Another big endurance race in the States last weekend: nearly two months after the 24 hours of Daytona, the IMSA United Sports Car Championship moved down south to Sebring for the 12 hours of Sebring.
IMSA United Sports Car Championship: Sebring 12h
With eight minutes to go, Jeroen Bleekemolen took the lead in the GTD class. The Dutchman in the Dodge Viper overtook the Alex Job Racing Porsche of Ian James, Mario Farnbacher and Alex Riberas when Farnbacher made an error and briefly went off-road. Nobody could stop Jeroen and Sebastian Bleekemolen and Ben Keating from winning their class, until a piece of debris destroyed the radiator of the #33 Viper GT3-R with only five minutes left. The race was over for them and it handed victory in GTD back to Alex Job Racing.
In the race for the outright win, Corvette secured all steps on the podium. The Action Express Racing Corvette DP of João Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sébastien Bourdais took overall and prototype victory by a comfortable margin of one lap. They took the lead in the eighth hour of the race, passing the #01 Chip Ganassi-entry of Scott Dixon, Joey Hand and Scott Pruett, who ended up in fourth place. Ricky and Jordan Taylor and Max Angelelli (Wayne Taylor Racing) finished in second and third were Richard Westbrook, Michael Valiante and Mike Rockenfeller for Spirit of Daytona Racing.
Class win in PC was taken by Michael Guasch, Tom Kimber-Smith and Andrew Palmer in the PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca FLM09, while Chevrolet also won the GTLM class with Jan Magnussen, Antonio García and Ryan Briscoe in the works Corvette C7.R.
Top 5 overall classification:
1. #5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP (J. Barbosa/C. Fittipaldi/S. Bourdais)
2. #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP (R. Taylor/J. Taylor/M. Angelelli)
3. #90 Spirit of Daytona Racing Corvette DP (R. Westbrook/M. Valiante/M. Rockenfeller)
4. #01 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost DP (J. Hand/S. Pruett/S. Dixon)
5. #31 Marsh Racing Corvette DP (E. Curran/D. Cameron/M. Papis)
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