12 Hours of Sebring GTD race

📷 © Luc Warnotte. 12 Hours of Sebring GTD class

BoP changes have paid off for the show in GTD class as one counted 11 different teams leading the race in class during at least 2 laps. Whether it was Acura, Aston Martin, BMW, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG, or Porsche, each of those manufacturers had a team leading the class during the race. This demonstrates how fiercely disputed the win for the GTD class was.

BMW double

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Paul Miller Racing #1 BMW M4 GT3 and #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 at 12 Hours of Sebring.

BMW M Motorsport team Paul Miller Racing claimed its first win of the season with #1 BMW M4 GT3. Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis emerged victorious after a strong race performance. Only 1.532 seconds behind the winners, Robby Foley brought #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 home in second. He had shared the car with Patrick Gallagher and Michael Dinan.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Paul Miller Racing #1 BMW M4 GT3 and #96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 at 12 Hours of Sebring.

Porsche podium and 3 others in the top 8 of GTD class.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Kelly-Moss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R #92 at 12 Hours of Sebring.

In the GTD class, in which professionals share the cockpit with ambitious amateurs, the new GT3 customer team Kelly-Moss with Riley put on an impressive show. Julien Andlauer claimed third place in a thrilling finale and celebrated alongside his teammates David Brule and Alec Udell. The sister car and the two 911 GT3 R cars from Wright Motorsports finished sixth, seventh and eighth.

Julien Andlauer (Porsche 911 GT3 R #92): “To be honest, we wouldn’t have made any bets on a podium finish today. The competition was super close with 20 mostly very competitive cars in our class – anyone who finished in the top 10 could have won. But we never gave up, even when we were two laps down. That made the difference. Thanks to our great strategy and the right decisions on the pit wall we managed to fight our way back. That’s why I’m really happy about this podium finish. The Porsche 911 GT3 R went like a rocket, even if we were a touch short of the BMW. There were some very tough duels, bumper to bumper, nobody backed off. Sometimes we overtook two or three cars at once across the grass. But it was almost always fair. This result is well deserved because everybody worked hard for it. I don’t think we could’ve done any better today.”

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 12 Hours of Sebring. From left to right: 6th GTD class: Wright Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R #16 (R. Hardwick / J. Heylen / Z. Robichon lead the GTD class during 15 laps); 7th GTD class: Kelly-Moss with Riley Porsche 911 GT3 R #91 (A. Metni / K. van Berlo / J. Evans lead the GTD class during 13 laps); 8th GTD class: Wright Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 R #77.

Mc Laren and Lexus 4th and 5th.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #70 Inception Racing Mc Laren 720S GT3 EVO shared by Iribe, Schandorff and Millory end 4th of GTD class 12 Hours of Sebring.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 driven by Montecalva, Telitz and Thompson end 5th of class 12 Hours of Sebring.

Aston Martin and Mercedes-AMG in top 10.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Magnus Racing #44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 with Potter, Lally and Pumpelly on board end 9th of class of 12 Hours of Sebring.

📷 © Luc Warnotte. After leading the GTD class during 132 laps, the Korthoff Motorsports team showed a successful recovery drive: Mikaël Grenier, Kenton Koch and Mike Skeen raced the #32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 from 19th position on the grid to finish in tenth place of 12 Hours of Sebring.

The ladies

📷 © Luc Warnotte. Iron Lynx #83 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT-3 Evo22 12 Hours of Sebring.

The Iron Dames, with Michelle Gatting, Sarah Bovy and Rahel Frey started from P11, battled hard, and pushed themselves to the limits, finishing the 12h of Sebring in 11th place. 

#66 Gradient Racing Acura of Katherine Legge, Sheena Monk and Marc Miller persevered to a 12th-place finish despite being hit twice by other cars.  The initial contact came in the third hour, when #6 GTP struck the right front corner of the Acura, the collision taking off a large portion of the fender, including the right headlight.  The Gradient Acura was then hit from behind following a seventh-hour restart, further damaging the lights, bodywork and diffuser. 

Katherine Legge (#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT-3 Evo22): "It was such a frustrating race for us.  We were so quick in the morning warmup [fourth in GTD] that I felt like we were in for a very good day.  Then [co-driver] Mark [Miller] just got cleaned out by a GTP car, which destroyed our aero and handling. After that, we were just trying to salvage what we could and get a few [championship] points.  Then I got hit from behind on a restart, which damaged the diffuser and the team again had to dive in and make repairs just so we could make it to the finish.  I can't say enough about our team, they gave their all today, as did Marc and Sheena [Monk]."

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