IMSA has published the 56-car provisional entry list for the 73rd annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.
All eyes – and ears – will be on the new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH in its IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut at Sebring. Ross Gunn, Roman de Angelis, and Alex Riberas will drive the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie in its maiden voyage, hoping to reach the checkered flag in what is arguably the most demanding endurance race on the IMSA calendar.
The new Valkyrie headlines a 13-car GTP field alongside the Daytona-winning #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Felipe Nasr, Nick Tandy, and Laurens Vanthoor.
Wayne Taylor Racing enters Sebring as the defending winner of the event and after a tough Daytona weekend, the team’s two Cadillac V-Series.Rs will be back in action – including the silver #40 with its retooled lineup of Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, and substitute driver Brendon Hartley (replacing Alex Lynn, as confirmed this week).
Meanwhile, JDC-Miller MotorSports will announce its third driver for Sebring in the coming days; Tijmen van der Helm and Gianmaria Bruni are already set to run the full season in the #85 Porsche.
Mirko Bortolotti, Romain Grosjean, and Daniil Kvyat are also set to resume their Michelin Endurance Cup campaign in the No.63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63, hoping to make up for a frustrating in-season Sanctioned Test at Sebring last month.
The 12 LMP2 entries feature some driver changes since Daytona. Those changes include Juan Manuel Correa in the #2 United Autosports USA ORECA, and Kakunoshin Ohta in the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA.
Inter Europol Competition has also changed its Bronze driver, replacing Jon Field with recent Asian Le Mans Series standout Jeremy Clarke. This will be Clarke’s first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship appearance.
Matias Perez Companc will make his WeatherTech SportsCar Championship debut in the #88 AF Corse car, racing alongside his father Luis, and Nicklas Nielsen.
GTD PRO features 11 cars, including the #20 Proton Competition Porsche 911 GT3 R of Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, and Richard Lietz making a second appearance after Daytona.
Giacomo Altoe will make his first start with DragonSpeed since signing to drive the remainder of the season in the #81 Ferrari 296 GT3. Ford Performance driver Ben Barker will race the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 for the first time, after missing Daytona due to an injury.
But it’s Christopher Mies, Frederic Vervisch, and Dennis Olsen who are looking to complete the ’36 Hours of Florida’ sweep in the #65 Ford after their landmark win in Daytona.
A 20-car GTD field features a couple of notable changes: Antonio Fuoco and Lorenzo Patrese are back behind the wheel of the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari, now rejoined by Giorgio Sernagiotto.
NASCAR driver/commentator Parker Kligerman also returns for his second start in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 EVO2.
The Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring starts Saturday, March 15th, at 10:10 AM EST (local time).
Feature image © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
