Twelve Hours Of Sebring Features 49 Cars
Story and Photos By:ISMA SERIES MEDIA
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. –March 10, 2016- The International Motor Sports Ass’n revealed a 49-car entry list for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s 64th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida on March 19.
Live television coverage of the endurance classic begins at 10:30 a.m. ET on FS1, with the entire race streamed on the FOX Sports GO app.
The Prototype (P) class features 12 entries, including the debut of the ORECA 05 chassis. DragonSpeed of Delray Beach, Fla., entered the No. 81 Nissan ORECA 05, driven by 2011 Sebring winner Nicolas Lapierre, Nicolas Minassian and Henrik Hedman. Also joining the class is Alegra Motorsports from nearby Tampa, with the No. 24 Insync BMW/Riley for Carlos de Quesada, Daniel Morad, Cameron Lawrence and Dominik Farnbacher.
Other changes in the Prototype entry include the American debut of female Japanese endurance racer Keiko Ihara, in the No. 70 Mazda Motorsports Castrol/ModSpace Mazda Prototype, and veteran Scott Pruett, who joins Dane Cameron and Eric Curran in the No. 31 Whelen/Team Fox Corvette DP.
Top returning Prototype teams include 2015 Sebring winners Action Express Racing, with Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa returning in the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Corvette DP, joined by Filipe Albuquerque, and recent Rolex 24 At Daytona winners Scott Sharp, Ed Brown, Johannes van Overbeek and Pipo Derani in the No. 2 Honda Ligier JS P2 of Tequila Patrón ESM from Riviera Beach, Florida.
GT Le Mans (GTLM) has a 10-car entry, with Corvette, Ford, BMW, Ferrari and Porsche each represented by a pair of factory-backed cars. Corvette Racing enters the race riding the momentum of endurance race success, with a 1-2 finish in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona on top of 2015 victories at Daytona, Sebring and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Defending Sebring winners Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen will be joined by Mike Rockenfeller in the No. 3 Corvette Racing C7.R. Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner – the 2015 Le Mans class winners – will be joined by Marcel Fassler once again in the same Rolex 24-winning lineup and Corvette C7.R race car.
Ford makes its return to Sebring with a pair of Ford GTs driven by Joey Hand, Dirk Muller, Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon and Richard Westbrook. Ferrari has a pair of new 488 GTEs, entered by Scuderia Corsa and Risi Competizione, while Porsche North America and BMW Team RLL both field two cars with star-studded lineups.
In the 20-car GT Daytona (GTD) field, Change Racing has added a second Lamborghini Huracán GT3, the No. 11 Robert Graham entry for defending class champions Bill Sweedler and Townsend Bell, who will be joined by Richard Antinucci.
“Townsend and I determined during pre-season testing that Robby Benton’s leadership at Change Racing was going to make it a serious contender based on his significant background in NASCAR and his desire to win,” said Sweedler, who drove for O’Gara Motorsport at the Rolex 24. “This deal could not have been possible without our friends at Lamborghini Squadra Corse, Boardwalk (Lamborghini Dallas), as well as personal support from Tom O’Gara.”
Another new Lamborghini will be fielded by Dream Racing, making its WeatherTech Championship debut with the No. 27 Huracán GT3 for Larry DeGeorge and Cedric Sbirrazzuoli. Also included in the six Lamborghinis are a pair of Konrad Motorsports entries.
Four Audis are entered in GTD, including the Rolex 24-winning No. 44 Magnus Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 of John Potter, Andy Lally and Marco Seefried. Alex Job Racing returns to defend its Sebring class victory with a two-car entry, including the 2015-winning lineup of Mario Farnbacher, Ian James and Alex Riberas in the No. 23 Team Seattle/Heart of Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R. Also joining the four-car Porsche entry are 2015 Rolex 24 runners-up Black Swan Racing.
The GTD field also includes a pair of BMW M3 GT3s fielded by Turner Motorsport; a pair of Ferraris, including the WeatherTech Championship debut of the Ferrari 488 GT3 by Scuderia Corsa; and single Dodge Viper and Aston Martin entries.
The seven-car Prototype Challenge (PC) entry includes upgraded ORECA FLM09s for Daytona-winning JDC-Miller Motorsports; defending class champion CORE autosport; 2015 Sebring winners PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports; BAR 1 Motorsports; Performance Tech Motorsports; and a pair of entries for Fort Lauderdale-based Starworks Motorsport.
