Sebring Hour 3: Peugeot 1-2

Nic Minassian led after three hours at the 57th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida as Peugeot held the top two spots over fellow diesel challengers Audi. The Frenchman led by a second over Stephane Sarrazin, who in turn was just ahead of Simon Pagenaud in de Ferran Motorsports’ Acura ARX-02a.

Minassian took the lead on a different fuel strategy in the second hour with all four cars in the same pit window going forward. The top five cars were on the lead lap with Audi’s two R15 TDIs sitting fourth and fifth.

Jon Field’s Lola-AER stalled with a fuel pickup issue just before the three-hour mark to bring out the race’s second yellow-flag period.

Acura also led LMP2 with Adrian Fernandez in the Lowe’s Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b holding a one-lap lead over Marino Franchitti in Dyson Racing’s lead Mazda-powered Lola B09/86 coupe. Guy Smith was third in the second Dyson prototype which saw an extended stop in the second hour and was two further laps behind.

Jan Magnussen led in GT1 for Corvette Racing in the Corvette C6.R that is making its final appearance at Sebring. Magnussen led Oliver Gavin by nine seconds in the sister Corvette.

Risi Competizione led in GT2 by a full lap with Mika Salo at the wheel of the team’s Ferrari F430. The Prancing Horse was first and second with Mathias Russo in the Advanced Engineering Pecom Racing Team.

Tommy Milner sat third for BMW Rahal Letterman Racing Team in class in a very promising debut for the team’s new BMW M3. He was a lap back of Russo’s Ferrari.

3-Hour Standings