IMSA | Sebring: Acura defeats Cadillac, Ferrari-Lamborghini on the podium

Acura achieved its first victory of the season in the IMSA SportsCar Championship in a breathtaking finale to the 12h of Sebring, which, as often happens in the American series, was only decided in the final laps.

For large stretches it was the Cadillacs that fought for the top, until the inclusion of the Porsches, but the 11 neutralizations with Full Course Yellow and Safety Car often shuffled the cards, arriving at the final half hour with all the cars lined up to compete records and podiums.

In the LMP2 Class, another coup for Era Motorsport which does an encore after Daytona, while a very fast sprint in the GTD PRO Class rewards Lexus at the expense of Ferrari, with Mercedes taking the glory in GTD.

GTP: Delétraz at his last breath

When they say 'he had 5 minutes'… This is how the Acura race can be summed up thanks to a very cool Louis Delétraz who, with just as much time on the clock, mockingly overtook Sébastien Bourdais's Cadillac, achieving the first victory of 2024 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti.

It hadn't been an easy race up until then for the Swiss and the J.Taylor/Herta duo, however capable of always keeping their ARX-06 #40 in the wake of Cadillac and Porsche, ready to take advantage of the opportunity that presented itself in final, when on the restart from the last FCY with 30' to go, the big group gave life to exciting battles in playing for everything.

And so the triumph of Acura forces a Cadillac to another bitter second place after that of Daytona, this time for the #01 of Chip Ganassi Racing. Bourdais/Van Der Zande/Dixon also fought with some electrical problems, but above all they were protagonists of a duel 'at home' General Motors against the V-Series.R #31 of Derani/Blomqvist/Aitken and for long stretches the LMDh Americans equipped with a Dallara chassis seemed to have the pace to lengthen.

The many neutralizations often canceled out the good gaps gained by the Cadillacs, but in the 8th hour Derani came into contact with Miguel Molina's #21 Ferrari, crashing straight into the barriers and overturning onto the tire wall. The Brazilian remained upside down waiting for the crane for several minutes, but fortunately escaped unharmed.

#31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken, Tom Blomqvist

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

This gave the Porsches the opportunity to enter the game for the lead and in the end it was the 963 #7 of Team Penske driven by Cameron/Nasr/Campbell that took third place tooth and nail, also because their team mates #6 – Makowiecki/Jaminet/Tandy – slowed down in the 10th hour due to a puncture on the left rear, probably caused by a previous contact had by 'Mako' with Katherine Legge's Acura, sent into the wall at the last corner, but without receiving penalty. At the finish line the official 963 was ninth, behind the private #5 of Proton Competition driven by Bruni/Andlauer/Picariello.

The BMWs of De Phillippi/Yelloly/Martin (#25) and Krohn/Eng/Farfus finished in fourth and sixth place; the former also fought to defend the momentary lead grabbed in the 9th hour thanks to neutralizations, while the latter slipped back first due to a puncture and then due to a blow to the rear. However, Team RLL's M Hybrid V8s never gave the impression of having the right pace to compete, still managing to finish with good points.

Among the Bavarian cars there is the Acura #10 of R.Taylor/Albuquerque/Hartley, which also took the lead with a couple of hours to go before returning to the pits to fix a small problem with the rear, with noticeable smoke coming out of the hood for several turns.

The debut of the Lamborghini SC63 in the hands of Cairoli/Caldarelli/Grojean ended with a 7th place; the SC63 managed by Iron Lynx had no particular problems and achieved its objective of completing the race, although it still did not have the ideal pace to keep up with its rivals and fought at times to avoid being lapped.

The #85 Porsche of Van Der Helm/Westbrook/Hanson (JDC-Miller Motorsports) is out in the 7th hour.

#18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2-Gibson: Dwight Merriman, Ryan Dalziel, Connor Zilisch

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

LMP2: the second Era

Era Motorsport concedes an encore after Daytona, going on to take a daring success in the LMP2 Class also at Sebring.

Evidently the Florida air galvanizes the Oreca #18 team of Merriman/Dalziel/Zilisch, capable of making the best use of the last restart from FCY-SC, despite having almost never been in contention for the podium.

But the final round of stops mixed with neutralization put the blue 07-Gibson in front, which outpaced the #11 of TDS Racing in the hands of Jensen/Thomas/McElrea by 1″1.

In the category it must be said that there have been continuous changes at the top, with the ranking often shuffled and in the balance until the grand finale. The one who has something to complain about is certainly United Autosports USA, third with the #22 of Goldburg/Di Resta/Garg, but also down to 10th with the #2 of the lively Pino/Hanley/Keating.

Despite some problems and penalties, the Ligier of Sean Creech Motorsport driven by Willsey/Barbosa/Edgar rose to 4th place, followed closely by the Oreca #74 of Robinson/Fraga/Burdon (Riley).

