IMSA Sebring 12 Hours: AXR Cadillac wins after wild, late-race GTP pile-up

Apart from a pitlane speeding penalty, the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura of Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Louis Deletraz had a seemingly comfortable race until a series of late restarts embroiled them in a battle with the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport car of Mathieu Jaminet, Nick Tandy and Dane Cameron.

Albuquerque and Jaminet were battling for the win in the darkness when they came across GTD traffic in the closing minutes, and they took each other out – with the second Penske Porsche of Felipe Nasr piling into the accident and removing the top three cars in an instant.

That left the door open for the #31 AXR Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken to steal the victory, Derani taking his fourth overall win at Sebring.

GTP

In a race of fluctuating fortunes, the lead had ebbed and flowed in the early stages between the Cadillacs of Action Express Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing, and the Acura of WTR with Andretti Autosport for much of the event – with all striking some form of drama.

The #31 AXR car had to bounce back from an early collision with an LMP3 car, which required multiple pitstops to fix the nose section and left-side mirror. The #01 CGR entry suffered two spins, which handed the advantage to the WTR Acura.

Taylor got a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane with just over four hours to go, which meant all three of the fastest cars were sent to the tail of the field at some point.

With three hours to go, Sebastien Bourdais pitted from the lead with his CGR Cadillac on fire. Another frontrunner, the Rolex 24 Hours-winning Meyer Shank Racing Acura, was in the mix going into the last couple of hours until a left-rear wheel parted company when Tom Blomqvist was aboard.

With 75 minutes to go, the biggest challenger to WTR suddenly became the pair of Porsche 963s of Nasr and Jaminet, the latter passing the AXR Caddy of Aitken, which had been suffering from a refuelling issue, soon after a restart for third.

The #7 Porsche enjoyed the cleanest race of all the GTP cars until it was struck by a late penalty for the team working on the car outside of its pit box, while the #6 car bounced back from hitting a GTD car, getting smashed by an LMP3 car under yellow and another bizarre issue early on that caused steam to fill the cockpit.

At a restart with under an hour to go, Jaminet passed Nasr for second and then attacked Albuquerque for the lead. Jaminet passed him with a wild move that saw them rub wheels, only for Albuquerque to lunge and barge him off the track a few corners later to reclaim the top spot.

Aitken stayed out to pick up the lead with 32 minutes to go, ahead of Jaminet – who beat Albuquerque out of the pits. Jaminet repeated his move from earlier, this time to take the lead from Aitken, while Albuquerque biffed Aitken wide. Albuquerque, Nasr and Aitken ran three-wide to Turn 1, with Albuquerque forcing his way into second.

Jaminet leapt ahead by 1.2 seconds but as the leaders hit a knot of traffic, the delayed Jaminet and Albuquerque collided, with the WTR car slamming into the barrier on the inside and rejoining the track, out of control, at Turn 3, ramming Jaminet who was simultaneously colliding with a GTD car. Nasr then arrived and slammed into Albuquerque and Jaminet, flying over the top of his team-mate. All drivers were unhurt.

Aitken picked his way through the chaos, taking the lead ahead of the #25 BMW of Nick Yelloly, Sheldon van der Linde and Connor de Phillippi – the sole remaining GTP car.

The race restarted with four minutes to go, with Aitken cruising home ahead of Yelloly.

#8 Tower Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07: John Farano, Scott McLaughlin, Kyffin Simpson (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

LMP2

Ben Keating (PR1 Mathiasen ORECA) starred in the opening stages, but his #52 car fell back as the #04 Crowdstrike by APR machine surged to the front. After its heartache over losing a Rolex 24 win in the final yards, things looked grim for that car when George Kurtz caused the second yellow of the race with a spin, and Ben Hanley suffered a further scare when he spun at Sunset Bend a few hours later.

One of its chief rivals, the #8 Tower Motorsports car of Scott McLaughlin, John Farano and Kyffin Simpson suffered a blow when the latter shunted at the exit of Turn 1. Simpson was able to drag it back to the pits, keeping it in the hunt for victory.

