Earl Bamber leads for Cadillac with four hours gone in the 12 Hours of Sebring, after a hectic opening couple of hours has calmed into a stable rhythm.
Dries Vanthoor lead from pole in the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8, but got a drive-through penalty for a start procedure infringement. After this, Porsche’s Felipe Nasr inherited the lead, and stayed there for the majority of the opening couple of hours.
Nasr and Porsche lost the lead at a pitstop under caution, when the leaders couldn’t pit as the pit lane was closed. This gave the lead to Vesti’s teammate Jack Aitken, who in due turn handed over to teammate Frederik Vesti.
Vesti retained the lead during his stint, sustaining a reasonable gap to Acura’s Alex Palou, and has since handed over to Earl Bamber, who now leads the race.
“That was honestly one of the most fun races that I’ve ever done; obviously, it’s not done yet,” said Vesti after getting out of the car.
“The stints were really good and we’re really pleased with the car as well. I knew we had a good car and this gives us a lot of confidence the rest of the race.
“Now it’s time to chill and my great teammates will do the job and I’ll be back in the car later. Good job by all.”
The Acuras, with Colin Braun in the #60 and Nick Yelloly, replacing Palou in the #93, are behind Bamber, with Braun two seconds off and Yelloly a further four.
Fourth is Porsche’s Nick Tandy, in the #7 car, with his teammate Kevin Estre in the #6 behind him. Tristan Vautier is behind in the #5 Proton Competition Porsche, while Kevin Magnussen is eighth in the #24 car, which D. Vanthoor started on pole.
TDS, BMW, Lexus lead other classes
Mikkel Jensen leads LMP2 in the #11 TDS Racing car, which Steven Thomas started on pole. Second is #2 United Autosports Oreca of Ben Hanley, with his teammate Rasmus Lindh in the United Autosports sister car, the #22.
Madison Snow is out in front in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 in GTD PRO, while Nico Varrone is second, four seconds adrift, in the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R.
Jesse Krohn, in the sister #48 Paul Miller Racing BMW, is third. Fourth is Giacomo Altoé in the #81 DragonSpeed Ferrari 296 GT3, which started the race on pole, although Albert Costa has just climbed into that car.
Finally, in GTD, Parker Thompson leads in the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3. Lilou Wadoux is second in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, while third is Brendan Iribe in the #70 Inception Racing Ferrari.
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