IMSA: Cadillacs sweep 12 Hours of Sebring, Corvette wins GTD Pro

Earl Bamber caught and passed Richard Westbrook after a drive-through penalty at the top of the 11th hour had cost the #02 the lead.

Bamber appeared headed to victory in his No. 02 Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R.

Or was he?

Seconds later the Kiwi tried to hustle by the #21 Ferrari and was tagged into a spin, losing the lead again.  He recovered and was now back in 2nd, 7-seconds behind.

But the Kiwi was undeterred.

The chase began once again, and again Bamber caught and passed the #5 Cadillac, this time with just 45 minutes remaining.  A lead he would not relinquish again, despite the draining Central Florida humidity.

Bamber shared top honors with Alex Lynn and Neel Jani, who was a late substitute for Kevin Magnussen in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

“It comes down to the drivers. Those guys have to push the buttons and make it happen. They’re the ultimate quarterbacks for the team and we try to give them the tools they need to win races and today they did that,” said team principal Chip Ganassi of the first-year IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entry.

The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R – the 2021 race winner – co-driven by Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook and Loic Duval, finished second.

Pipo Derani took 3rd in the  No. 31 Action Express entry for a Cadillac sweep of the podium, despite colliding with the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Stoffel Vandoorne with 2 hours and 34 minutes to go.

The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R was also in contention throughout the race that covered 351 laps. Mike Conway, whose father passed away early Friday, laid down the quickest race lap at 1 minute, 47.018 seconds on Lap 126.

“It would have been nice to win this one,” Conway said. “It was hard. The first few stints, thinking of him out there. I was just trying to do him proud.”

In fourth and fifth were the Acuras Ricky Taylor making his way by Tom Blomqvist’s wounded #60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura in the last hour.

The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R, which started from the pole after Sebastien Bourdais recorded a qualifying lap-record time of 1 minute, 45.116 seconds, experienced a gearbox issue early on and finished several laps down.

“We took the No. 01 to the garage and changed the gearbox after having downshifting problems. We tried a number of counter measures in the pits to correct, but later realized we needed to change the whole gearbox to eliminate the issue,” Chip Ganassi Racing team manager Steve Eriksen said.

LMP2

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports scored a commanding victory in LMP2, with Mikkel Jensen, Ben Keating and Scott Huffaker repeating from one year ago with the same lineup.

Jensen took the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson to a one-lap win over the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry of Giedo van der Garde.

LMP3

In LMP3 it was coming down to whether the #33 Sean Creech Ligier, Malthe Jakobsen at the wheel, could eke out its fuel to the end, from the chasing JrIII JS P320 of Garrett Grist.

He made it, which marked Sean Creech’s first WeatherTech Championship class win.

GTD Pro

GTD Pro saw the #3 Corvette driven by Antonio Garcia, Nicky Catsburg and Jordan Taylor hold off the closing #63 TR3 Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo driven by Mirko Bortolotti (with fellow Lamborghini factory drivers Maro Mapelli and Andrea Caldarelli) by 4.4 seconds.

The Corvette took the lead with 4.5 hours remaining with pass at Turn 3 on Pfaff Motorsports Porsche driver Matt Campbell. A lead the strong Pratt & Miller-run Corvette would not relinquish except on pitstops.

The trio combined to led 247 laps or 913.9 miles for Corvette Racing’s first Sebring 12 Hours win since 2017 and 12th since 2002.

The result goes along with a runner-up GTE Pro finish for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in Friday’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship.

“Congratulations to Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Nicky Catsburg and everyone on the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president, Performance and Motorsports. “Winning in class for the 12th time at the 12 Hours of Sebring is the result of great driving, race strategy and execution of pit stops. The Corvette C8.R’s 5.5-liter, flat-plane V-8 engine delivered the right combination of performance, reliability and efficiency throughout the race.

