Team principal at Sean Creech Motorsport (SCM), Sean Creech, acknowledges his team are making progress after they secured a fourth-placed LMP2 class finish at the 12 Hours of Sebring.
SCM are known for fielding the only Ligier JS P217 in the 13-car LMP2 category in the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
At the second round of the championship, the 12 Hours of Sebring, the #33 Ligier finished in an impressive fourth position after their difficulties at the 24 Hours of Daytona opener whereby they encountered major reliability issues.
“I couldn’t be prouder of this entire team,” said Creech.
“We were two laps down but at no time did a single team member back off the gas.
“We have a huge amount of information to sort through from this entire weekend but today, we definitely placed a good number of positives into the information database going forward.
“We set laps close to the Orecas around us, so we know we are moving in the right direction.”
Bronze-rated driver Lance Willsey qualified the #33 in last position, behind all 12 other Oreca 07 machines.
The race narrative consisted of 12 caution periods which ensured the LMP2 winning-contenders could stay on their respective leader’s lap, and SCM’s only woe came as Willsey spun to avoid an incident with another LMP2 car at Turn 16.
This led to him stalling the #33 Ligier and losing 2 laps after conducting a power cycle reset.
Willsey added: “I’m not usually prone to celebrating a P4 but I think that, given the challenges that we have undertaken, with limited testing and facing some teething pains and challenges at Daytona, this is a definite positive.
“I think it is a testament once again to the hard work and the dedication of this team and the drivers. It was a true team effort.”
Jonny Edgar set the quickest race lap time of the #33, a 1:53.012, which was closely matched by teammate Joao Barbosa’s fastest of 1:53.073.
It was, however, their strategy call during the final hour and more specifically on the final pit stop, which proved crucial in their impressive P4 finish.
“… The car was definitely better than where we had it on Thursday, and compared to Daytona, we seemed more competitive as well,” explained Edgar who drove in the final stint to the checkered flag.
“The team did a great job with the strategy to get the laps back when we needed to and then at the end, hitting the fuel stop at exactly the right time.”
After making a timely pit stop call during the 12th and final caution period, SCM were elevated to fifth position, which became fourth after #74 Riley Oreca driver Felipe Fraga fell back after promptly challenging Connor Zilisch for the win during the final minutes.
“The car was really good at night [during the final two racing hours], so job one is really digging in to understand why.
“If we can repeat that consistently, I think we can have good results.”
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