Audis lead Sebring at halfway mark

The leading No. 2 Audi

Bob Heathcote

Audi’s two R10 TDIs sat 1-2 at the halfway point of the 56th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida on Saturday afternoon with Marco Werner leading Dindo Capello by 13.177 seconds. The two diesel entries were the first of five cars on the lead lap as the season-opening race for the American Le Mans Series entered the seventh hour.

Audi took control in the third hour when the race-leading Peugeot spent significant time in the pit lane with mechanics working on the hydraulics of the factory prototype. Nic Minassian and Pedro Lamy had dominated the early going for the Peugeot, leading by more than 30 seconds over the Audis, Penske Racing’s Porsche RS Spyder and Andretti Green Racing’s Acura ARX-01b. Marco Andretti drove the opening three stints for AGR and took the overall lead into the second hour, following in the footsteps of grandfather Mario, who last led at Sebring as he won the race for the third time in 1972.

Emmanuel Collard ran third overall and first in LMP2 in Penske’s lone remaining RS Spyder. The No. 6 entry was retired early due to overheating. Second in class was Chris Dyson in Dyson Racing’s first Porsche followed by the lead Acura ARX-10b of Andretti Green Racing and driver Bryan Herta.

Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen led GT1 by 10 laps in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R. The trio of Magnussen, Johnny O’Connell and Ron Fellows had a virtually flawless run in the opening six hours. The No. 4 sister car wasn’t as fortunate, having to undergo a driveshaft replacement in the race’s second hour. Bell Motorsports’ Aston Martin DBR9 was running third in class.

Wolf Henzler took the lead in GT2 just shy of the halfway point when the top two runners suffered heavy damage when they collided with each other. Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo apparently lost braking on his Ferrari F430 GT and ran through the hairpin turn, taking out Dirk Werner’s Porsche 911 GT3 RSR from Farnbacher Loles Racing. Just like that, Henzler went from two laps down into the lead.

A second Flying Lizard Porsche with Alex Davison at the wheel was second in class, one lap behind its sister car. Tafel Racing’s No. 73 Ferrari was third in GT2 with Pierre Ehret driving.

6-Hour Standings