“This win is even more special thanks to the support of so many Corvette owners and fans at the track and around the world,” Campbell added. “This has been a great weekend with a runner-up class finish in the World Endurance Championship on Friday and now this win in IMSA. I’m proud of everyone at Corvette Racing and our technical partners at Mobil 1 and Michelin.”

Third was Jules Gounon in the No. 97 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that also featured Maro Engel and Cooper MacNeil.

Both RLL BMWs were competitive in the opening stages but the No. 25 fell away in hour three when the power steering failed.

The No. 24 BMW driven by Philipp Eng, Marco Wittmann and Nick Yelloly ran second to the winning Corvette for much of the second half, but a couple of unplanned stops late on relegated it to fourth.

GTD

In GTD Antonio Fuoco drove the Cetilar racing No. 47 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 to a comfortable win over Daniel Juncadella in the #32 AMG with Toni Vilander chasing hard in the 3rd placed #21 AF Corse Ferrari, putting two Prancing Horses on the podium.

Dead last, completing only 1 lap, was the Andretti Autosport #36 entry driven by Jarett Andretti/Josh Burdon/Gabby Chaves.

Top-3 Quotes

No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)

Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Neel Jani

Finish: First. Start: Fourth

Earl Bamber: “Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadillac was amazing this weekend. We had such a good lead and I managed to throw it away twice. I’m just exhausted. To everyone from the team and Cadillac, thank you. I’m just so happy to get the first win for the 02. Thank you to Alex and Neel, who came in and did a great job.”

Alex Lynn: “It was a great race to be honest. First, thanks to everyone on the 02 team. The car was flying all week and yeah, we got the strategy right there at the end. It was a fantastic result to win and thank you to the whole team. We were driving an amazing car today. It made our job behind the wheel that much easier, if it could ever be called easy. It’s a big result for us in the championship and it’s an iconic race, the 12 Hours. With Ganassi winning it once before, it’s a huge result for us as a team.”

Neel Jani: “I had 30 laps before the race, but it couldn’t have been better. Two weeks ago I didn’t know I would be here. I’m hugely thankful to Cadillac and Chip Ganassi Racing to call me up and ask me to drive. We made it happen. We had a fantastic car and that made it easier for me. To drive that car is fantastic. My teammates did a fantastic job and the whole team welcomed me. That’s why it works. I know now why I miss prototypes. It’s where I belong and what I like. I loved every minute this weekend.”

No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)

Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook, Loic Duval

Finish: Second. Start: 10th overall, seventh in class

Tristan Vautier: “We gave it a good go. Man, I drove my heart out in the last stint. I thought I had him (Bamber) for a while, but a couple of bad breaks catching GT cars in Turns 3, 4 and 5. We had the pace. I think we can be proud of what we achieved. We’re the smallest team here. Two amazing solid races at Daytona and Sebring. The team did an amazing job again, and just thankful to Cadillac and JDC-Miller MotorSports. I feels good to know I left it all on the racetrack.”

Loic Duval: “It’s always difficult when you’re leading like an hour before the end and all the traffic. I think we drove the best we could and Ganassi deserved the win. I think we can be proud when you know the budget of our operation compared to the big boys and fight against them. Two podiums. We can be proud of that.”

Richard Westbrook: “All you can ask is for us to be in the hunt. We were in the hunt for the whole 12 hours. We had some issues with the cooling in the car, so we could only single stint at the end. I found myself in the lead with an hour to go and I got (held up) by a GTD car in Turn 16. Do I try to overtake him on the outside in Turn 16? Second is really a good result. We’ve won a podium in both races. Everyone should be proud. Great day for Cadillac and a great day for JDC.”

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)

Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez, Mike Conway

Finish: Third. Start: Second

Pipo Derani: “It was a tough day at the office, but it was a good points day. Unfortunately, we couldn’t win. We didn’t get a yellow at the end so we could try to catch the front runners. It was a Cadillac 1-2-3 (finish). We’ll take the points. It’s a long championship. I wanted my fourth (Sebring 12-Hour) win, but I will have to wait a little longer.”

