Porsche’s Nick Tandy leads at Sebring with just 2 hours to go, as things start to get serious with the race now under full darkness.

Tandy, in the #7 Porsche, has just overtaken the #31 Cadillac of Frederik Vesti, with a daring move going into the fast final corner, Sunset, with Vesti almost putting the Porsche into wall as he defended.

Tandy’s teammate Matt Campbell is third in the sister #6 Porsche.

Since the half way mark, the race ran cleanly for some time, but two full course yellows neutralised the race for a significant period. The first was for Casper Stevenson in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3, who had spun at Sunset Bend, the final corner.

The other FCY was immediately after, with the race green for mere seconds. Mathias Perez Companc had spun, also an Sunset, and hit the wall hard in the #88 AF Corse Oreca, with the car out on the spot and craned over the wall.

The race so far has been a dogfight between the #31 Cadillac and the #7 Porsche, and it shows no sign of stopping yet. Behind the top 3 is Renger van der Zande in the #93 Acura ARX-06, with Tristan Vautier in the #5 Proton Porsche in fifth.

In LMP2, Rasmus Lindh in the #22 United Autosports Oreca leads, with Toby Sowery second in the #04 Crowdstrike by APR Oreca second, less than a second back. Sebastien Bourdais is third in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca, around 7 seconds back.

Dan Harper leads in GTD PRO for BMW, with the #48 Paul Miller BMW M4 GT3 Evo driver around four seconds ahead of Klaus Bachler in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3R. And in GTD, Parker Thompson is out in front in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, with Indy Dontje second in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3. Third in class is Tom Sargent in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche.

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#40 Acura ARX-06 driver Colton Herta holds top spot and is leading the way with two hours to go in the 12 Hours of Sebring as the IMSA GTP top dogs split into alternate pit strategies.

An eighth full course yellow kicked off the final four hours of this year’s Sebring Enduro, as the #55 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 lost a portion of its undertray on the exit of Turn 1.

The leader of the chasing pack behind Martin changed hands with approximately three and a half hours of running remaining as Ricky Taylor in the #10 Acura ARX-06 passed the #6 Porsche 963 of Mathieu Jaminet.

Taylor immediately set about challenging Martin and was on the tale of the #25 car in moments, but smoke from the rear corner of the #10 Acura was cause for concern, although the car continued to run with aplomb.

Meanwhile, Colin Braun had stretched out a handy advantage of nearly 40 seconds in LMP2 and the battle for first and second in GTD roared on between Madison Snow in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 and Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette C8.R.

As the ninth hour continued and with smoke still pouring out the back of his car, Taylor pounced on Martin to take the lead into Turn 10 amongst a gaggle of traffic.

The smoke was still bellowing from the car when Taylor pitted to hand over driving duties of the #10 to Brendon Hartley, but there was no issue as it pulled away and retained the lead after the pit stop cycle had been completed amongst its competitors.

With almost nine hours gone, another full course yellow was triggered with Katherine Legge in the GTD #66 Acura NSX GT3 pushed side-on into the final corner outside wall by Fred Makowiecki in the #6 Porsche 963 GTP machine.

Legge got out of the Acura GT3 machine under her own power, but the #66’s race was done.

The caution carried the field into the start of the 10th hour with Harltey leading GTP and overall, Connor Zilisch leading LMP2 in the #18 Era Motorsport Oreca, Sims leading GTD Pro in the #3 Corvette and Anders Fjordbach leading GTD in the #86 MDK Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Shortly thereafter the pit road opened for the prototype entries and save for the #6 and #5 Porsches, plus the #63 Lamborghini, the entire GTP contingent elected to pit, with the rear deck and engine cover coming off of the #10 Acura to investigate the source of its smoking issue, namely using too much oil too quickly.

The Acura lost a lap whilst the mechanics did their work in pit-road, leaving the #10 car in eighth.

The entire LMP2 contingent elected to pit at the same time and Zilisch handed over the driving duties of the class-leading #18 car to Ryan Dalziel.

With the sun starting to set, the prototypes clear of pit road and caution ongoing, the bulk of the GTD Pro/GTD competitors took their turn to pit.

Makowiecki led the field back to green with two hours and 45 minutes remaining having avoided punishment for his part in Legge’s retirement.

