Felipe Nasr of the #7 Porsche Penske 963 narrowly led the 73rd running of the IMSA 12 Hours of Sebring with six hours done and six remaining.
As the race entered the fifth racing hour, Brendon Hartley of the #40 Wayne Taylor Cadillac V-Series.R locked up and hit the wall at Sunset Bend, the final corner.
He soon got moving again as race control declared the fifth full-course-caution period and Hartley pitted for a front assembly change and new front tyres. The #40 Cadillac incurred a stop and 60-second penalty for the mechanics conducting more than an emergency pit stop service.
Green flag running resumed with seven-hours and 27-minutes remaining and race leader Colin Braun (#60 Meyer Shank Acura ARX-06) retained his lead.
Braun and #7 Porsche Penske 963 GTP driver Nick Tandy, running just two places behind, have three class wins to their name yet none overall as of yet.
Earl Bamber of the #31 Whelen Cadillac wrestled his way into the lead past Braun, before Tandy and #6 Porsche Penske driver Kevin Estre followed suit.
Braun and Marco Wittmann (#25 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 GTP) had a slight moment of door-to-door contact that was deemed a racing incident.
At the front, the fight for the lead continued as just five seconds covered the top-five: Nick Yelloly (#93 Meyer Shank Acura), Tandy, Braun and Estre.
Eventually, the top-three of Bamber, Yelloly and Tandy pulled away with GT traffic playing its part in bringing a 16-second gap to fourth-placed Estre.
Porsche Penske fight with Whelen Cadillac
At the halfway mark, Felipe Nasr – having taken over the #7 Porsche – earned his way past Bamber into the lead on the #31 Whelen Cadillac.
Mathieu Jaminet held third place in the #6 Porsche Penske as Kevin Magnussen sat in fourth behind the wheel of the #24 RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 with Renger van der Zande rounding out the top-five for the #93 Meyer Shank Acura.
In LMP2, United Autosports kept their cars running clean without incurring penalties like some of their rivals during a messy opening two hours in the all-Oreca 07 category.
Toby Sowery ran at the front of the category for the #04 Crowdstrike Racing outfit, followed 40 seconds behind with Rasmus Lindh’s #22 United Autosports USA Oreca as Tom Dillmann was third for the #43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca team.
Juan Manuel Correa was fourth in the #2 United Autosports USA Oreca as Hunter McElrea rounded out the top-five in the #11 TDS Racing Oreca.
Paul Miller Racing lead on Corvette in GTD Pro
In the GTD Pro category, Connor de Philippi led the charge in the #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO two seconds ahead of the #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg.
Reigning champions Laurin Heinrich and his #77 AO Racing’ Rexy’ Porsche 911 GT3.R were third in front of the other BMW, the #48, of Max Hesse.
Albert Costa rounded the top-five for the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari 296 GT3.
Kenton Koch was at the front of GTD in the #32 Korthoff Competition Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Russell Ward.
Third place went to Simon Mann in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari which suffered a brake failure, therefore necessitating a change for the left front brake unit.
Franke Montecalvo was fourth for Vasser Sullivan’s #14 Lexus RC F GT3 ahead of Tom Sargent’s #120 Wright Motorsports’ Porsche.
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