| October 29, 2019 Staff Report IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The roar of sports car engines is returning to the iconic Sebring International Raceway on Nov. 9-10 for the second Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore. It’s two days of sports car racing fun at Sebring, with $100,000 in cash and awards – but no championship points – up for grabs. The weekend features nearly eight hours of track time for LMP3, GT3, GT4 and TCR machines, including the four-hour race on the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 10. Tickets will be sold at the Sebring International Raceway gate for $10 apiece with overnight RV parking available for $20. Military veterans with ID will be admitted free throughout this Veterans Day weekend event. All of the action also will be streamed live on IMSA.tv with commentary provided by IMSA Radio. The Encore offers a $10,000 cash prize and $7,500 in Michelin tire credit to be applied toward 2020 IMSA events for each of the four class-winning teams, with $5,000 in Michelin tire credit for each class runner-up and $2,500 in Michelin tire credit for third in each class. Race cars from seven different manufacturers are already entered for the four-hour race. Entries are still being accepted through this Friday, Nov. 1. As was the case in the inaugural Michelin IMSA SportsCar Encore, the LMP3 class – which likely will compete for the overall race victory – has the most entries so far, including entries from ANSA Motorsports, which won the 2018 Encore; Forty7 Motorsports, which won the 2019 IMSA Prototype Challenge championship and IMSA prototype stalwarts, Performance Tech Motorsports, among others. This will be the first appearance for the GT3 class at the Encore, with entries including a Lamborghini from Paul Miller Racing, 2018 IMSA WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) champions, a Mercedes-AMG from Riley Motorsports and a pair of Porsches from Wright Motorsports and Black Swan Racing. The 2018 event included just LMP3, GT4 and TCR. GT4 entries have been received from powerhouse teams such as Riley Motorsports, Turner Motorsport and the 2019 IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS) championship-winning CarBahn with Peregrine Racing team. The full entry list will be revealed next Monday, Nov. 4. The Encore is open to any team with a currently homologated LMP3, GT3, GT4 or TCR race car. Each car may have a minimum of two and a maximum of three drivers, with a maximum of one Gold-rated driver per car. Platinum-rated drivers are prohibited. Drivers who competed in the inaugural Encore in 2018 enjoyed the event and appreciated the extended opportunities for track time on the challenging-but-revered, 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit. “It was so much fun out there,” said WeatherTech Championship star Katherine Legge, who competed in the LMP3 class in 2018. “These cars are awesome. There’s some really good drivers out there today. I really think this was a good event and the four hours just seemed to be about right.” The 2018 Encore saw would-be 2019 Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA and Canada by Yokohama double champion Roman De Angelis team with rising star Kyle Kirkwood to take the overall and LMP3 class victory in the No. 13 ANSA Motorsports Ligier JS P3 by 2.278 seconds over the No. 26 K2R Motorsports Ligier of James McGuire Jr., Matt Bell and Kay van Berlo. Nate Stacy and Kyle Marcelli teamed with Dean Martin to win the GT4 class last year in the No. 60 Roush Performance/KohR Motorsports Ford Mustang GT4 while the TCR win last year went to Marco Cirone and Remo Ruscitti in the No. 82 Mark Motors Racing Audi RS3 LMS TCR. IMSA TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK Follow on Twitter @imsa, use the hashtag #IMSA, follow on Instagram @imsa_racing and ‘like’ IMSA on Facebook –www.facebook.com/imsa. For further information, visit www.imsa.com. |
