With three hours left, the Sebring 12H could be completely up for grabs in the last hour with multiple contenders for the overall win converging on their fuel strategies after a recent Full Course Yellow for debris on track.
Sebastien Bourdais leads the race in the #01 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R, followed by Felipe Nasr, who’s on board to the finish in the #7 Porsche Penske Motorsports 963.
Both of these cars pitted in lockstep with about two hours and 15 minutes to go, but would not have been able to make it to the end on one more stop until the caution came out.
The #40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, which would have been primed to take the lead and the win, now runs third with Louis Deletraz aboard; Connor de Phillippi runs fourth and Philipp Eng is fifth in the #25 and #24 BMW M Hybrid V8s.
However, the #6 Penske Porsche isn’t in the lead battle any more after spinning out of the lead with just under three hours left, and losing two laps to repair damage after a puncture.
Race Control ruled no further action was needed in the earlier collision between Makowiecki and Katherine Legge which ended Gradient Racing’s race – but Makowiecki wouldn’t get away unscathed. He suffered a left-rear puncture and spun out of the lead which he’d taken by forgoing a routine fuel stop under the preceding Full Course Yellow.
It was around this time that the #10 WTRAndretti Acura had to make a long service stop to remedy the car’s intermittent smoking problem. Fluid began to get on the headers, and the car lost a lap which it has since regained after the most recent FCY.Col
What we do know is that Mikkel Jensen leads LMP2 aboard the #11 TDS Racing ORECA 07-Gibson.
Jensen’s co-driver Hunter McElrea made a three-wide pass around the #22 United Autosports USA ORECA of Bijoy Garg, using the GTD Pro leader Jack Hawksworth as the pick for an outstanding overtake around Sunset Bend – which could be the winning move in class for TDS Racing.
In second is the #04 CrowdStrike Racing by APR ORECA driven by Colin Braun. Ben Hanley is third in the #2 United ORECA, and in fourth is the #52 Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA.
In GTD Pro, it’s the #3 Pratt Miller Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R which leads, as Daniel Juncadella will now have to hold off the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 of Hawksworth to take the class win.
Behind them and also primed to make a move for the win are Mirko Bortolotti in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in third, and Laurin Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R in fourth.
And in GTD, master strategist Sean Heckman is rolling the dice for Magnus Racing. Andy Lally stayed out under this last FCY and will restart with the lead in the #44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3.
Should the #44 falter, the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Philip Ellis is running second, with Elliott Skeer in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche in third and a rampant Antonio Fuoco in fourth, driving the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3.
The race is set to go green soon – it’s all to play for!
Feature Image © Jack Webster / Dailysportscar.com