But then fate played its hand on Makowiecki and the #6 span off at Turn 7 with bodywork damage and a punctured rear left tyre compounding his issues with speculation hinting the car was plagued by problems following its earlier contact with the #66 car.

As the #6 slowly trundled back to the pits, Matt Campbell in the #7 Porsche inherited the lead.

Campbell had to fend off Van der Zande in the #01 Cadillac, plus Nick Yelloly and Augusto Farfus in the two BMWs as the top four went nose to tail through a sea of traffic.

Campbell and Van der Zande elected to take early stops shortly before the 10-hour mark, with the latter swapping driving duties with Sebastien Bourdais, making way for Colton Herta in the #40 Acura to take the lead after passing Yelloly in the #25 BMW.

Herta’s lead of Yelloly sits at approximately six and a half seconds with just two hours left to run, with the second BMW of Farfus completing the overall top three so far.

In LMP2, Nico Pino leads the way in the #2 United Autosports Oreca, ahead of Hunter McElrea in the #11 TDS Racing entry and Toby Sowery in the #04 Crowdstrike car.

Ben Barnicoat leads GTD Pro in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, ahead of Franck Perera in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and Davide Rigon in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3.

In GTD, Indy Dontje leads the way in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG-GT3, ahead of Antonio Fuoco in the Cetilar Racing #47 Ferrari 296 GT3 and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli in the Conquest Racing #34 Ferrari.

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BMW’s Maxime Martin leads at Sebring with 4 hours remaining, as the race steams towards its final stages.

Martin, in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, assumed the lead in the pitstop cycle after Pipo Derani’s huge crash about 30 minutes before the four hour mark. The Brazilian, in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R, had led for much of the race alongside his teammates Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist. But Derani’s crash, which saw him flip the Cadillac after contact with the #21 Ferrari of Miguel Molina, has blown the race wide open.

The race is currently under yellow again, the eighth FCY, for debris from a Ford Mustang which went over the grass and lost some of the diffuser bodywork.

Second is Mathieu Jaminet in the #6 Porsche 963, and third is Ricky Taylor in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06. At the restart after Derani’s crash Jesse Krohn, in the sister #24 BMW, was second, but by the end of the lap had dropped to fifth.

In LMP2, Tom Dillmann leads in the #52 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. Mikkel Jensen is second, driving the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, while Bijoy Garg is third in the #22 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson.

Michael Christensen leads GTD Pro, in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Second in class is Madison Snow, driving the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3, while Alexander Sims is third in the #3 Corvette C8.R.

Finally, Frederik Schandorff is leading the GTD class, onboard the #70 Inception McLaren 720S GT3. Second is Zach Robichon in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, while third is Onforio Triarsi in the #023 Triarsi Ferrari 296 GT3.

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At the halfway mark of this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring, Pipo Derani leads in the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R, with the race havcing recently returned to green flag running after the sixth full course yellow of the 12 hour race.

Derani started the car from pole and controlled much of the first hour. Although pitstop strategy and six full course yellow and subsequent safety car periods have meant the red Cadillac has occasionally lost the lead for periods of time, it’s always been at the sharp end with Derani’s co-drivers Tom Blomqvist and Jack Aitken also at the wheel.

Ricky Taylor, in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06, was second until Felipe Nasr took the position at the most recent restart. He led before the sixth FCY, as he took it off Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, who had assumed it at the fourth full course yellow. The Portuguese Acura driver pounced at the restart and took the lead, with Yelloly then losing second to Blomqvist shortly after.

The most recent FCY was caused by PJ Hyett, the LMP2 polesitter in the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07-Gibson crashed into the tyre barriers. The marshals pulled the car out and Hyett returned the car to the pits with heavy damage to the front of the car on drivers’ right, with the car then going behind the wall for repairs.

Nasr is third in the #7 Porsche 963. The car led earlier in the race with Dane Cameron at the wheel, but Porsche don’t seem to have quite the same level of pace compared to Cadillac and Acura. Third is Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac, with Taylor fourth, having slipped backwards in the Acura, from second under the sixth and most recent FCY.

Louis Deletraz in the #40 Acura is fifth.

In LMP2, Jakub Smiechowski is leading in the #52 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. The race has been mostly led by one of two United Autosports cars, #2 or #22, but currently they are fifth and sixth in class.

Second is Hunter McElrea in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, with Rasmus Lindh third in the #81 DragonSpeed Oreca 07-Gibson.

In GTD Pro, Kyle Kirkwood leads in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, which his teammate Jack Hawksworth started on pole. The car did drop out of the top 3 for a significant period of time in the first half of the race, but has returned to the lead as the second half gets underway.

Second is Lauren Heinrich in the #77 AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Mirko Bortolotti is third in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

In GTD, Russell Ward leads in the #57 Winward Mercedes AMG-GT3. The car has come from the back to lead, as it was sent to the back of the grid, for a technical infringement, after qualifying on pole. Jan Heylen is second in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R, while Robby Foley is third in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3.

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Cadillac’s Sebastien Bourdais leads the 12 Hours of Sebring an hour in, with the veteran Frenchman taking the lead off polesitter and Cadillac stablemate Pipo Derani with just over an hour gone.

Derani, onboard the #31 Action Express Cadillac V-Series.R started from pole with Bourdais, in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R behind him, with Felipe Nasr third in the #7 Porsche 963, before a full course yellow and subsequent safety car period for on track debris meant the GTP field pitted and the order changed.

This promoted Louis Deletraz, driving the #40 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-06, to second behind Derani. He started third but lost the place to Nasr on the opening lap, then fell further back after an uncharacteristically scrappy stint for the Swiss driver. Quick work from the WTR Andretti team promoted Deletraz to second, with Bourdais third.

After it went green again Bourdais quickly got by Deletraz and Derani to take the lead.

In LMP2, prior to the pit stops under yellow, Ben Keating leds in the #2 United Autosports Oreca 07-Gibson. He took the lead off teammate Dan Goldburg, in the sister #22 United Autosports, who lead from the race from the start after polesitter PJ Hyett, in the #99 AO Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, had an issue on the formation lap. 

After the stops, Nick Boulle, who was third before Goldburg, took the lead in the #52 Inter Europol Oreca 07-Gibson. Keating is second in class with Goldburg third.

GTD Pro is lead by Jack Hawksworth, who has led the race from pole in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, and maintained it during the pit stop cycle behind the safety car. Mario Farnbacher, driving the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, is second, with Madison Snow third in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3.

At the start, the GTD field was rocked by an incident for the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, where it span across the track after turn 1, after contact with other cars. This meant the two McLarens, from Pfaff in GTD Pro and Inception in GTD, had to take avoiding action, making contact with each other. The Pfaff car subsequently got a puncture and spent the first part of the hour being repaired, and is now 13 laps down. THe Risi Ferrari did manage to avoid everybody and sustained no damage.

Finally, in GTD, Frankie Montecalvo leads in the sister #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus, with Misha Goikhberg second on board the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2. Third is John Potter in the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.

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Jack Hawksworth has taken GTD Pro pole for the 12 Hours of Sebring after setting the fastest time in Friday’s IMSA qualifying session.

The #14 Vasser Sullivan driver punched in an unbeatable benchmark of 1:58.714 to ensure his Lexus RC F GT3 will lead the GT contingent away for Saturday’s enduro and he will be joined on the front row by the fastest GTD entrant, Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis.

34 competitors across GTD Pro and GTD set out onto the bumps of Sebring International Raceway in Florida, U.S.A. at 12:50 local time (16:50 local time) for the fifteen-minute qualifying session.

After the field set about bringing their tyres up to temperature, Mario Farnbacher set the first representative lap, as one of seven cars to break the two-minute barrier, leading proceedings with a 1:59.264 laptime in the GTD Pro #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO.

Hawksworth then broke the 1:59 barrier, punching in the 1:58.714 lap that would ultimately land him pole.

Hawksworth and Farnbacher were then separated by three GTD runners in the overall classification with a few minutes to spare, thanks to Ellis (#57 Mercedes-AMG GT3), Antonio Fuoco (#47 Ferrari 296 GT3) and Parker Thompson (#12 Lexus RC F GT3).

Ellis’ time of 1:58.778 was good for second overall and fastest of the GTD runners, 0.236 faster than Fuoco in the GTD Cetilar Racing Ferrari, who was 0.129 faster than Thompson in the GTD Lexus.

Farnbacher ensures that the #23 Aston will line up fifth as the second-fastest GTD Pro qualifier courtesy of his 1:59.264 tour of the Sebring circuit.

Next up was fourth-best GTD runner, Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG car (1:59.350) followed by thrid-best GTD Pro entrant Seb Priaulx in the #77 Rexy AO Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R (1:59.446).

Eighth overall and fourth-fastest GTD Pro runner was Alexander Sims in the #4 Pratt Miller Corvette Z06 GT3.R with a 1:59.508 lap time.

Ninth overall and rounding out the top five in GTD Pro was Franck Perera in the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 after setting a 1:59.517 lap time.

Completing the top five in GTD and coming in with the 13th fastest time of all GT competitors was Loris Spinelli in the #78 Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan thanks to a time of 1:59.797.

Editor’s Note:

The #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG has been stripped off its pole position due to a technical infringement.

Celitar Racing inherit GTD pole in their #47 Ferrari 296, as Winward will start at the back of the field.

All Corvettes (#3 and #4 GTD Pro, #13 and #17 GTD) have also been moved to the back of the grid after Chevrolet violated a technical infringement by modifiying a homologated component. They were also fined $10k.

The #023 Triasi Competizione Ferrari team also have been penalised for changing their starting driver.

The starting order of this group will be: #023 and #57 on Row 27, #3 and #4 on Row 28, #13 and #17 on Row 29.

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IMSA President John Doonan surprisingly revealed on Friday the 11-race schedule for the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

With just the 2024 season-opening Daytona 24 Hours in the books, Doonan set the ball rolling early for next year’s action by gathering IMSA stakeholders on-site at Sebring International Raceway ahead of qualifying for the venue’s 12-hour enduro later today.

The announcement was considered somewhat of a shock given that the 2024 calendar was only revealed in August last year.

2025’s schedule runs in the same order as this year’s calendar with the same five races comprising the Michelin Endurance Cup roster.

Proceedings commence with the traditional Roar Before the 24 warm-up event at Daytona International Speedway on January 17-19, 2025.

A week later, the Daytona 24 Hours runs from January 23 through 26.

The 12 Hours of Sebring – both the second round of the Michelin Endurance Cup and the overall series calendar – will take place on March 12-15.

Both Daytona and Sebring will feature all four classes, GTP, LMP2 GTD Pro and GTD.

Sebring will be followed by four Sprint events at the Long Beach Street Circuit (April 11-12), Laguna Seca (May 09-11) and the Detroit Street Circuit (May 30-31).

The 100-minute Long Beach race will host GTP and GTD, and the two classes will then be joined by GTD Pro for the two-hour and 40-minute race at Laguna.

Like Long Beach, Detroit will host a 100-minute dash with GTP and GTD Pro competitors on display.

After Detroit, the Michelin Endurance Cup resumes on June 26-29 for the Six Hours of the Glen at Watkins Glen International, with all classes featuring.

GTP will skip proceedings at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on July 11-13 and instead, LMP2 will headline alongside GTD Pro and GTD.

Road America’s IMSA Sportscar Weekend on July 31-August 3 will be the solitary two-hour and 40-minute race to host all four classes before the all-GT affair at Virginia International Raceway on August 22-24.

The 2025 calendar concludes with the final two races of the Michelin Endurance Cup, namely The Battle of the Bricks six-hour race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on September 19-21 and the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta on October 08-11.

All classes will participate in the final two rounds.

“On behalf of my teammates at IMSA, I am proud to be able to announce our schedule for 2025 at such an early date,” said Doonan.

“This was made possible through a great spirit of collaboration with our promoter partners, and we are grateful to them for enabling us to make our 2025 plans known today.

“Putting next year’s schedule into everybody’s hands so soon allows fans, competitors and partners to get well ahead in planning for an amazing 2025 season, even with so much of our 2024 season still to come.”

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Cadillac Racing’s Renger van der Zande posted the fastest lap time in the opening practice session for this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring, topping the IMSA GTP timesheets with a 1:48.279s lap time in the #01 V-Series.R.

It was a Cadillac 1-2 as last year’s 12 Hours of Sebring winners Action Express Racing posted the second-fastest time of the session with the #31 V-Series.R, courtesy of a 1:48.758 lap time set by Jack Aitken.

The fastest of the non-Cadillac entries was the #6 Porsche Penske 963 machine, at third-fastest with a time of 1:48.941 thanks to Nick Tandy.

Brendon Hartley (+0.796) and Louis Deletraz (+0.940) completed the top-five overall/GTP in the #10 and #40 Acura ARX-06 WTR-Andretti machines.