IndyCar star McLaughlin then tore his way to the front at the final restart, beating Jensen home by just 0.834s, ahead of the #18 Era Motorsport car of Christian Rasmussen, Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman, the #52 brought home by Paul-Loup Chatain, while the #04 Crowdstrike car slumped to fifth for yet more late-race disappointment.

LMP3

This class started with a bang as Lance Willsey spun his #33 LMP3 Ligier at Turn 1 and had 28 GTD cars avoid him as he sat stranded in the middle of the track. Glenn van Barlo (#36 Andretti Autosport) led initially, before the #85 JDC Miller Motorsport of Dan Goldburg took over.

As the race wore on, the #30 JR III Ligier of Dakota Dickerson, Ari Balough and Garett Grist took command of the class, ahead of the #74 Riley car of Gar Robinson, Felipe Fraga and Josh Burdon. But the #30 was agonizingly taken out by a wheel that flew off Pietro Fittipaldi’s P2 car with just 75 minutes to go.

That allowed the #74 car free passage to the victory, and it won by a lap.

#9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R: Klaus Bachler, Patrick Pilet, Laurens Vanthoor (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

GTD / GTD Pro

After the chaos of Turn 1, where the pack found Willsey’s car stranded in the middle of the circuit on the racing line, GTD Pro began as a duel between the factory driver-stacked #3 Corvette Racing C8.R of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner, and #79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes of Daniel Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Maro Engel.

But with just under four hours remaining, the Corvette suffered a left-rear damper issue which took it out of the lead and put it a lap down.

That opened the door for the Pfaff Motorsports Porsche team, whose 911 was shunted in qualifying by Sebring novice Klaus Bachler. After an all-nighter, and a near-miss with the spinning LMP3 car which almost ended its race at the first corner, Bachler and Laurens Vanthoor and Patrick Pilet stormed through the field to get in front of the Mercedes.

The #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus was always in the mix, and thanks to the series of late cautions, Garcia was suddenly back in contention having got his lap back – until he was taken out in the chaotic GTP crash near the finish.

Pilet pulled away in the closing stages, finishing ahead of Jack Hawksworth’s Lexus by 2.7s and Juncadella in the Merc.

The non-Pro GTD class was won by the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow and Corey Lewis, which was chased home by the #96 version of Patrick Gallagher, Robby Foley and Michael Dinan.

