37 cars will take part in an official IMSA Sanctioned Test at Sebring International Raceway next Tuesday through Thursday, 11-13 February.
In the GTP class, two of Team Penske’s IndyCar Series standouts will test either of the Porsche Penske Motorsport 963s. Fresh off his run with Trackhouse by TF Sport at Daytona, Scott McLaughlin will drive the #6 Penske Porsche for the first time in an IMSA Sanctioned Test. His Penske IndyCar teammate Josef Newgarden will be back aboard the #7 Porsche for the first time since winning the 2024 Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Newgarden, the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion also raced at the 2023 Petit Le Mans in a Porsche Penske Motorsport GTP car – but he only drove short stints in both races in comparison to the full-time Porsche factory drivers.
The new Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH will also be testing ahead of its IMSA debut at the 2025 Sebring 12 Hour. Ross Gunn and Roman De Angelis were already announced as the full-time drivers of the #23 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie, and they’ll be joined at the Sebring test by Alex Riberas, who has a full-time ride in one of the FIA WEC Aston Martins.
JDC-Miller MotorSports will give 29-year-old English driver Sennan Fielding (below) his first test in a Porsche 963. Fielding won the 2022 British GT Championship GT4 title and has spent the last two years in the Michelin Le Mans Cup with Steller Motorsport in GT3 and LMP3 machinery.
Ten GTP cars are entered, with the absence of the #40 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R due to accident damage sustained at Daytona, and the #63 Lamborghini Squadra Corse SC63.
In LMP2, Honda factory driver Kakunoshin Ohta will test the #18 Era Motorsport ORECA 07. Ohta tested with Era Motorsport in preparation for his GTP debut with Acura Meyer Shank Racing, and is expected to add select LMP2 races to his busy 2025 schedule that also includes two more outings in the #93 Acura ARX-06, and his full-season campaign in Super Formula.
After making his VP Racing SportsCar Challenge debut at Daytona, Matias Perez Companc will test the #88 AF Corse ORECA alongside his father Luis. Jonny Edgar will test both ‘Spike’ and ‘Rexy’, turning laps in AO Racing’s #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R in GTD PRO as well as the #99 ORECA LMP2.
Ben Barker is expected to return to the cockpit of the #64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3, after a collarbone injury sidelined him from Daytona.
GT classes will run on Tuesday, then all four classes will run on Wednesday – before closing with prototype-only tests on Thursday.
Feature image © Jack Webster
