#55 Mazda wins classic Sebring 12H after late team-mate puncture

Jonathan Bomarito, Harry Tincknell and Ryan Hunter-Reay have taken victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in a race of attrition, which featured both a controversial clash between Pipo Derani and Juan Pablo Montoya and a late puncture for the sister car

The troubles for the major DPi runners began very early on when the polesitting #7 Acura ARX-05 of Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and Alexander Rossi suffered intercooler issues and was ruled out of the fight for victory within the first hour.

The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi-VR of Renger van der Zande, Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon served a drivethrough penalty early on but made their way back out front until Dixon made contact with Jarvis, which damaged the Cadillac and needed extensive repairs, costing it several laps.

The fight for victory then swung towards the #6 Acura ARX-05 of Juan Pablo Montoya, Dane Cameron and Simon Pagenaud and the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-VR of Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr and Gabby Chaves.

RelatedPosts

Heart of Racing confirms single Valkyrie GTP entrant for IMSA 2025

1 day ago

54 entries set for IMSA Petit Le Mans’ 27th running

6 days ago

The rivalry between the #31 Cadillac and Acura Team Penske then boiled over after Derani and Montoya made contact twice, which resulted in Montoya spinning off track and Derani receiving both damage and a drivethrough penalty.

The #77 Mazda RT24-P of Olivier Pla, Tristan Nunez and Oliver Jarvis then inherited the lead with the #55 Mazda in tow and looked set for victory, until Jarvis suffered a late puncture and dropped out of the lead.

Jarvis, Pla and Nunez came home in third, behind the #6 Acura ARX-05 of Montoya, Cameron and Pagenaud.

In LMP2, Scott Huffaker, Patrick Kelly and Simon Trummer took a dominant victory in the #52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports, finishing several laps clear of their nearest competition.

GTLM went the way of Porsche, which scored an unlikely one-two finish in their final IMSA race following an incident in the final minutes. The #25 BMW M8 GTE of Connor de Phillippi, Bruno Spengler and Colton Herta had been leading the race after both Corvettes lost a shot at the podium with nearly identical suspension issues.

The BMW then outpaced the pair of Porsches until a mistake from Lawson Aschenbach saw the #74 Mercedes-AMG GT3 involved in an incident with both the GTLM and GTD leaders.

The leading BMW and the #63 Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo were both involved and it cost them dearly. De Phillippi suffered a puncture and promoted the two Porsches into one-two with the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Nick Tandy, Fred Makowiecki and Earl Bamber winning and Bamber, Laurens Vanthoor and Neel Jani second in the #911 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Jesse Krohn, John Edwards and Augusto Farfus finished third in the #24 BMW M8 GTE.

In GTD, that same incident completely changed the class result. Instead of a victory for Scuderia Corsa, it was the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long, Jan Heylen and Ryan Hardwick that inherited the win.

Roman de Angelis, Ian James and Darren Turner finished second in the #23 Aston Martin Vantage GT3, with Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry and Shinya Michimi finishing third in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo.