News
Race report
At the wheel of the
Despite their strong performance with the 911 RSR, the
Two
On the legendary airfield circuit in the heart of Florida, notorious for its bumpy surface, both 911 RSR turned by far the most laps in the lead. Regardless of the conditions, they maintained a consistent pace: during the day the thermometer climbed to 35 degrees Celsius, after dark the temperatures dropped noticeably. In the midday heat, the track surface temperature hit a record 50 degrees Celsius. Thanks to top performances from all drivers as well as perfect pit stops, everything ran according to plan. Every time the interim results were displayed hourly by the stewards of the meeting, the 911 RSR held the lead of the GTLM class – up until the last hour. Then things began to unravel: The leading
In the fiercely-competitive GTD class, the
Comments on the race
Marco Ujhasi, Overall project manager GT works motorsport: “Testing in Sebring paid off. The balance of the 911 RSR was exceptional. We were well prepared and our strategy would have worked. For eleven hours we were totally competitive. Congratulations to the Falken Tire squad. A podium in Sebring is a great achievement. And of course this is also true of the GTD win of the guys from Seattle/Alex Job Racing.”
Wolf Henzler (#17): “A fantastic race. Third place is a super result for the entire Falken Tire team. We were able to match the pace of the others, and at times were even in the lead. We didn’t experience one technical problem, our 911 RSR ran perfectly.”
Patrick Long (#17): “That was a long day. Sebring is always difficult. Today it was mainly the heat and the caution phases which gave us a headache. The midway mark in the race was tough, but we finished strongly. It was a great experience to drive for this team.”
Nick Tandy (#911): “Today we could have won. The team worked brilliantly. The drivers shouldn’t blame themselves either. We didn’t make any mistakes, and the cars finished without the slightest scratch.”
Patrick Pilet (#911): “A big compliment to the team. We can’t complain about a thing. The pits stops were great and we had the right strategy.”
Richard Lietz (#911): “Our teamwork was excellent and a top result was within reach until just before the flag. Now we have to turn our complete attention to the next race in Long Beach and go all-out.”
Earl Bamber (#912): “We had a winning car today. The handling was very good. The team had found an excellent setup for the 911 RSR on this difficult track.”
Jörg Bergmeister (#912): “Our 911 RSR ran really well. It was simply superb to drive and, after all, we were leading for eleven hours.”
Frédéric Makowiecki (#912): “Thanks to a strong team effort we were really looking good for a win right up until an hour before the finish. This is something we can now build on for the next race.”
Round 3 of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship will take place on April 18 in Long Beach, California.
Race result
GTLM result
1. Magnussen/Garcia/Briscoe (DK/E/AUS), Chevrolet Corvette, 330 laps
2. Kaffer/Fisichella/Bertolini (D/I/I), Ferrari F458 Italia, 330
3. Henzler/Sellers/Long (D/USA/USA),
4. Edwards/Luhr/Klingmann (USA/D/D), BMW Z4 GTE, 329
5. Tandy/Pilet/Lietz (GB/F/A),
6. Lamy/Turner/Lauda/Della Lana (P/GB/A/CAN), Aston Martin, 318
7. Bergmeister/Bamber/Makowiecki (D/NZ/F),
GTD class
1. Riberas/Farnbacher/James (E/D/USA),
2. Nielsen/Davison/Davis (DK/AUS/USA), Aston Martin, 318
3. Sweedler/Bell/Lazzaro (USA/USA/USA), Ferrari 458 Italia, 318
This is the Tudor United SportsCar Championship
The Tudor United SportsCar Championship is a new sports car race series contested in the USA and Canada which was run in 2014 for the first time. The series was formed from the merger of the American Le Mans Series and the Grand-Am Series. Sports prototypes and sports cars start in four different classes: GTLM (GT Le Mans), GTD (GT Daytona), P (Prototype) and PC (Prototype Challenge). The
All reports on the previous season can be found in our archive.