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| The no. 56 BMW RLL Team M3 took the win in another wild GT-class finish at Sebring. |
Grand Touring
The end of the GT race was so wild, even the announcers weren’t sure what had happened.
That was to say nothing of the start. During the second of two formation laps, as the field entered turn 17 anticipating the start, the Luxury Racing Ferrari of Dominik Farnbacher hit the Flying Lizard Porsche of Joerg Bergmeister. The Ferrari was out and the Porsche was badly damaged, although the team eventually made repairs and got the Porsche on track to complete the minimum 70% of race distance required to score points in the ALMS.
Even before the race started, the Falken team had to push to make the grid after performing and engine change after the morning warmup. With only moments to spare, the no. 17 Porsche GT3 RSR driven by Sellers/Henzler/Ragginger emerged on pit road. They would spend more time in the pits later in the race and eventually finish in 11th position.
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| The expected strong challenge from the ESM Ferrari's never materialized after the team's lead car had to replace an alternator belt early in the race. In fact, by the end of the race, only one Ferrari was in contention. |
Nearly all of the Ferrari F458 Italia’s entered ran into trouble. Both the polesitting no. 51 and sister no. 61 cars spent time behind the wall early in the race, while the no. 01 Extreme Speed Motorsports car of Sharp/van Overbeek/Cosmo lost time replacing an alternator belt.
In the latter stages, six GT cars remained on the lead lap. As the positions changed through the pitstop cycles, the two BMW Team RLL M3’s, the Corvette Racing C6.R’s, the no. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, and the no. 77 Felbermayr Porsche GT3 RSR were all on the lead lap.
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| The pair of Corvette Racing C6.R's enjoyed strong runs to second and fourth in GT. |
As the race approached its final laps, Joey Hand - now leading in the no. 56 BMW Team RLL M3 – was having a straight fight for the overall GT honors with the no. 71 AF Corse Ferrari, driven by Olivier Beretta. Just adrift in third was the no. 03 Corvette of Magnussen/Garcia/Taylor. The BMW and the Ferrari exchanged the lead several times on the final laps, with Hand leading as he took the white flag. However, the no. 51 AF Corse Ferrari – sister car to the no. 71 car - appeared to make contact with Hand entering turn five, sending him off course. Beratta, close behind, spun off track in avoidance of Hand.
How's this for the insanity that was the finish in GT?
Hand would gather the car up and take the checkered flag, scoring his second-straight victory in the GT class at Sebring. The no. 03 Corvette would take second, while Beretta got the Ferrari back on track to finish third.
Grand Touring Challenge
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| The no. 023 Alex Job Racing Porsche survived a chaotic GT-C race to take victory, despite contact with another car in the latter stages of the race. |
The class for spec Porsche 911 GT3 Cups was a see-saw affair throughout the whole of the 12 hours. The pair of Alex Job Racing Porsches ran into tire issues throughout the early hours, while the no.30 NGT Motorsports Porsche of Cisneros/Edwards/Kauffmann looked like they would run away with the win until Cisneros had a big off in turn 10, ending their day. This allowed the no. 023 AJR Porsche of Bell/Sweedler/von Moltke to come back to the front with the other NGT Porsche, the no. 031 car, into second.
With two hours remaining, von Moltke was at the helm of the no. 023 AJR Porsche when he was hit in turn 17 by the no. 031 car, being driven by Thiim at the time. Thiim’s Porsche was damaged and the car fell down the order, while von Moltke continued after a quick pitstop to replace a broken wheel.
The no. 023 AJR Porsche, with von Moltke still at the wheel, would take the checkered flag one lap ahead of the sister no. 22 AJR Porsche of MacNeil/Keen/Dumoulin. The Green Hornet Racing Porsche of LeSaffre/Faulker/Bleekemolen was third, two laps behind the winner.
The race can be seen in its entirety on the series website at AmericanLeMans.com. The next round, the Tequila Patron American Le Mans at Long Beach, will be held on April 14th and broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com.
