After three hours of racing at Sebring, it’s all Porsche at the head of the field. The two Penske-run 963s sit first and second after charging to the front in the laps following the most recent safety car restart in the third hour.
Laurin Heinrich stole the headlines with his performance, carving through the field from ninth at the green flag, eventually making the pass for the lead in traffic on Louis Deletraz’s #40 Cadillac through traffic at T16 before opening out a 12-second lead. It was a remarkable turnaround for the #7, which was recovering from a drive-through penalty that cost the Rolex 24 winners valuable track position in the second hour.
Behind sits Laurens Vanthoor, who steered the sister #6 Penske Porsche to second. The #10 Wayne Taylor Cadillac hit the race’s quarter mark in third place, with the field back under safety car due to a huge multi-car incident at the final corner in the closing minutes of the hour.
The original shuffle to the GTP order, after the opening hour, came as a result of the first major incident of the race, which occurred in the closing stages of Hour 2.
Henrik Hedman caused the caution after being on the receiving end of a swipe from PR1’s Parker Thompson heading into Turn 3. The Swede was rudely sent off track and hard into the guardrails and later the tyre barriers by the front-running ORECA, severely damaging the front-right corner of the DragonSpeed team’s Corvette, forcing the team to begin extensive repair work. Better news was that Hedman climbed out on his own after the hard hit.
Thompson, meanwhile, was handed a five-minute stop-go penalty for his role in the incident, dropping him from second to 11th in LMP2 and two laps down.
During the safety car period for the clean-up, the Whelen Cadillac – which had already lost the lead in the pits and dropped to third, suffered a significant setback. Earl Bamber was forced to take an unscheduled stop for rear-end bodywork repairs after being hit while in the safety car queue.
The pole-sitting V-Series.R required a new engine cover and rear wing following the contact, which came from the #6 Porsche Penske 963 of Laurens Vanthoor. The Cadillac came off the worst of the two and dropped to ninth, but rose to sixth by the end of the third hour. The 963 didn’t get away unscathed, though, as it has taken headlight damage from the impact.
The second major incident of the race occurred as the third hour drew to a close. It all began when Sebastien Priaulx in the #65 Ford Mustang and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the Risi Competizione Ferrari were caught on camera spinning at the exit of the final turn.
The Mustang ended up in the barriers with light contact, while the Ferrari ended up stranded in the middle of the road. Unfortunately for Pier Guidi, he was hit, and hit hard, by Russell Ward in the #57 Winward Mercedes-AMG, who was left with nowhere to go, forcing both cars into retirement with accident damage.
TV cameras didn’t catch the start of the incident, but race control deemed that no further action was necessary after its investigation.
However, Priaulx did confirm later that there was contact between the Ford and Ferrari. “I just got tagged from the rear, my car was struggling in the last corner and I just got hit,” he said to the broadcast. “It was unfortunate to get tagged; we’re struggling with understeer after the contact. Luckily, it wasn’t race-ending.”
Either way, the hit between the Ferrari and AMG put a sudden end to Risi’s chances of a fourth Sebring win and reigning GTD winner Winward’s defence.
Back to the running order, which will undoubtedly shuffle again during the round of stops under safety car, the #60 Acura MSR ARX-06 sat fourth in GTP, with the #24 BMW fifth as the third hour ticked over.
In LMP2, it’s the #8 Tower ORECA out front, with the #22 United example second and the AO’s car third.
Manthey’s strong start to the race in GTD Pro continued through the second and third hours of the race. It leads the class with Klaus Bachler in the ‘Grello’ 911. The #77 AO Porsche added another 1-2 to the list for the German brand. The pole-sitting #14 Lexus completes the top three.
It’s better news for Ferrari in GTD, as AF Corse’s #21 296 leads the way. The Heart of Racing Aston Martin, which has led the class for much of the opening portion of the race, is second.