Instead, Smiechowski/Boulle/Dillmann are bitterly bitter with the #52 of Inter Europol by PR1 Mathiasen, fighting for several stretches for the positions that count, as do Lindh/Jakobsen/Hedman who are seventh at the wheel of the #81 of DragonSpeed.

In the Top10 there are also Andersen/Lucas/Horr (#20 MDK by High Class) and Kurtz/Braun/Sowery with the #04 of APR, also protagonists of a bitter ending with loss of positions and potential podium.

However, the #88 of AF Corse (Wadoux/Pérez Companc/Nielsen) was out in the 3rd hour due to technical problems after a previous spin with a hit to the barriers for the South American, while Farano/Dinan/Eastwood (#8 Tower) and Hyett/Chatin also retired /Brabham (#99 AO Racing) due to accidents.

#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

GTD PRO: Lexus for a paste

It was a heart-pounding sprint that rewarded the Lexus in the GTD PRO Class, which got the better of the Ferrari by just 0″121. Here too the leading laps were wasted, but the RC F #14 of Hawksworth/Barnicoat/Kirkwood he did his utmost to stay out of trouble, despite a Drive-Through discount for almost hitting his own mechanic during the second stop.

Hawksworth overtook Daniel Serra's 296 #62 20' from the checkered flag by throwing himself inside the Brazilian in turn 1, with the latter trying everything to regain the lead from the Vasser Sullivan Racing boy, but in vain.

At Risi Competizione the race didn't start well because a contact at the start sent Davide Rigon to the rear, who was also lucky to cross the track perpendicularly without being overwhelmed by the group following him. Together with James Calado, the Maranello drivers patiently recovered (also serving a Drive Through penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pit lane), reaching their second podium of the season after the triumph at Daytona.

Nice comeback third place also for the Lamborghini #19 of Iron Lynx of the Perera/Pepper/Bortolotti trio, protagonists of a very solid race and very good at taking advantage of the last half hour to get behind the fearsome BMW #1 of Sellers/Sow /Verhagen (Paul Miller Racing) and the #23 Aston Martin of Gunn/Riberas/Farnbacher (Heart of Racing).

The Lamborghini #60 of Schiavoni/Pulcini/Cressoni (Iron Lynx) also came from behind, followed by the Ford Mustangs of Multimatic which with Tincknell/Rockenfeller/Mies (#64) and Hand/Muller/Vervisch (#65) took the lead points, despite having struggled compared to the competition.

A 35″ penalty for not having served a Drive Through causes the #77 Porsche 'Rexy' of Heinrich/Priaulx/Christensen (AO Racing) to fall off the podium, a race to forget for the Pratt Miller Corvettes, with the #3 of Garcia/Sims/Juncadella was thrown out at the end when she was fighting to win, while the #4 of Milner/Catsburg/Bamber had clutch problems at the start and collapsed in the order.

An event that should also be quickly dismissed for the McLaren #9 of Pfaff Motorsports given that Kirchhöfer/Jarvis/Hinchcliffe suffered contact right from the start and reported various problems, despite attempting to return to the race after very long pit stops.

#57 WINWARD Racing Mercedes AMG GT3: Russell Ward, Philip Ellis, Indy Dontje

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

GTD: Mercedes redemption

After the Pole time was canceled due to a technical infringement, the Mercedes-AMG #57 of Winward Racing made a great comeback by climbing back up to success in the GTD Class.

Ellis/Ward/Dontje did very well to make up ground in the first part of the race, and then got in front already in the 3rd hour and resisted the attacks of their rivals, the last of which was Antonio Fuoco with the revived Ferrari #47 of Cetilar Racing.

Not an easy race for the blue 296 shared by the Calabrian with Lacorte/Sernagiotto, struggling with a couple of penalties, but on the rise in the last hour with the wild official Maranello driver, who first overtook the Wright Motorsports Porsche #120 (Adelson/Skeer/Heylen) – third at the finish line – and finally looking for the gap to pass Ellis without however being successful.

De Angelis/Robichon/James find themselves in fourth place with a pinch of bitterness at the end of a good race at the wheel of the Aston Martin #27 of Heart of Racing, a solid performance instead for Goikhberg/Spinelli/De Francesco in the Lamborghini #78 of Forte Racing, finishing in Top5.

Foley/Gallagher/Walker in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW was sixth, followed by the #70 McLaren of Iribe/Schandorff/Millroy (Inception Racing) and the #43 Lamborghini of Andretti/Chaves/Hargrove (Andretti Motorsports).

Top10 finally completed by the Corvette #13 of Fidani/Bell/Kern (AWA) and the Aston Martin #44 of Potter/Lally/Pumpelly (Magnus Racing), the Ferraris #34 of Conquest Racing and #023 of Triarsi Competizione remain empty-handed who were competing for the Top5 until a couple of hours before the finish line.

IMSA – 12h of Sebring: Final Standings