IndyCar stars topping the charts in Sebring

The Indy-to-IMSA shuttle is up and running this weekend, with nine IndyCar Series regulars racing in the 62nd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida, set for Saturday at Sebring International Raceway.

The second race of the IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season is a nice set-up for those nine in terms of acclimation; the IndyCar season opens in two weeks in St. Petersburg, just a two-hour drive from this sleepy Central Florida community that awakens dramatically each spring when sports cars arrive.

"I think this is, number one, obviously a benefit from the merger and it's taking everyone back a little bit to the old days of sports car racing when stars from other series came to the big sports car events," said Scot Elkins, IMSA's vice president of competition and technical regulations.

"It's interesting to see this, for some of the guys coming over from open wheel, they're in cars this week that are not dramatically different — basically open-wheel cars with fenders. So it's a good transfer for them and it's a great showcase to have them here."

The IndyCar representation starts with Sebastien Bourdais, who has immense experience in sports cars. He's part of a three-man Action Express lineup seeking to follow up its season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona victory. Bourdais, Christian Fittipaldi and Joao Barbosa, teamed in the No. 5 Corvette DP — part of the headlining Prototype class — have a chance to become the first drivers to sweep Daytona and Sebring since 1998. That gap largely can be attributed to the 13-year split (2000-2013) of sports car racing in North America that has ended this season with the GRAND-AM Rolex Series and the American Le Mans Series merging to form the TUDOR Championship.

The representation continues in a big way:

· Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan teamed with reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, in the No. 02 Ford/Riley DP of Chip Ganassi Racing.

· IndyCar Series veteran Ryan Briscoe, co-driving the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette in the GT Le Mans class.

· Ryan Hunter-Reay, co-driving the No. 91 SRT Viper, also in GT Le Mans. Hunter-Reay also is a former IndyCar Series champion.

· Simon Pagenaud, with Extreme Speed Motorsports' Prototype class team.

· Justin Wilson, co-driving a Ford/Riley DP for Michael Shank Racing.

· Martin Plowman, co-driving for BAR1 Motorsports in the Prototype Challenge class.

· Sebastian Saavedra, joining Starworks Motorsport in a Honda/Riley DP.

Dixon and Kanaan are part of Ganassi's usual all-star road-racing lineup. They're partnered with reigning Indy Lights champion Sage Karam. Ganassi's other car, the No. 01 Ford/Riley, has longtime co-drivers Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas teamed with Marino Franchitti. Pruett and Rojas formed the most dominant tandem in Rolex Series history, with Pruett winning five championships and Rojas four. Franchitti, brother of recently retired open-wheel superstar Dario Franchitti, was one of the ALMS' top prototype drivers prior to the merger.

Surprisingly, neither of Ganassi's entries were factors at the Rolex 24, with the No. 02 finishing eighth and the No. 01 11th. That made Thursday's opening practice sessions encouraging. In the first session, Dixon led Prototype competitors with a lap of 1:52.357 (119.832 mph) on the 3.675-mile circuit.

"The Ganassi team has done a great job both in testing and getting the Prototype where it needed to be since Daytona," Dixon said. "Obviously it's never a bad thing unloading fast off the truck and we were pleased pacing the opening session. It's still really early in the weekend but I'm looking forward to our team's first chance to win Sebring."

Following Dixon's lead, Wilson topped the second practice session, with a fast lap of 1:53.621/118.499, in the Shank car.

Max Angelelli was second in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP at 1:53.921 with Klaus Graf third in the No. 6 Muscle Milk Pickett Racing Oreca 03 Nissan at 1:54.267.

Raphael Matos led PC in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 at 1:58.239. The No. 09 RSR Racing and No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports cars were second and third.

In GTLM, Porsche led the session in the hands of Michael Christensen aboard the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR, in a good first outing for the cars with additional Hertz sponsorship. Christensen clocked in at 2:00.289.

Oliver Gavin was second in the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R at 2:00.349, with Joey Hand third in the No. 55 BMW Team RLL BMW Z4 GTE at 2:00.544.

In GTD, Jan Heylen led the session in the No. 13 Rum Bum/Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT America at 2:04.307.

Andy Lally was second in the No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche 911 GT America at 2:04.497 with Jeroen Bleekemolen third in the No. 33 Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R at 2:04.733.

Porsche’s 911 GT America, sporting a revised rear wing this week, was in six of the top seven positions in GTD this session.