The first of three practice sessions on Thursday commenced at 10:05 local time (14:05 GMT) at the Sebring International Raceway in Florida and just two minutes in a red flag was flown with Gianmaria ‘Gimmi’ Bruni coming to a halt in the #5 Proton Porsche 963.

It was a brief stoppage as the car was cleared and after five minutes green flag running resumed, but the #5 Porsche was one of four cars not to set a time in the session, the others being the #1 Paul Miller Racing GTD Pro BMW M4 GT3, the Daytona 24 Hours-winning #18 Era Motorsport LMP2 Oreca and the #34 Conquest Racing GTD Ferrari 296 GT3.

The Iron Lynx squad had a tricky time getting up to speed with their Lamborghini SC63, making its IMSA debut in the GTP category this weekend and took half an hour to get a time on the board as the #63 machine wound up 10th overall, 2.683 adrift of top spot.

Meanwhile, 1.396 seconds covered the top-nine cars.

In LMP2, TDS Racing topped the standings with Mikkel Jensen setting a 1:51.342 lap time in the #11 Oreca 07.

The #22 United Autosports Oreca was narrowly beaten on the timesheets with Paul di Resta posting the second-fastest time in LMP2 just 0.021 shy of the TDS pacesetters.

Rounding out the top three in LMP2 went to the #2 United entry, 0.216 back from the #11 car thanks to Ben Hanley’s effort.

In GTD Pro, Jack Hawksworth topped proceedings in the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3, setting a time of 2:00.202.

Second in GTD Pro and second overall out of all of the GT runners was Daniel Serra in the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari, 0.094 shy of Hawksworth.

Third out of the GT entries and first in GTD was the second Vasser Sullivan car, with Parker Thompson guiding his #12 Lexus around the bumps of Sebring in 2:00.606.

Next up was the third GTD Pro runner, Seb Priaulx in the ever-popular ‘Rexy’ AO Racing #77 Porsche 911 GT3 R, setting a time of 2:00.798.

The second and third-fastest GTDs took the sixth and eighth-place spots out of the GT contingent, led by Canadian Mikael Grenier in the #32 Korthoff Mercedes-AMG GT3 (2:00.951) and followed by Antonio Fuoco in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari (2:01.086)

Second practice commences at 15:05 local time (19:05 GMT).

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Lamborghini factory driver Romain Grosjean told reporters that Lamborghini’s IMSA team are a little behind due to a lack of pre-season testing

“Pretty good,” he told reporters, when he was asked how he was feeling about Lamborghini’s IMSA programme, at last weekend’s Indycar season opener at St Petersburg, Florida, where he was racing for his new team, Juncos Hollinger Racing.

“We’re a little bit behind because we didn’t have as many tests as we wanted prior to starting the season,” he continued. 

“But the project is very interesting and going well. I think Sebring may be a little bit difficult next week because it’s going to be our first race in IMSA and Sebring being a difficult racetrack.”

Grosjean and his Lamborghini teammates, Andrea Caldarelli and Matteo Cairoli, will be going up against their GTP competitors in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship at Sebring. That list includes the likes of Cadillac, with the Action Express and Chip Ganassi teams, Acura’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti programme, the Porsche Penske team, and finally BMW Team RLL.

Lamborghini already made their prototype debut earlier this month in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Qatar 1812km, finishing 14th in class with Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edo Mortara at the wheel.

Sebring, though, will be a completely different challenge: Qatar’s Losail International Circuit is billiard-table smooth while Sebring has a myriad of bumps, caused by the track’s surface’s decades-old concrete slabs shifting over time.

“It’s not going to be easy but if we can go to the end, if we can get mileage, if we can get an understanding of the car, it’s going to be important to prepare the big one at Le Mans 24,” he concluded.

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Eleven rounds of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship gave sensational thrills and spills, as Motorsport Week reviews an eventful 2023 campaign in a two-part feature.

The introduction of the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class continued a great racing spectacle for the growing audience of dedicated fans, additionally bringing variety into the premier class of IMSA thanks to the entrance of multiple manufacturers.

We bade farewell to the LMP3 class, following its short term in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, when the former GTLM class was sparse.

Both GTD classes shared their haul of the action, marking a record-breaking campaign for the #1 Paul Miller Racing team and ensuing champions Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow.

