IMSA’s three-day Sanctioned Test at Sebring International Raceway concluded with the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 setting the quickest time of the day in consecutive days.
After Mathieu Jaminet led Wednesday’s leaderboard in GTP, it was co-driver Matt Campbell’s turn to do the same on Thursday morning. The best lap of 1:48.215 wasn’t just the leading time of the day, but the best time of the entire test.
The #10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R was second-fastest in the morning session with a 1:48.576 turned in by Louis Deletraz. Deletraz and Jordan Taylor split time in the #10 Cadillac as their regular #40 was unavailable due to damage sustained in the Daytona 24 Hours.
In third place was Felipe Nasr aboard the #7 Penske Porsche (1:48.613).
The #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie continued to find pace and log laps after some troubles to start yesterday. Tom Gamble, added to the car today after two days in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, turned in the car’s best lap of the day, a 1:50.097, during the final session in the afternoon.
That afternoon session was led by the #31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Earl Bamber (1:48.996), followed by the two bare carbon BMW M Team RLL cars – the #25 M Hybrid V8 of Marco Wittmann and the #24 of Dries Vanthoor. The top four in this seventh and final session of the week were separated by just 0.056s, going back to fourth-place Filipe Albuquerque in the #10 WTR Cadillac.
20 cars were scheduled to run today at Sebring, but in a disappointing turn of events, the #63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63 did not run due to a mechanical problem discovered during yesterday’s tests.
A spokesperson from Lamborghini told DSC: “We were caught off-guard with a premature issue. We therefore preferred to analyze the issue at our workshop and end the testing program early. We have been analyzing all the data collected from the first test day and are working on a robust solution in time for Sebring race. We cannot comment further for now.”
Romain Grosjean ran 95 laps in the Lamborghini yesterday with a best time of 1:49.926.
Of note, Penske IndyCar Series stars Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden each got to drive the #6 and #7 Porsches, respectively, during the final day of the test. Comparing the two, McLaughlin did 92 laps with a best time of 1:49.453, versus 44 laps and a best time of 1:50.334 from 2024 Daytona 24 Hours winner Newgarden.
Antonio Serravalle, the former Isotta Fraschini Hypercar driver, was a late addition to JDC-Miller MotorSports’ line-up for this test. The young Canadian did 54 laps in the #85 Porsche, and his best lap was one-tenth up on the best from Englishman Sennan Fielding, who completed 57 laps.
In LMP2, the morning session was led by Paul di Resta in the Daytona class-winning #22 United Autosports USA ORECA 07, with a 1:49.957. Bijoy Garg was second-fastest for Inter Europol Competition, and Hunter McElrea was third for TDS Racing.
Felipe Fraga set the fastest time in the afternoon aboard the #74 Riley ORECA, with McElrea in second, and Mathias Beche in the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA – now in its fresh teal livery for 2025 – in third place.
RESULTS >> SESSION 6 | SESSION 7
Images © Michael L. Levitt / IMSA / LAT
