts of midnight oil, cash as a lubricant, and sheer luck to bring to the start line. That it began several hours after it was to have finished is of little concern.
Even the start was fraught as a significant squall blew through, leaving every inch of asphalt and concrete wet and greasy. Yet, somehow everyone behaved and as darkness (and dryness) began to envelope central Florida we not only had a clean race but an energetic and close one.
Markus Winkelhock led from pole in the Rutronik Audi, but chased all the way by the twin Herberth Porsches of Marco Seefried (#92) and Renauer twin Robert (#91), as well as two drivers with ample Sebring experience (Charles Espenlaub, #85 CP Racing Mercedes and Kenton Koch, (#710 Leipert Lamborghini). Max Hesse in the “We’re Only Here to Test” BMW lurked behind the GT3 leaders.
GT4 featured a particularly pleasant tussle between Kyle Marcelli (#489 RENNtech Mercedes) and Ian James (#423 Heart of Racing Aston Martin), another two names well known and liked in IMSA circles. That class also contained the only two cars to experience trouble during the first hour as the BMWs of Jon Miller (#438 ST Racing) and Catesby Jones (#421 Team ACP-Tangerine) both made early pit stops.
The relatively relaxed pace on the still slick track (times around 2:18) allowed everyone to remain out a relatively long time and when the stops were unscrambled the CP Mercedes cycled to the front. The TCE division leaders remained out even longer allowing the dominant class leader Antti Buri in the #112 Autorama VW to rise to 7th overall. There is still no sign of the late entering Red Camel leased Porsche Cayman.
Hours 2-4
Apart from a couple of significant blips coming at about the two hour and then five-hour mark, the 1st Sebring 24 Hours has settled into a steady pattern reminiscent of the middle portions of most 24 hour races.
The first incident was a decidedly more than love tap when the #499 Car Collection Audi collected THE BMW while braking. Both headed to their respective enclosures deep in the still quite empty paddock. After replacement of much of the rear and underbody of the works M4 it returned to the fray, but a loss of 20 laps rendered it uncompetitive. The Audi is similarly out of contention.
The second incident led to the race’s first retirement and first Code 60 period, or as one American wag called it, a Code 37.2823. It occurred when Jean-Francois Brunot deranged the front of the Ginetta and the tire wall at Turn 16, but fortunately not himself. Its demise meant that the Ligier JS2 R was now in sole possession of the TCX class crown.
At the front, the whole of the GT3 class kept a steady pace with the top three on the lead lap for hour after hour. They are the #10 Leipert Lamborghini, the #18 pole winning Rutronik Audi and the better of the two Herberth Porsches, #91, three marques 1-2-3, not bad. No one eeked out a tempo on the others, no pit stop undercuts, nothing. They matched every move and even the driver rotations have led to parallel lap times. Such duels can be tedious or, for us endurance fans, enthralling.
Only the #92 Herberth Porsche and #85 CP Mercedes have blinked, and even then just an eye flutter. The timing and length of the stops of all five cars was been close with only the driver lap times making the difference. Fortunes do change and #10 was scratched as a front-runner, just like that. At just short of 5 hours, Dennis Fetzer appeared to run out of fuel on the Ullman Straight, necessitating a flat tow and a Code 60.
Some form of electrical bother has seemed to provide drama to the Autorama Golfs, putting them off the TCE / TCR leader board. The metronomic Audi of AC Motorsport took a very dominant lead in that group. The NOLASport Cayman which had a very indifferent practice and qualifying came alive in recent hours, moving to the head of GT4. The 991 class remained quite tight with the Romanian entered but Italian managed (by Ebimotors) Porsche in front of the congenial Tracy Krohn’s lime green 991-II.
Halfway, One Sebring 12 Hours Down, One Sebring 12 Hours to Go
We are at halfway and the ding-dong battle between the #91 Herberth Porsche and the #18 Rutronik Audi shows no sign of abating. They share the lead lap with the spot changing hands at each stop. One other car remains in the hunt, the #85 CP Racing Mercedes. The All-American German car has been running its own pace and can only hope that the race will come to them while the two German German teams ahead would need to stutter. The CP team have been a bit off of the leaders since the start thanks to remaining out perhaps a tad too long on wets way back at the rainy start. The Herberth and Rutronik teams are the key rivals for the GT title, with a likely winner take all scenario.
The cars further back have been delayed, the #92 Herberth Porsche twice bringing out Code 60s, once stranded at pit entrance and right at halftime off at the end of the Ullman Straight. The #10 Leipert Lamborghini is similarly back several laps having run afoul of several excursions and dings, at least once with the non-homologated BMW GT3. The works demonstration run which had begun so promisingly may have called it a day.
At the other end of the scale, Colin White reanimated the #278 TCX entry. The unretired Zombinetta maybe 150 laps off of the TCE division lead but are still within a shout of taking that championship. Its resurrection meant that for at least a brief period all of the 23 starters were still running late into the race. The aforementioned BMW may have slipped away and is likely joined by the #989 GTX Porsche Cup car of MRS GT-Racing. Raulino Kreis, Jr. went off hard at the end of the front straight. The incident and subsequent repairs resulted in the longest neutralization, of about 40 minutes.
Others with less troubled delays include the #907 Tracy Krohn Porsche in which the owner went off near the Green Park bridge. Its delay has left the Willi-Ebimotors entry in firm control of the 991 class. The GT4 class has been tight most of the race although nearly all the cars had short delays. The NOLASport Porsche, #470, is just clear of the recovering Aston Martin (#423 Heart of Racing). Both the RENNtech Mercedes and the ST Racing BMW are only a couple of laps behind.
The TCE contest mimics the GT tussle with the top two cars on the lead lap and both aiming at the season championship as well as the race win. It is now the AC Motorsport Audi about a half-minute clear of the very fast #1 Autorama VW.
The weather remains dry and humid. What has been very un-Sebring like is that given the relative paucity of cars there can be long quiet gaps even under green flag conditions.
Update: as this update was being filed Charles Espenlaub was off the circuit at the hairpin in the CP Racing Mercedes AMG.
