43 entries confirmed for 12 Hours of Sebring
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| 12 Hours of Sebring |
A total of 43 cars will line up for the 12 Hours of Sebring later this month.
Round two of the IMSA Sportscar Championship follows on from January's Daytona 24 Hours, which was won by the Action Express Racing Cadillac squad.
Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa and Filipe Albuquerque will be looking to extend their championship lead with a victory in the season's second North American Endurance Cup race.
Sixteen entries are set to compete for overall honors in the Prototype category, including ten manufacturer DPi entries and six privately-run LMP2s.
Three Cadillacs – all of which received 10kg weight increases in the pre-event Balance of Performance – will be present, as will the usual two-car DPi entries from Nissan, Mazda and Acura.
The Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac is the defending Sebring winner, with Jordan Taylor joined this year by full-time team-mate Renger van der Zande and IndyCar star Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Other BoP changes effectuated in the Prototype ranks include a 2L fuel capacity increase for the pair of Joest Mazdas, and a 1L fuel tank reduction for the Penske Acuras.
The largest category is GT Daytona with 18 GT3-spec runners, although the Daytona-winning Grasser Racing Lamborghini squad will not be present.
CJ Wilson Racing – the team run by former Major League Baseball pitcher CJ Wilson – is slated to make its IMSA Sportscar debut with a single Acura NSX-GT3.
The trio of Mercedes GTD entries will run with an extra 20kg as mandated by the BoP, but will also possess slightly larger fuel tanks, as will the two Lexus RCFs.
The GT Le Mans category features nine cars that are largely unchanged from Daytona, although Porsche has elected to run only two drivers in each of its 911 RSRs.
Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy will share the #911, while Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber are listed under the #912.
In the BoP stakes, BMW's pair of M8s will receive a 20kg weight break after the RLL squad struggled for pace at the season opener.
Both BMW and Porsche will also have their fuel capacities expanded by 2L.
Sebring will mark the first implementation of a new minimum refuelling time for all classes, which was put into place after controversy surrounding a penalty for the Land Motorsport GTD Audi crew at Daytona.
The 66th 12 Hours of Sebring will take place on Saturday, March 17th.
Previous Race-Winning Drivers (39)
Oliver Gavin – (6) 2001 GTS, 2002 GTS, 2006 GT1, 2007 GT1, 2013 GT, 2016 GTLM
Jan Magnussen – (5) 2006 GT1, 2008 GT1, 2009 GT1, 2015 GTLM, 2017 GTLM
Bill Auberlen – (3) 1995 GTS-2, 1997 GTS-3, 1998 GT3
Dirk Mueller – (3) 2000 GT, 2011 GT, 2012 ALMS GT
Joerg Bergmeister – (3) 2005 GT2, 2008 GT2, 2014 GTLM
Joao Barbosa – (2) 2015 P/Overall, 2012 ALMS P2
Jon Bennett – (2) 2014 PC, 2016 PC
Colin Braun – (2) 2014 PC, 2016 PC
Joey Hand – (2) 2011 GT, 2012 ALMS GT
Sebastien Bourdais – (2) 2015 P/Overall, 2006 GT2
Ryan Briscoe – (2) 2013 P2, 2015 GTLM
Jeroen Bleekemolen – (2) 2013 GTC, 2017 GTD
Patrick Long – (2) 2005 GT2, 2014 GTLM
Mario Farnbacher – (2) 2015 GTD, 2017 GTD
Scott Sharp – (1) 2016 P/Overall
Ryan Dalziel – (1) 2012 WEC P2
Christian Fittipaldi – (1) 2015 P/Overall
Dane Cameron – (1) 2011 LMPC
Ricky Taylor – (1) 2017 P/Overall
Jordan Taylor – (1) 2017 P/Overall
Ryan Hunter Reay – (1) 2011 P2
Johannes van Overbeek – (1) 2016 P/Overall
Pipo Derani – (1) 2016 P/Overall
Nicolas Lapierre – (1) 2011 P1/Overall
Pato O’Ward – (1) 2017 PC
James French – (1) 2017 PC
Kyle Masson – (1) 2017 PC
Romain Dumas – (1) 2008 P2/Overall
Oliver Jarvis – (1) 2013 P1/Overall
Richard Westbrook – (1) 2013 GT
Ben Keating – (1) 2017 GTD
John Potter – (1) 2014 GTD
Andy Lally – (1) 2014 GTD
Christina Nielsen – (1) 2016 GTD
Cooper MacNeil – (1) 2013 GTC
Alessandro Balzan – (1) 2016 GTD
Townsend Bell – (1) 2012 GTC
Bill Sweedler – (1) 2012 GTC
Tim Pappas – (1) 2011 GTC
Previous Pole Winners (17)
Bill Auberlen – (4) 1994 GTU, 1997 GTS-3, 1998 GT3, 2016 GTLM
Olivier Pla – (3) 2012 WEC P2, 2015 P, 2016 P
Oliver Gavin – (3) 2001 GTS, 2003 GTS, 2009 GT1
Dane Cameron – (2) 2011 LMPC, 2014 GTD
Colin Braun – (2) 2013 LMPC, 2016 PC
Jan Magnussen – (2) 2007 GT1, 2012 ALMS GT
Ryan Briscoe – (2) 2013 P2, 2017 GTLM
Gustavo Yacaman – (1) 2017 PC
Tristan Vautier – (1) 2017 GTD
Dirk Mueller – (1) 2000 GT
Sebastien Bourdais – (1) 2014 P
Scott Dixon – (1) 2009 P1
Jeroen Bleekemolen – (1) 2015 GTD
Andy Lally – (1) 2013 GTC
Pedro Lamy – (1) 2006 GT1
Gunnar Jeannette – (1) 2010 LMPC
Joerg Bergmeister – (1) 2010 GT2
Previous Race-Winning Teams (16)
Corvette Racing – (11) 2002 GTS, 2003 GTS, 2004 GTS, 2006 GT1, 2007 GT1, 2008 GT1, 2009 GT1, 2013 GT, 2015 GTLM, 2016 GTLM, 2017 GTLM
Joest Racing (Now known as Mazda Team Joest) – (4) 2003 LMP900, 2009 P1, 2102 WEC P1, 2013 P1
Penske Racing (Now known as Acura Team Penske) – (4) 1964 Proto 15 (P 5000+), 1966 GT13 (GT 5000+), 1968 Trans-Am, 2008 P2/Overall
CORE autosport – (3) 2012 LMPC, 2014 PC, 2014 PC
BMW Team RLL – (2) 2011 GT, 2012 ALMS GT
AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports – (2) 2013 LMPC, 2015 PC
Risi Competizione – (3) 2007 GT3, 2009 GT2, 2010 GT2
Action Express Racing – (1) 2015 P/Overall
Tequila Patron ESM – (1) 2016 P/Overall
Ford Chip Ganassi Racing – (1) 2014 P/Overall
Magnus Racing – (1) 2014 GTD
Performance Tech Motorsports – (1) 2017 PC
Porsche GT Team – (1) 2014 GTLM
Riley Motorsports/Team AMG – (1) 2017 GTD
Scuderia Corsa – (1) 2016 GTD
Wayne Taylor Racing – (1) 2017 P/Overall
Previous Race-Winning Manufacturers
Porsche – 94
Chevrolet – 40
Ferrari – 37
Mazda – 13
Audi – 12
Nissan – 11
Ford – 9
BMW – 7
Acura – 3
Mercedes – 2
Cadillac – 1