Tristan Nunez: “It was a long, hot day. It was a tough one from start to finish. The heat did not help with that. We had a great car all race. We just had a couple of bad luck moments throughout the race that affected us from taking the win. But no doubt, a podium is good. It was a Cadillac sweep. So, it’s good for the brand. Now we move onto Long Beach.”

Mike Conway: “We were up there all day. We were going for the win, but we came up short at the end. It was a great job by the whole team. The car was really solid all day long. I think we had the car to win. But it just didn’t quite work out.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “We had to carry on after Daytona and do all we can. There we didn’t have the pace and little issues we had put us back and out of contention. The main thing here was to stay up front, don’t make any mistakes and have no failures that would set us back. That was the first goal. I was the first guy surprised about our pace. We started seventh and slowly started to make our way through. I wasn’t expecting to be leading after the first stop. I thought our car was the best during the day and when it was as warm as possible. I was a little bit afraid of the rest of the field at night. It seemed like everything was switching on for them, the track would go toward them and maybe all the advantage we had went away a little bit. It was up to us to control the pace and keep the gap. If we had been in a situation to catch another car, it would have been difficult. It was perfectly executed by everyone at Corvette Racing, good strategy and amazing drives by Jordan and Nicky.”

ON 12TH WIN FOR CORVETTE RACING AT SEBRING: “It’s amazing. I said before the race that whenever you come to Sebring in a Corvette, it is always a good feeling. You know something good is going to happen. In the end and having the pace or not having pace, there is still a Corvette factor. It’s the best team to be on when you race here. I’m very happy with that.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona was frustrating for us. We lacked pace there and had a mechanical issue in the middle of the night. We learned a lot after that and used it as a test session. That really helped us here. Zero issues around here is a big feat in itself. Twelve hours at Sebring is tougher than 24 at Daytona or Le Mans. It’s a big accomplishment for the team. We won Daytona and the championship last year, so it’s nice to get another major endurance race for the C8.R and start our championship fight again.”

HOLDING THE LEAD THROUGHOUT: “I was surprised how quick we were. I think we were quick in clean air. If we had been stuck behind guys, it would have been difficult for us to get ahead. Once we got to the front, the name of the game was to maintain our track position whether it be saving fuel and extending windows or saving tires. The guys nailed the strategy and kept us out front all day. That’s what really won us the race.”

IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was big for us. If we showed up here with no test time or setup and development for this track, we would have been out to lunch. Two days here of testing with the guys doing the development and going back and doing their homework really made our weekend.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO WINNER: “Daytona is a lot about going in a straight line on the banking. This was difficult for us. Sebring was always going to be a bit easier. At the start of the weekend, we really struggled. We got a little break which definitely helped us and brought us back into contention, but it wasn’t easy. Not at all… definitely not. I was struggling on the tires in the middle of the race. It was tough. You never know where you really are until the race. In practice, you don’t know what people are doing in terms of fuel loads, qualifying runs or race runs. It’s difficult to say how much we picked up.”

GETTING THE CORVETTE BACK UP FRONT MID-RACE: “We stuck to our initial plan. We didn’t try anything too crazy. The Lexus and Porsche were going out of sequence but we always stuck to our original plan. It worked out well.”

IMPORTANCE OF FEBRUARY TIRE TEST: “That was huge. It was a huge role. We are still quite new to this tire and to this class. The team had two really good days here. They learned a lot and turned the car around. If we hadn’t done that, we would have had to do it here this week and we probably wouldn’t have won the race. It made a lot of sense.”

