ILMC/ALMS, 12 Hours Of Sebring - Thursday Evening

As the sun goes down in an achingly beautiful fashion after a very hot day the cars are emerging for the final track action of the day – an hour and 45 minutes of practice into darkness.

And amongst the cars on track at some point in the session should be the #06 Muscle Milk AMR Lola Aston Martin, a car which looked distinctly second hand at 5 pm is now rapidly coming back together, the issue earlier now diagnosed as a failed fuel check valve which allowed fuel to escape under pressure.  Quick work by Greg Pickett with the fire extinguisher probably saved the team’s weekend and they now plan to qualify all three drivers this evening before parking the car tonight.

One brief observation – there seems an unseemly rush to the end of the pitlane by far too many runners whenever a session goes green – a recipe for problems – Ah, there you go, as the Risi 458 gives the Highcroft HPD a love tap in pit lane, a chunk of Wirth Research’s finest work is dislodged together with a section of the vinyl giving onlookers a text number to donate to the Japanese relief fund – Perhaps a quick search down the back of Guiseppe’s couch might be in order?

Early into the session and we have a red flag – it’s the Lamborghini, off at drivers right at turn 16 and with a wheel missing – Gone West Lamborghini it seems.

A brief sojourn in pitlane for all bar the Gallardo and then we’re back into the swing of things.

It’s the Krohn Racing Ferrari that’s in trouble next, again at Turn 16, again on drivers right – Is something malevolent lurking out in the darkness? Will Tracy Krohn get back to safety?  Tune in next week for the next thrilling instalment of Night Practice the GTE Way.  The car gets back to the pits and rejoins.

The #55 Level 5 Lola is giving us an early fireworks show, grounding out on the pit straight and throwing up a cloud of sparks every time. It pits after at least three laps of this before Ryan Hunter Reay wears a hole in his back pocket. The issue though hasn’t stopped the #55 car from setting fastest LMP2 time thus far – it seems the HPD motor doesn’t lack for ponies in cost capped mode at least.

With 50 minutes remaining the Muscle Milk AMR boys have pulled it off – The Lola Aston rumbles down the pit lane and an installation lap indicates the car is in good shape.

The #8 Audi though has only completed a single timed lap with 45 minutes to go, the team calling the car back behind the wall  – Oh, hang on, the car is back on pit lane and rumbling out for another crack at it.

Andy Priaulx goes wide and goes for a bumpy off road moment in the #56 BMW

The Audi domination of the timing sheets has been challenged by the #7 Peugeot – Alex Wurz posting a 1:49.945.  McNish is now aboard the #2 Audi but it’s Sarrazin that improves first, the order now a Peugeot 1,2  

Its another red flag and both Jaguars are missing – It seems one is off at Turn 2 and the other at Turn 6 – Rumours of the cars setting fastest sector times under tow or making one good one from two are rife!  It seems both XKRs need new engines!

Timo Berhnard splits the 908s with 25 minutes remaining and Loic Duval demotes the 2 R15+ to fifth, the #10 908 HDI FAP improving as the session progressed, up to third fastest with 12 minutes remaining.
 
Most of the Black Swan Porsche makes its way out of pitlane for the first time this evening – No chance of paddling serenely though, the car is missing a chunk of rear bodywork and its rear fender, repairs after the earlier shunt are clearly not quite complete.

In GT it was a Ferrari 458 1,2 for much of the session, the #001 Extreme Speed car quickest tonight ((2:02.390)ahead of the #62 Risi car. That was right until the final lap of the session when Jan Magnussen claimed second fastest time in the #04 Corvette

Into the final minutes of the session and Davidson stretches the Peugeot advantage, a 1:49.203 is – exactly 0.908 of a second up on the next fastest car, that though is now the #7 Peugeot, Sarrazin having claimed second fastest slot once again.

Davidson improves again though, into the 1:48s (1:48.901) just before Kristensen again gets an Audi in amongst the Pugs (1:49.370), Special K reporting traffic into Turn 17 which cost him at least half a second, Audi feeling a little robbed of the headline.

Night practice means many things to the different teams.  For the Lizards, it means bedding in some brakes and such for the race, then getting the mandatory 3 laps in for each driver and then calling it a night.  Audi, in the meantime, intends to run the entire session in order to get some run time and hopefully some longer runs.  Dindo, who thankfully is not a stranger to the track, hasn’t been in the car since maybe Monday.  It’s been a few disjointed days here…

Track time has especially been an issue for Team Falken.  Wolf Henzler, who is back with the team for a second season, said, “Falken is making us more tires to try and we think the speed is there but we don’t have any idea as to how long they’ll last.  We just can’t get in any long runs at all.”  Walker Racing is running the team this year and it is a whole new team now.  “They’re doing a good job – what they don’t know about endurance racing will come to them soon.”

Krohn Racing too is looking for track time, as they work to adapt their Ferrari to the new Dunlop rubber.

Earlier in the week, Wirth supplied new bits to Highcroft to try on the now Honda branded ARX-01e.  Marino Franchitti stated that the bits are small detail bits that likely wouldn’t be noticed, but do make a difference in the way the car performs.  Also with Highcroft – don’t rule out a full season effort just yet…

Bill Auberlen, fresh of the double win at Homestead a few weeks ago, has similar feelings this week to what he had back then.  “At Homestead, the cars really felt good – they gave me confidence and I’m feeling that same way this week.  The cars were extensively developed over the off season.  They’ve got new aero, undertray, electronics… the car is fast, but will it last?  We’ve run here and tested here before, but if there is anything that is a weak link in the car, this track will find it.”

All of the 56 cars entered made it out on track except for the GMG Porsche.  The team took the car to a local bodyshop for repairs and by the time the car got back at the track, there was only about an hour remaining in the session.  As there was not enough time to run the car through tech, the team opted to sit out this session.  One of the other repaired GTC cars though took the fastest time in class tonight - Leh Keen getting the best out of the refettled AJR car.

A bit of an oddity occurred in this session – three of the LMP2 entries are ahead and clear of the LMPC class.