From the beginning at Daytona

The 3.61 mile road course at the Daytona International Speedway is a quick circuit incorporating tight in-field corners with fast straights and sweeping NASCAR curves.

A grid of 61 cars across five categories brought us a fantastic and gripping 24 Hours of Daytona.

Qualifying took place as a traditional session, rather than a qualifying race seen in the previous two years which maintained the straightforward thrills of flat-out qualifying, and the hype of the main race.

Tom Blomqvist charged to the first GTP pole position in the #60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06, and beat Felipe Nasr of the #7 Porsche Penske outfit by less than a tenth of a second, seasing the upcoming fights for pole.

LMP2 saw Ben Keating take pole for PR1 Mathiasen, demonstrating once again his outstanding talent amongst the bronze-licensed drivers.

Philip Ellis marvellously jumped to GTD pole in the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3, even beating Mercedes-AMG works driver Maro Engel in the #79 WeatherTech Pro car. Though a major post-qualifying practice crash forced them to start at the rear of the GTD class.

The Balance of Performance (BoP) was one of the greater successes of the campaign, having been optimal all the way through to the Petit Le Mans finale.

Meyer Shank Racing continued their strong form into the race, and demonstrated little weakness from lights out.

Fights ensued for P2 and P3 in GTP, meanwhile BMW M Team RLL were the first to face reliability woes when their #25 M Hybrid V8 driven by Nick Yelloly pulled to the side of the circuit after just an hour, and did not return to the race until three hours later.

Colin Braun of the #60 showcased a strong defence against the #01 and #02 Cadillacs in his first racing laps behind the wheel of a top level endurance prototype since his 2019 Onroak DPi campaign.

The #74 Riley Ligier JS P320 which led the LMP3 class experienced an engine failure which ended their race only two hours in. In hindsight, this was a scratch in their eventual title-winning, final LMP3 WeatherTech campaign.

Penske Porsche #7 faced issues into the nighttime, with energy warning which put it in the garage for 30 minutes, with the sibling #6 963 back on the lead lap due to a number of caution periods which enabled them to contend for the top positions.

A thrilling opener showcased impressive outings and misfortunate incidents, it was an Acura 1-2 after a second-placed effort from the Wayne Taylor Racing entrant, followed by three Cadillacs and the #24 BMW.

Porsche’s #6 retired due to gearbox issues, as the #7 finished several laps behind the LMP2 field in the wake of further problems.

Speaking of which, LMP2 finished in dramatic style with a photo-finish between the #04 Crowdstrike Racing (run by Algarve Pro Racing) and the #55 Proton Competition. The latter Oreca 07 took the win, but only by 0.016 of a second.

GTD and GTD Pro mixed together by the end; the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 claimed GTD victory ahead of the #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG.

It later emerged that Meyer Shank Racing artificially inflated the tyre pressure data they submitted to IMSA during the race, as later caught and reported by Honda.

Nevertheless, it left a sour aftertaste following a fantastic performance by the #60 drivers who took the first win of the GTP era, although the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing drivers led the standings.

To the bumps and dramas of Sebring

The second IMSA round hosted the famed 12-hour race at Sebring International Raceway, which saw 27 drivers do ‘double-duty’ with the World Endurance Championship’s 1000 Miles of Sebring – as Porsche Penske’s Dane Cameron and Michael Christensen did both in LMDh machinery.

Meyer Shank tyre pressure controversy arose a week beforehand, so the tone was set for the pink Acura to seek redemption and claim victory at the second-longest race on the calendar.

Pipo Derani’s #31 Cadillac V Series.R scarcely beat Sebastien Boardais’s #01 Chip Ganassi Cadillac to pole position by just 0.087.

Two crashes for Porsche’s #7 963 with Matt Campbell at the wheel, and their #9 Pfaff Motorsports 911 GT3.R (GTD Pro) car with Klaus Bachler, made it a difficult session for the Stuttgart team. 

Keating took another pole in LMP2, as Corvette did so in GTD Pro.

The demanding bumps of the circuit made for a challenging fast lap, as a 12-hour race into the night continued Daytona’s objectives of avoiding mistakes, optimising reliability and managing traffic.

Fourteen out of the 53 entries retired, and only two GTPs resided in the top-20, with the #60 down in 24th overall, surviving an incident-packed race.

The #24 BMW RLL outfit took their first GTP podium since the difficult Daytona 24, as the #31 Cadillac won the race. 

