The No. 19 GEAR Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3 motored down the Sebring International Raceway pit lane shortly before 1 p.m. during a Wednesday test session.
After it pulled into its pit box, Rahel Frey, a rookie driver in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship that will be competing in the four 2020 IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup events, climbed out of the Italian race car with its Pop Art-inspired livery.
She had just driven her first laps around the historic racing circuit and now had a lunch break to process the experience. The GEAR Racing powered by GRT Grasser team meanwhile, was taking advantage of the gap between January’s season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts on March 21 to get their car ready to race next month and put a Rolex 24 that ended prematurely firmly in the rearview mirror.
“We were so unlucky in Daytona,” said Frey, a Swiss 33-year-old racer. “I think we got closer together. When something happens, it’s always about team motivation. We are definitely motivated to keep going, and we want to get some results.”
The Lamborghini-powered team was about to begin the 20th hour of the 2020 Rolex 24 when the vehicle, piloted by two-time WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) champion Christina Nielsen at the time, burst into flames while approaching the speedway’s backstretch bus stop.
The Dane climbed out of the car quickly while engaging the Huracán’s fire extinguisher as it sat ablaze on the speedway’s apron. The fire was eventually extinguished, but it left the No. 19 team with some clean-up work and extensive repairs to make.
“After we got the car back from Daytona, it was full of the extinguisher stuff, so they had to completely strip it down,” said Katherine Legge, who is sharing the No. 19 for the full WeatherTech Championship season with Nielsen. “It’s basically like a new car. They rebuilt it up from the beginning. They want to make sure nothing like that can happen again.”
The all-female GT Daytona (GTD) race team ran its “new” car on the rigorous circuit of Sebring with a driver that has tasted success on the airstrip-based raceway in the past, which is something they are relying on to claim redemption on race weekend.
Nielsen knows what it’s like to stand atop the Sebring podium after 12 grueling hours of racing. She won the GTD class in 2016 while driving for the Scuderia Corsa team, a memory of the raceway that she enjoys.
“I have a couple good results here, and I’m super excited to be back,” said the 28-year-old Dane who also scored class podiums in 2015 and 2017. “This is a super historical place. When you’re doing the track walk, you’re watching the cracks. They’ve gotten bigger since last year.”
Legge has also had extensive experience in the Central Florida track and is hungry for a victory.
“This one has eluded me, and it’s definitely one of the ones I want to win,” said Legge, a 39-year-old from the UK. “It’s on the bucket list for sure.
“This year, we need a win to shake off the cobwebs and to put the girl team on top.”
The GEAR Racing team and the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship field will be back at Sebring International Raceway on March 21 at 10:30 a.m. for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts on CNBC. It can also be streamed on the NBC App with authentication and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. IMSA Radio will have coverage available at IMSARadio.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio.
Tickets are available now at SebringRaceway.com.