Two red flags interrupted the session, for incidents by the No. 87 BAR1 Motorsports PC car and No. 50 Highway to Help Dinan Riley prototype. The BAR1 driver, Bruce Hamilton, was treated and released from the infield care cents.

Qualifying for the Twelve Hours is set for Friday afternoon, beginning at 4:10 p.m. ET, for all four TUDOR Championship classes that will race simultaneously — Prototype, Prototype Challenge, GT Le Mans and GT Daytona.

Saturday's race begins at 10:15 a.m. ET, with FOX Sports 1 broadcasting the first three hours of the event. The balance of the race will be streamed on IMSA.com from 1-10:30 p.m. MRN radio coverage starts at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Practice 2 Results

Pos Cl Pos No Class Drivers Time Speed Diff Laps Make
1 1 60 P Pew/Negri Jr./Wilson 1:53.621 118.499 -.— 18 Ford EcoBoost/Riley
2 2 10 P Angelelli/R.Taylor/J.Taylor 1:53.912 118.197 0.291 15 Corvette DP
3 3 6 P Graf/Luhr/Mardenborough 1:54.267 117.829 0.646 15 Nissan ORECA
4 4 02 P Dixon/Kanaan/Karam 1:54.743 117.340 1.122 10 Ford EcoBoost/Riley
5 5 90 P Westbrook/Valiante/Rockenfeller 1:54.760 117.323 1.139 14 Corvette DP
6 6 78 P Mayer/Kaffer/Saavedra/Popow 1:55.099 116.978 1.478 11 Honda Riley DP
7 7 1 P Sharp/Dalziel/Brabham 1:55.163 116.913 1.542 12 HPD ARX-03b
8 8 5 P Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais 1:55.211 116.864 1.590 10 Corvette DP
9 9 9 P Br.Frisselle/Bu.Frisselle/Fogarty 1:55.712 116.358 2.091 13 Corvette DP
10 10 42 P Pla/Brundle/Yacaman 1:55.943 116.126 2.322 13 Nissan Morgan
11 11 01 P Pruett/Rojas/Franchitti 1:56.137 115.932 2.516 17 Ford EcoBoost/Riley
12 12 2 P Brown/van Overbeek/Pagenaud 1:56.323 115.747 2.702 12 HPD ARX-03b
13 13 0 P Meyrick/Legge/Chaves 1:56.334 115.736 2.713 13 DeltaWing DWC13
14 1 38 PC Shears/Matos/Ostella 1:58.239 113.871 4.618 16 ORECA FLM09
15 14 31 P Curran/Said/Cosmo 1:58.259 113.852 4.638 11 Corvette DP
16 2 09 PC Ende/Junqueira/Heinemeier Hansso 1:59.145 113.005 5.524 18 ORECA FLM09
17 3 52 PC Guasch/Montecalvo/Jeannette 1:59.192 112.961 5.571 11 ORECA FLM09
18 4 54 PC Bennett/Braun/Gue 1:59.603 112.572 5.982 16 ORECA FLM09
19 5 08 PC Cumming/Tagliani/Mitchell 1:59.624 112.553 6.003 19 ORECA FLM09
20 6 25 PC Kimber-Smith/Marsal/Lux/Rayhall 2:00.263 111.955 6.642 15 ORECA FLM09
21 1 912 GTLM Long/Christensen/Bergmeister 2:00.289 111.930 6.668 17 Porsche 911 RSR
22 2 4 GTLM Gavin/Milner/Liddell 2:00.349 111.875 6.728 17 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
23 3 55 GTLM Auberlen/Priaulx/Hand 2:00.544 111.694 6.923 15 BMW Z4 GTE
24 4 17 GTLM Henzler/Sellers/Holzer 2:00.729 111.523 7.108 14 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
25 5 3 GTLM Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe 2:00.902 111.363 7.281 15 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
26 6 62 GTLM Bruni/Malucelli/Fisichella 2:01.104 111.177 7.483 14 Ferrari F458 Italia
27 7 911 GTLM Tandy/Lietz/Pilet 2:01.605 110.719 7.984 15 Porsche 911 RSR
