Observations from Sebring

Some early observations from Sebring where the ALMS teams have gathered in preparation for Saturday's 12 Hours of Sebring race.

Peugeot has been on top so far

The Peugeot is just incredible through the bumps; they seem to be learning well. Audi takes them pretty seriously, too. IMSA's tech guys tell us that under all that obfuscating black paint, the front aero of a 2008 R10 looks a lot more like a 2007 Peugeot than it does a 2007 R10. You know what they say about imitation and flattery.

Apparently Audi has also taken the modular approach well beyond the now-famous gearbox swap in the R8; the entire tub can now be swapped out without disconnecting a single oil or water line. They had to do so after one of them had an incident on Monday.

This is shaping up to be a whale of a race.

We also show a Mechanical Diversity Report. In a field of thirty-five cars we have seventeen different models, with fifteen different models of engine in nine configurations. THIS is the real heritage of racing! Paul Bell reporting from Sebring