After Bachler’s mistake in qualifying, he along with #9 teammates Patrick Pilet and Laurens Vanthoor, demonstrated the undisputed pace albeit fending off five other GTD Pros.

For Paul Miller Racing, it was a triumphant GTD win for Endurance Cup driver Corey Lewis  along with Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow in their #1 BMW M4 GT3.

Jostling on the streets of Long Beach

A narrow street circuit gave little room for error, and it housed GTP and both GTD classes with the shortest sprint on the calendar at 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Albuquerque kept his P1 spot at the start, though second-placed Blomqvist had to block Bourdais behind, who outran and outbroke himself into Turn 1 and into the barrier, thus incurred race-ending front-end damage.

Blomqvist did not escape the drama after being tagged by Nick Yelloly in the #25 BMW M Hybrid V8, which spun the #60 to a stop at Turn 1 with the #01.

When proceedings resumed, Albueruque retained his lead with Nick Tandy behind, as Hawksworth controlled GTD Pro.

The final Turn 11 hairpin stopped Inception Racing’s #70 McLaren 720S of Brendon Iribe and Turner Motorsport’s #97 BMW of Chandler Hull, the former instigating contact.

Hull spared little sympathy when he sent Iribe into a spin shortly afterwards, later being awarded an appropriate drive-through penalty.

The #60’s hopeful chances disappeared when Braun got a drive-through for pit lane speeding.

Amidst the pit stops, each second counted with the routines as rivals could take advantage of one another’s mistakes. It came down to the penultimate lap.

Porsche took their first win after the #10 of Ricky Taylor was unable to execute a dive on the inside of Mathieu Jaminet’s #6 963 into Turn 1, where he outbraked himself into the tyre barrier.

Meanwhile, the #14 Vasser Sullivan duo of Hawksworth and Barnicoat were unchallenged to the win, as Paul Miller Racing took their second GTD win of 2023.

Porsche Penske’s foregone chances at Laguna Seca

Matt Campbell were in the spotlight for GTP qualifying with his maiden pole, ahead of the #6 Porsche of Jaminet on the front row.

The race start was action-packed yet surprisingly untidy for Porsche, given their front-row positions.

Campbell and Jaminet both locked up into the first corner, pushing the pole-sitter to third and Jaminet down to seventh, prompting Braun into the lead.

Strategy was a key factor, and cautions for two other crashes prevented Braun from building a lead.

Soon enough, Braun struggled with heavily worn tyres as Derani managed to get past with ease before establishing a large gap.

Meanwhile, Porsche’s day became worse as Jaminet lost the rear end of the car into Turn 10, a mistake which costed eight laps of repair work.

By the end, Renger van der Zande in the #01 took the win after passing the #31 of Alexander Sims, and despite their woes, a later caution brought the #6 back into the fight with Tandy, who took second.

TDS Racing duo Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas surged to LMP2 victory; the Peugeot works driver carried strong pace coupled with optimal strategic calls by the team.

Six hours of exuberance at Watkins Glen

The rollercoaster-like course presented an exuberant third Endurance Cup race with all five categories back together.

Qualifying was abandoned for all but the GTD classes due to poor weather conditions, and so #6 duo Jaminet and Tandy started on pole.

They were quickly overtaken at the start by Campbell in the #7, who later faced hybrid issues.

A crucial undercut from Connor De Philliipi’s #25 BMW snatched the lead and set the pace at the front.

After the final pitstop, however, Jaminet asserted great pace to catch the BMW and overtake him.

Unfortunately, they were disqualified when their skid block measured less than the allowed minimum thickness, gifting BMW their first win at the top IMSA class.

A sprint on Canadian soil

The shortest circuit at 2.459 miles brought back the speed of Acura package with the pushing out the season’s quickest lap times, when Blomqvist claimed pole ahead of Ricky Taylor’s #10.

Most of the #60’s winning effort was down to their two-stop strategy, as Braun prolonged his final stint at 1 hour and 16 minutes amidst three cautions en route to the chequered flag, and the #01 once again faced misfortune when Augusto Farfus’s #24 BMW edged Bourdais onto the grass and into a heavy crash in the final minutes.

Paul Miller Racing took their third win after beating Inception Racing’s #70 McLaren 720S GT3 to the flag.

LMP3’s #74 Riley won their third consecutive race, which set them positively into the second half of the season.

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