Results – 12 Hours of Sebring

Pos	Class	No.	Drivers	Car	Laps	Behind	Gap	Status
1	DPi	02	Earl Bamber/Alex Lynn/Neel Jani	Cadillac DPi	351	0.000s	0.000s	Running
2	DPi	5	Tristan Vautier/Richard Westbrook/Loic Duval	Cadillac DPi	351	6.471s	6.471s	Running
3	DPi	31	Pipo Derani/Tristan Nunez/Mike Conway	Cadillac DPi	351	14.616s	8.145s	Running
4	DPi	10	Ricky Taylor/Filipe Albuquerque/Will Stevens	Acura DPi	351	26.958s	12.342s	Running
5	DPi	60	Oliver Jarvis/Tom Blomqvist/Stoffel Vandoorne	Acura DPi	351	27.621s	0.663s	Running
6	DPi	48	Mike Rockenfeller/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez	Cadillac DPi	346	5 Laps	5 Laps	Running
7	LMP2	52	Ben Keating/Mikkel Jensen/Scott Huffaker	ORECA LMP2 07	345	6 Laps	1 Lap	Running
8	LMP2	29	Frits van Eerd/Giedo van der Garde/Dylan Murry	ORECA LMP2 07	344	7 Laps	1 Lap	Running
9	LMP2	18	Dwight Merriman/Kyle Tilley/Ryan Dalziel	ORECA LMP2 07	344	7 Laps	1’31.674	Running
10	LMP2	11	Steven Thomas/Josh Pierson/Jonathan Bomarito	ORECA LMP2 07	343	8 Laps	1 Lap	Running
11	LMP2	22	Jim McGuire/Guy Smith/Duncan Tappy	ORECA LMP2 07	342	9 Laps	1 Lap	Running
12	LMP2	20	Dennis Andersen/Anders Fjordbach/Fabio Scherer	ORECA LMP2 07	340	11 Laps	2 Laps	Running
13	LMP3	33	Joao Barbosa/Malthe Jakobsen/Lance Willsey	Ligier JS P320	331	20 Laps	9 Laps	Running
14	LMP3	30	Ari Balogh/Garett Grist/Dakota Dickerson	Ligier JS P320	331	20 Laps	48.586s	Running
15	LMP3	38	Daniel Goldburg/Rasmus Lindh/Cameron Shields	Ligier JS P320	323	28 Laps	8 Laps	Running
16	GTD PRO	3	Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nick Catsburg	Corvette C8.R GTD	323	28 Laps	49.029s	Running
17	GTD PRO	63	Marco Mapelli/Andrea Caldarelli/Mirko Bortolotti	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	323	28 Laps	4.438s	Running
18	GTD PRO	97	Cooper MacNeil/Jules Gounon/Maro Engel	Mercedes-AMG GT3	322	29 Laps	1 Lap	Running
19	GTD PRO	24	Philipp Eng/Marco Wittmann/Nick Yelloly	BMW M4 GT3	322	29 Laps	58.125s	Running
20	GTD PRO	9	Matt Campbell/Mathieu Jaminet/Felipe Nasr	Porsche 911 GT3 R	322	29 Laps	13.160s	Running
21	GTD PRO	79	Cooper MacNeil/Julien Andlauer/Alessio Picariello	Porsche 911 GT3 R	322	29 Laps	12.791s	Running
22	GTD	47	Roberto Lacorte/Giorgio Sernagiotto/Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GT3	321	30 Laps	1 Lap	Running
23	GTD	32	Mike Skeen/Stevan McAleer/Daniel Juncadella	Mercedes-AMG GT3	321	30 Laps	49.348s	Running
24	GTD	21	Simon Mann/Luis Perez Companc/Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GT3	321	30 Laps	10.840s	Running
25	GTD	96	Robby Foley/Bill Auberlen/Michael Dinan	BMW M4 GT3	321	30 Laps	35.531s	Running
26	GTD PRO	14	Jack Hawksworth/Ben Barnicoat/Aaron Telitz	Lexus RC F GT3	320	31 Laps	1 Lap	DNF