IMSA Sebring 12 Hours - Race results

Pos	Nº	Driver	Car / Engine	Laps	Time
1	31	Pipo Derani Alexander Sims Jack Aitken	Cadillac	322	12:00'53.382
2	25	C.De Phillippi Nick Yelloly S.van der Linde	BMW	322	12:00'56.322
3	8	John Farano Scott McLaughlin Kyffin Simpson	ORECA/Gibson	318	12:01'04.233
4	11	Steven Thomas Mikkel Jensen Scott Huffaker	ORECA/Gibson	318	12:01'05.067
5	18	Dwight Merriman Ryan Dalziel C.Rasmussen	ORECA/Gibson	318	12:01'07.555
6	52	Ben Keating Paul-Loup Chatin Alex Quinn	ORECA/Gibson	318	12:01'10.982
7	04	George Kurtz Ben Hanley Nolan Siegel	ORECA/Gibson	318	12:01'19.724
8	20	Dennis Andersen Ed Jones Anders Fjordbach	ORECA/Gibson	317	12:01'13.412
9	6	Nick Tandy Mathieu Jaminet Dane Cameron	Porsche	315	11:40'32.254
10	10	Ricky Taylor F.Albuquerque Louis Delétraz	Acura	315	11:40'32.827
11	7	Matt Campbell Felipe Nasr M.Christensen	Porsche	315	11:40'33.304
12	74	Gar Robinson Felipe Fraga Josh Burdon	Ligier/Nissan	309	12:01'26.055
13	13	Orey Fidani Matthew Bell Lars Kern	Duqueine/Nissan	308	12:01'27.656
14	85	T.Bechtolsheimer T.van der Helm Daniel Goldburg	Duqueine/Nissan	308	12:01'29.096
15	17	Anthony Mantella Wayne Boyd Nico Varrone	Duqueine/Nissan	307	12:01'29.921
16	4	Seth Lucas Tonis Kasemets Trenton Estep	Ligier/Nissan	306	12:02'23.809
17	9	Klaus Bachler Patrick Pilet Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche	303	12:01'46.119
18	14	Jack Hawksworth Ben Barnicoat Kyle Kirkwood	Lexus	303	12:01'48.825
19	79	D.Juncadella Jules Gounon Maro Engel	Mercedes	303	12:01'50.447
20	63	Franck Perera Jordan Pepper Romain Grosjean	Lamborghini	303	12:01'52.589
21	3	Antonio García Jordan Taylor Tommy Milner	Chevrolet	303	12:01'55.768
22	62	Daniel Serra Davide Rigon G.Casagrande	Ferrari	303	12:01'57.826
23	95	Bill Auberlen Chandler Hull John Edwards	BMW	302	12:02'27.555
24	60	Tom Blomqvist Colin Braun H.Castroneves	Acura	301	12:00'57.581
25	1	Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Corey Lewis	BMW	301	12:01'48.387
26	96	P.Gallagher Robby Foley Michael Dinan	BMW	301	12:01'49.919
27	92	David Brule Sr. Alec Udell Julien Andlauer	Porsche	301	12:01'50.217
28	70	Brendan Iribe F.Schandorff Ollie Millroy	McLaren	301	12:01'50.849
29	12	F.Montecalvo Aaron Telitz Parker Thompson	Lexus	301	12:01'51.485
30	16	Ryan Hardwick Jan Heylen Z.Robichon	Porsche	301	12:01'54.341
31	91	Alan Metni Kay van Berlo Jaxon Evans	Porsche	301	12:01'54.801
32	77	A.Brynjolfsson Trent Hindman Maxwell Root	Porsche	301	12:01'57.393
33	44	John Potter Andy Lally Spencer Pumpelly	Aston Martin	301	12:02'01.383
34	32	Mike Skeen Mikaël Grenier Kenton Koch	Mercedes	301	12:02'02.164
35	83	Rahel Frey Sarah Bovy Michelle Gatting	Lamborghini	300	12:02'03.115
36	66	Sheena Monk Katherine Legge Marc Miller	Acura	298	12:02'02.692
37	23	Ross Gunn Alex Riberas David Pittard	Aston Martin	297	12:01'57.098
38	21	Simon Mann Miguel Molina F.Castellacci	Ferrari	294	12:01'55.449
39	38	Chris Allen Robert Mau Tristan Nunez	Ligier/Nissan	293	12:01'34.981
40	47	Roberto Lacorte G.Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari	290	12:01'56.169
41	51	Eric Lux D.Defrancesco P.Fittipaldi	ORECA/Gibson	289	10:43'57.310
42	27	Roman De Angelis Marco Sørensen Ian James	Aston Martin	287	11:28'00.311
43	80	PJ Hyett Seb Priaulx Gunnar Jeannette	Porsche	285	12:02'31.197
44	33	Lance Willsey João Barbosa Nico Pino	Ligier/Nissan	283	12:01'30.934
45	30	Ari Balogh Garett Grist Dakota Dickerson	Ligier/Nissan	282	10:49'16.803
46	78	Misha Goikhberg Loris Spinelli Benja Hites	Lamborghini	279	11:04'16.315
47	01	S.Bourdais R.van der Zande Scott Dixon	Cadillac	241	8:51'13.123
48	36	Jarett Andretti Gabby Chaves Glenn van Berlo	Ligier/Nissan	230	8:51'41.792
49	57	Russell Ward Philip Ellis Indy Dontje	Mercedes	198	7:50'23.316
50	93	Ashton Harrison Danny Formal Kyle Marcelli	Acura	186	7:23'07.817
51	24	Philipp Eng Augusto Farfus Marco Wittmann	BMW	172	6:09'46.607
52	35	François Heriau G.van der Garde Josh Pierson	ORECA/Gibson	132	4:50'07.155
53	023	Onofrio Triarsi Charles Scardina Alessio Rovera	Ferrari	95	4:47'48.246