The Recent Test at Sebring May Have Backed up Some of What We Saw at Daytona
By John Oreovicz
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The first round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is in the history books, along with the first batch of real-world data that can be used to assess the competitive pecking order across the five classes.
After 24 hours of racing in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, four of the five categories featured lead-lap battles for the class win, with Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) decided by just 0.016 seconds in a thrilling finish between Proton Competition and Crowdstrike Racing by APR.
The focus now shifts to Sebring International Raceway, where 26 cars recently participated in an IMSA-sanctioned open test in preparation for the 71st running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Taking into account what we’ve seen so far at Daytona – both in the Roar Before the Rolex 24 and the Rolex 24 itself – and last week’s test, what can be expected when the full WeatherTech Championship field returns March 16-18 to Sebring?
Looking first at the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) class, the biggest question is whether Acura can sustain the very slight pace advantage it enjoyed at Daytona, where the ARX-06 showed plenty of straight-line speed on the banking. Acura’s preceding contender, the ARX-05 built to specifications for the discontinued Daytona Prototype international (DPi) formula, tended to struggle on Sebring’s bumpy surface.
This year, Acura topped the timing screens in four of the five sessions at the Sebring test, led by Filipe Albuquerque in the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autosport entry. The Portuguese ace reported that the ARX-06 is much more comfortable and easier to drive on rough surfaces, boosting his confidence for the upcoming race.
As at Daytona, a Porsche 963 fielded by Porsche Penske Motorsport came closest to the Acura on one-lap pace in Sebring testing. But the Acura was faster by a greater margin; the gap between pole position and second on the grid at Daytona between Tom Blomqvist in the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7 Porsche was 0.083 seconds. At Sebring, Albuquerque’s best lap in the No. 10 Acura was nearly half a second clear of Mathieu Jaminet in the No. 6 Porsche.
Based on recent history, Cadillac is the car to beat at Sebring. Cadillac won the Twelve Hours four times during the six-year DPi era, including the last two runnings. Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac V-LMDh was less than a tenth of a second adrift of Jaminet’s Porsche in the Sebring test, and the Dutchman said the Cadillac performed “flawlessly.”
General Motors sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser said she feels positive about the way the Cadillac program is progressing. She is quietly confident heading into the Super Sebring race weekend, where Cadillac Racing will compete in the Twelve Hours of Sebring and also make its debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.
“The main takeaways (from Daytona) were we are very pleased with our vehicles,” Klauser said. “We think we have a strong package but we need to find some more pace. The good news is we have 24 hours of data to do that, but there is not that much time to take the data and work with it.”
“Many of us have tested at Sebring, but it will be nice to do the proper racing as well and see what we still need to know about the car,” she added. “Sebring is one of the best places in the world to find out how reliable your vehicle is, so it will be exciting to see what things look like at the end of the races.”
If the LMP2 times from the February 15-16 test at Sebring offer any indication, the action will continue to be intriguingly close. The top three cars were separated by only 0.063 seconds, led by the No. 11 TDS Racing entry wheeled by Scott Huffaker. Paul-Loup Chatin got within 0.012 seconds in PR1 Mathiasen Motorsport’s No. 52, with Christian Rasmussen third in the No. 18 for Era Motorsport.
That trio of perennial LMP2 frontrunners, along with defending class champion No. 8 Tower Motorsport, are looking to rebound from a disappointing Rolex 24 when the Sebring race rolls around. The Tower LMP2 was the only one to crack the top five at Daytona; Huffaker and his teammates finished 10th, dropping out a third of the way through the race.
Last year’s Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) winners at Sebring are also seeking redemption from Daytona, although Sean Creech Motorsport’s disappointment wasn’t nearly as acute. SCM led the class into the 19th hour of the Rolex 24, but had to rally to finish second in the No. 33 Ligier JS P320 following a 28-minute pit stop to rectify shifting issues, allowing the No. 17 AWA Duqueine D08 to take the win with ease. It was the third consecutive runner-up in the Rolex for the Creech team.
In the classes utilizing cars built to the international GT3 standard – GT Daytona Pro (GTD PRO) and GT Daytona (GTD) – the Mercedes-AMG GT3 carried over the one-lap speed it demonstrated at Daytona to the Sebring test. Mercedes swept the four fastest qualifying laps for the Rolex 24, claiming pole position in both GTD and GTD PRO. At Sebring, with a lap of 2 minutes, 1.558 seconds (110.762 mph), Mikael Grenier led all of the GT entries in the No. 32 Mercedes-AMG GT3 that Team Korthoff Motorsports fields in GTD. Next up was the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 – a GTD PRO entry – with Ben Barnicoat at the wheel, 0.185 seconds in arrears.
In the Rolex 24, the No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes triumphed in GTD PRO, closely pursued by Corvette and Lexus. Meanwhile in GTD, Aston Martin scored a 1-2 finish, followed by McLaren and Acura. The race performance of the Acuras was notable in GTD – both the No. 66 Gradient Racing NSX GT3 that finished fourth and the sixth-place No. 93 prepared by Racers Edge Motorsports with WTRAndretti.
With 10 participating manufacturers, the GT classes often feature the most intense competition in the WeatherTech Championship. Will that trend continue throughout 2023? Find out when IMSA action resumes at Sebring in three weeks.