ILMC/ ALMS, Twelve Hours Of Sebring - Wrap-Up

Wow.  What a finish.  The 59th running of the 12 hours of Sebring was a nail-biter right to the end, in which Team Oreca Matmut followed through on their love of racing here in the US with a stunning overall win, over the mighty factory efforts of both Peugeot and Audi.

They not just beat the factories - they did it with an old car, apparently tossed aside by the factory in favor of something new.  Like we’d seen in GT qualifying and many times in the past – what’s new doesn’t always win here at Sebring.

Oreca took this win by running basically a perfect race – something that is needed to beat the factories at their own game.  For Oreca, this was their first win on US soil since their days of running the Vipers, over 10 years ago.

Also significant was the number of times that the Oreca name appears on the results sheet and the list of podium finishers.  First overall, first in LMPC (obviously) and second in LMP2.  Quite a record.

Congratulations to the Oreca organization – it was well deserved.  Here at dsc we love people who go racing with passion – Hugues de Chaunac has never lost that aspect of the sport and boy did it show as the laps ticked down!  Well done Hugues.

It was just a week ago that the HPD ARX-01e first turned a wheel.  Now, a week later, it not just finishes the 12 hours of Sebring, it nearly wins it, falling short by only 32 seconds.  Giant killer indeed.  The Highcroft team killed the giants of the factories and only just got beat by a perfect run by a vastly experienced team, with a car that dominated last season.

Simon Pagenaud said post race that he was surprised how competitive a car delivered only days ago, with no testing, had been – It makes you wonder what they could have achieved with a little more time doesn’t it?

Duncan, the gang at Wirth and HPD ought to be very proud of this result.  Hey Honda – you freeing up some funds yet?

Peugeot and Audi?  Just too many miscues to overcome the great runs from both Oreca and Highcroft. Bruno Famin was happy enough with a second 908 win, getting both cars home and little or no non-race related technical issues but he’d surely have preferred a win for the factory’s new toy

For Audi it was out with the old – and next time out it will be in with the new (R18) – The factory team will be hoping their new weapon can take the fight to Peugeot on pace for the first time in several seasons.

The way the week had gone, it was not looking good for Dyson, but they brought their Mazda-Lola home a very quiet and non-spectacular 6th overall.   There has probably never been a better feeling 6th place finish for a team ever here.

In GT, BMW was strong all event long and they came here very determined to take the win in the 12 hours.  A 1-2 finish and dominant runs by both cars allowed them to overcome some slight bobbles on their way to the first win by a BMW since their overall win here in 1999.

For Bobby Rahal, this win goes rather nicely with his win here in 1987 and as Marshall Pruett pointed out, makes him likely the only person to have won here as a driver and a team owner, as well as taking the same at the Indy 500.

And it was a win for Dunlop, and a very important one at that.  Pretenders to the throne? Or real contenders now on more than one front – We’ll see as the season moves on but what a start!

Corvette – close, but not close enough.  Tom Milner drove the wheels off of the No. 03 ‘vette, but they couldn’t match the pace of the BMW’s.  Maybe the 04 could have, but an altercation with the 45 Lizard effectively ended the chances for both.

Ferrari – the 458 was fast enough, but not yet reliable enough.  The old 430 too had the pace, but just fell short.  Porsche and even the others were never really in contention.

For Porsche, this may be the first time that they did not get a podium in a top tier class, as their only podium here was in the GTE-Am class, where the Proton Porsche finished a very delayed second.

Early on, it looked as if the Proton Porsche might be the car to beat in the –Am class, but it was not to be.  Instead, it was the US based Krohn Racing taking a win in the European dominated class.  It’s been a short time to pull things together for this team, but despite only securing a deal to use Dunlop tires very recently, they pulled it off.  Nic Jonsson was incredible in the car and the team did everything right.

LMP2?  Sort of like the old days where it was like the last man standing.  In this case, despite being out paced all weekend, the Level 5 team of Tucker/Hunter-Reay/Diaz persevered, eventually finishing 20th overall.  There is no doubt – Nil, Zip, Nada, Nicht – that the ACO needs to look again at the relative pace of the junior classes, and in LMP2 at the relative pace of the various engine options – HPD might have taken this one but it wasn’t on pace – Not even close – Kudos though to Lola and Level 5, both bringing something new to the party and both showing resilience when the going got (very) tough.

LMPC – The Genoa 036 broke into the top 10 with a 9th place finish.  Dane Cameron showed that he is definitely a star in the making, with a dominating run here.

In GTC, Black Swan narrowly beat the 066 TRG team, as both cars finished on the same lap.  For Black Swan, they pretty much started 2011 as they finished 2010.  Damien Faulkner is a real find here, who’d bet against the amiable Irishman finding a permanent home on the ACO racing scene?

Gary Horrocks and Graham Goodwin