27	GTD PRO	93	Ashton Harrison-Henry/Kyle Marcelli/Tom Long	Acura NSX GT3	320	31 Laps	4’58.454	Running
28	GTD	70	Brendan Iribe/Ollie Millroy/Jordan Lee Pepper	McLaren 720S GT3	320	31 Laps	6.112s	Running
29	GTD	44	John Potter/Andy Lally/Spencer Pumpelly	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	319	32 Laps	1 Lap	Running
30	LMP3	13	Orey Fidani/Kuno Wittmer/Lars Kern	Duqueine D08	319	32 Laps	5.023	Running
31	GTD PRO	62	Daniel Serra/Davide Rigon/Eddie Cheever III	Ferrari 488 GT3	318	33 Laps	1 Lap	Running
32	GTD	12	Frankie Montecalvo/Scott Andrews/Richard Heistand	Lexus RC F GT3	318	33 Laps	5.534s	Running
33	GTD	99	Rob Ferriol/Katherine Legge/Stefan Wilson	Porsche 911 GT3 R	318	33 Laps	30.953s	Running
34	LMP3	54	Jon Bennett/Colin Braun/George Kurtz	Ligier JS P320	308	43 Laps	10 Laps	Running
35	DPi	01	Renger van der Zande/Sébastien Bourdais/Ryan Hunter-Reay	Cadillac DPi	307	44 Laps	1 Lap	Running
36	GTD	28	Michael de Quesada/Daniel Morad/Maximillian Goetz	Mercedes-AMG GT3	306	45 Laps	1 Lap	Running
37	GTD	16	Ryan Hardwick/Zacharie Robichon/Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 GT3 R	305	46 Laps	1 Lap	Running
38	GTD	66	Kyffin Simpson/Till Bechtolsheimer/Mario Farnbacher	Acura NSX GT3	305	46 Laps	0.590	Running
39	GTD	57	Russell Ward/Philip Ellis/Marvin Dienst	Mercedes-AMG GT3	287	64 Laps	18 Laps	Running
40	GTD	39	Robert Megennis/Corey Lewis/Jeff Westphal	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	287	64 Laps	1’01.727	Running
41	GTD	59	Jon Miller/Patrick Gallagher/Paul Holton	McLaren 720S GT3	276	75 Laps	11 Laps	DNF
42	LMP3	40	Max Hanratty/Todd Archer/James Vance	Duqueine D08	262	89 Laps	14 Laps	Running
43	GTD	27	Roman De Angelis/Ian James/Tom Gamble	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	256	95 Laps	6 Laps	Running
44	GTD	1	Bryan Sellers/Madison Snow/Erik Johansson	BMW M4 GT3	256	95 Laps	59.931s	Running
45	GTD PRO	25	Connor de Phillippi/John Edwards/Augusto Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	246	105 Laps	10 Laps	Running
46	LMP3	74	Gar Robinson/Felipe Fraga/Kay van Berlo	Ligier JS P320	232	119 Laps	14 Laps	DNF
47	GTD PRO	23	Ross Gunn/Alex Riberas/Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage GT3	230	121 Laps	2 Laps	DNF
48	LMP2	8	John Farano/Louis Deletraz/Rui Andrade	ORECA LMP2 07	220	131 Laps	10 Laps	DNF
49	LMP3	7	Mark Kvamme/Anthony Mantella	Duqueine D08	204	147 Laps	16 Laps	DNF
50	LMP3	6	Efrin Castro/Moritz Kranz/Ugo De	Duqueine D08	128	223 Laps	76 Laps	DNF
51	GTD	42	Don Yount/Jaden Conwright/Mateo Llarena	Lamborghini Huracan GT3	105	246 Laps	23 Laps	DNF
52	LMP2	81	Henrik Hedman/Juan Pablo Montoya/Sebastian Montoya	ORECA LMP2 07	83	268 Laps	22 Laps	DNF
53	LMP3	36	Jarett Andretti/Josh Burdon/Gabby Chaves	Ligier JS P320	1	350 Laps	82 Laps	DNF