The Mobil 1 – 12 Hours of Sebring Preview
March 2, 2017
Story by Eddie LePine and Jack Webster, Photos by Thomas Murray
Here we are in the middle of March and we are on our way to Sebring for this year’s running of the Mobil 1 – 12 Hours of Sebring, round 2 of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
If the Rolex 24 at Daytona is any indication, Sebring is going to be a fantastic race. A total of 46 cars are entered for this year’s race. There are 11 DPi cars, four LMPC machines, 10 entries in the GTLM class and a large field of 21 cars in GTD.
Cadillac will be looking to repeat their success at Daytona, with 3 of the GM powered prototypes prepared to do battle at Sebring. Last year’s winning Tequila Patron ESM squad is back with two new Nissan powered cars and they are sure to be strong as well. Throw in entries from Mazda, ORECA, and Multimatic and it is obvious that Sebring will start right up where Daytona left off – with a strong field of prototype race cars, any of which could compete for the overall victory.
In GTLM, all the main players are back from Daytona. Ganassi Racing has entered three of the Ford GTs, instead of the four cars they had for Daytona, looking to add Sebring to their historic list of endurance racing victories. Of course, Corvette, BMW, Ferrari an Porsche will have something to say about that, as all their Daytona entries are signed up for Sebring.
In GTD, it is again anyone’s race, and with 21 cars doing battle at Sebring, it is sure to be the survival of the fittest. No particular favorites in this class, as virtually all of the entered cars could contend for the class win.
In LMPC, there are four cars entered. Two cars from BAR1 Motorsports and single entries from Starworks and Performance Tech will compete for class honors.
The weather forecast is superb for the full week, so there should not be a repeat of the wet weather conditions we had at last year’s event. If you haven’t already done so, make your plans to get to Sebring for this year’s race. It is going to be an excellent one. We hope to see you there!