28 15 50 P Pace/DeFoor/Hinton 2:01.608 110.716 7.987 16 Dinan Riley DP
29 7 85 PC C.Miller/Kraut/Simpson 2:01.643 110.685 8.022 16 ORECA FLM09
30 8 56 GTLM Müller/Edwards/Werner 2:01.661 110.668 8.040 14 BMW Z4 GTE
31 9 91 GTLM D.Farnbacher/Goossens/Hunter-Re 2:01.827 110.517 8.206 15 SRT Viper GTS-R
32 10 93 GTLM R.Bell/Bomarito/Wittmer 2:02.141 110.233 8.520 15 SRT Viper GTS-R
33 11 57 GTLM Krohn/Jonsson/Bertolini 2:02.405 109.996 8.784 15 Ferrari F458 GT
34 8 8 PC van der Zande/Bird/Fuentes/Cheng 2:03.410 109.100 9.789 11 ORECA FLM09
35 9 88 PC Bielefield/Ducote/Plowman/Drissi 2:03.661 108.878 10.040 17 ORECA FLM09
36 10 87 PC Kearby/Hamilton/Kasemets 2:04.191 108.414 10.570 3 ORECA FLM09
37 1 13 GTD M.Plumb/Snow/Heylen/H.Plumb 2:04.307 108.312 10.686 13 Porsche 911 GT America
38 2 44 GTD Potter/Lally/Seefried 2:04.497 108.147 10.876 19 Porsche 911 GT America
39 3 33 GTD J.Bleekemolen/S.Bleekemolen/Keati 2:04.733 107.943 11.112 10 SRT Viper GT3-R
40 4 73 GTD Lindsey/Vess/Estre/Norman 2:05.304 107.451 11.683 13 Porsche 911 GT America
41 5 23 GTD James/M.Farnbacher/Riberas 2:05.368 107.396 11.747 17 Porsche 911 GT America
42 6 30 GTD Cisneros/Nielsen/Giermaziak 2:05.430 107.343 11.809 17 Porsche 911 GT America
43 7 51 GTD Griffin/Cioci/Rugolo/Gerber 2:05.511 107.273 11.890 17 Ferrari 458 Italia
44 16 07 P J.Miller/Nunez/Vautier 2:05.777 107.047 12.156 11 Mazda SKYACTIV-D
45 8 94 GTD Cameron/Dalla Lana/Palttala/Lewis 2:05.857 106.979 12.236 16 BMW Z4
46 9 45 GTD Canache Jr./Pumpelly/Latif/Winkelh 2:05.979 106.875 12.358 14 Audi R8 LMS
47 10 49 GTD Roda/Ruberti/Venturi 2:06.060 106.806 12.439 18 Ferrari 458 Italia
48 11 63 GTD Case/Marcelli/Balzan/Westphal 2:06.209 106.680 12.588 19 Ferrari 458 Italia
49 12 555 GTD Sweedler/Bell/Mediani/Segal 2:06.454 106.474 12.833 14 Ferrari 458 Italia
50 13 007 GTD Block/Carter/Davison 2:06.465 106.464 12.844 15 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
51 14 48 GTD B.Miller/Haase/Bell 2:06.509 106.427 12.888 16 Audi R8 LMS
52 15 18 GTD Bamber/Verdonck/Siedler 2:06.737 106.236 13.116 15 Porsche 911 GT America
53 16 81 GTD Huisman/Faulkner/Faieta/Avenatti 2:07.008 106.009 13.387 11 Porsche 911 GT America
54 17 22 GTD MacNeil/Keen/Frommenwiler 2:07.068 105.959 13.447 11 Porsche 911 GT America
55 18 009 GTD Davis/Riddle/Wilson 2:07.138 105.901 13.517 10 Aston Martin V12 Vantage
56 19 46 GTD Mies/Putman/Espenlaub 2:07.451 105.641 13.830 9 Audi R8 LMS
57 20 32 GTD Sofronas/Welch/Basseng 2:07.714 105.423 14.093 14 Audi R8 LMS
58 21 35 GTD Neiman/von Moltke/Albuquerque 2:07.853 105.308 14.232 15 Audi R8 LMS
59 22 27 GTD Dempsey/Davis/Foster/Siedler 2:08.849 104.494 15.228 6 Porsche 911 GT America
60 23 19 GTD Bamber/Gimple/Melgrati 2:09.370 104.074 15.749 15 Porsche 911 GT America
61 24 71 GTD Lindsey/Vess/Estre/Norman 2:10.308 103.324 16.687 14 Porsche 911 GT America
62 17 70 P Tremblay/Long/Devlin 2:10.345 103.295 16.724 15 Mazda SKYACTIV-D
63 25 28 GTD Engelhart/Ineichen/Konrad 2:10.582 103.108 16.961 17 Porsche 911 GT America
64 11 7 PC Popow/Kaffer -.— 0 ORECA FLM09