Defending Champion Is the Fifth DPi Car to Hold First Place Today
March 20, 2021By Mark RobinsonIMSA Wire ServiceSEBRING, Fla. – The No. 55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi, the defending Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts champion, led after four hours of the 2021 race at Sebring International Raceway today.
The second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season is also the second event in IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup competition, meaning separate points are awarded at specified junctures of each endurance event. Earning five points for leading their classes at the four-hour mark were: the No. 55 Mazda in Daytona Prototype international (DPi), the No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA LMP2 07 in Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2), the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ligier JS P320 in Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3), the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE in GT Le Mans (GTLM) and the No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R in GT Daytona (GTD).
Including the Michelin Endurance Cup points earned from the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January and through four hours of the Sebring Twelve Hours, season-long leaders are:
DPi: No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05, 21 points; No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R, 15;
LMP2: No. 8 Tower Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07, 20 points; No. 18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 07, 16;
LMP3: No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier JS P320, 23 points; No. 33 Sean Creech Motorsports Ligier, 17;
GTLM: No. 3 and No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs, tied at 21 points;
GTD: No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (not racing at Sebring), 16 points; No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, 15.
Additional Michelin Endurance Cup points will also be awarded at the eight-hour mark and the finish of the race.
Continue to follow race coverage to its conclusion at approximately 10:10 p.m. ET. The streaming telecast is available on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold, the NBC Sports App and NBCSports.com until 7 p.m., when NBCSN also picks up coverage to the finish. The IMSA Radio broadcast is available on IMSA.com, RadioLeMans.com and SiriusXM Radio (Sirius channel 216, XM 392, Internet 992).
Throughout the first four hours, five different DPi cars led the race, three in LMP2, four in LMP3, two in GTLM and four in GTD. There were three full-course cautions. Johnson Finds Early Trouble Again in Turn 17
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson experienced the good and bad of Sebring in the opening moments of the race.
Fourteen minutes after the start, Johnson spun and made contact with another car, with debris from the incident precipitating the first full-course caution. After repairs were made, Johnson got back in the race and led seven laps as pit stops cycled through.
Johnson’s No. 48 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R spun in Turn 17. Its nose was scraped by the left side of the No. 5 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Loic Duval, but both cars were able to continue. It’s the same turn where Johnson crashed during qualifying on Friday, forcing the team to ready a spare tub for the race.
“I was trying to work around some GT cars and just got too wide,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of black (rubber on the pavement) down there, and I thought there was going to be enough grip on the outside of those guys. There certainly wasn’t. I was in the marbles … and around I went.”
After his crew replaced the nose assembly, Johnson led seven laps while the DPi field made its pit stops under green.
“The car’s still driving great,” Johnson said after Simon Pagenaud took over the No. 48 Ally Cadillac just under an hour into the race. “Grip level is different. It’s down. It seems to be coming up as the track takes rubber. Wind direction is also pretty different as well.” Nos. 01, 31 Cadillac Drivers Disagree on Incident Responsibility
The early minutes of the race left two drivers in disagreement about an incident, with one calling the other “a world champion horse jumper.”
Pipo Derani was trying to pass Renger van der Zande heading into Turn 17 in the 46th minute of the race when he was forced into the wall as van der Zande tried to avoid the No. 23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 on his outside. Derani’s No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R was pinched into the inside wall, sustaining damage to the tie rod and rear end. It returned three laps down after pitting for extensive repairs.
Van der Zande, whose No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R wasn’t damaged, said Derani shouldn’t have tried to make the pass.
“I think Pipo should be in horse jumping, you know?” van der Zande said. “He would be a world champion horse jumper. He thinks he can go over people instead of just passing them in a nice way.”
Derani remained in the pole-winning No. 31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac as it slid to seventh in class and 21st overall. His race engineer, Tim Keene, disputed the decision by IMSA race control to not issue a penalty to van der Zande.
“We obviously don’t agree with no call on that,” Keene said. “We had position on the (No.) 01, and we felt like they just turned us into the wall. We always seem to end up being the bug in those situations. It’s kind of getting old.”
Meanwhile, van der Zande continued to criticize Derani’s aggressive driving style.
“The last five, six races, we saw him doing all kinds of moves like this,” van der Zande said. “I mean, I like the guy. He’s a great guy to talk to. But on the track, he’s just too wild. He was almost wiping out four cars at one time in that last (Turn) 17 corner.
“For Pipo, he just needs to chill out. He’s taken himself out many times now. I just feel bad for their team. They have a fast car. They had the car to win today. … I don’t know what he was trying to do. That wall has been out there for 40 years now.” Different Paths for Corvettes in GTLM
The No. 3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R dominated the first third of the race in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class, leading the first three hours before the No. 25 BMW Team RLL BMW M8 GTE snuck ahead on a pit stop under a full-course caution.
Despite the apparent advantage, No. 3 Corvette driver Antonio Garcia wasn’t convinced of his car’s superiority over the competition.
“I think we are all very equal,” Garcia said. “It feels like we may have a tiny bit more than they do, so that gave me an opportunity to be kind of safe in a traffic a little bit. That’s the biggest thing now. Traffic is very difficult, especially on restarts.
“Once we are clear, we seem to be strong. It will be difficult to stay ahead of the BMWs. We need to focus on how the track develops, especially if conditions are going back to being cooler like it was at the beginning of the race. The car felt quite decent that point. We will have to wait and see.”
Meanwhile, the No. 4 Corvette faced a difficult beginning to the day. First, opening driver Tommy Milner was assessed a drive-through penalty for changing lanes on the race start. Milner stopped again a lap later as the crew checked for power-related issues and went a lap down. The problem persisted until the car went behind the wall for repairs just more than three hours into the race. Still, the No. 4 was able to stay within two laps of the class leaders. Several GTD Front-Runners Face Issues
The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 and No. 16 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R battled through much of the first four hours at the head of the GT Daytona (GTD) field. While the No. 14 was the predominant leader, the No. 16 was usually close behind – until No. 16 driver Patrick Long made a bold pass of Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 14 for the lead approaching the three-hour mark.
Shortly after, the No. 14 suffered brake issues, forcing repairs under a full-course caution that dropped it a lap behind.
The No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 ran strong early – leading briefly – but saw its hopes dwindle when the car encountered electrical issues less than two hours in. The crew took the car to the paddock to effect repairs, where it fell 11 laps behind.
The third full-course caution occurred after the GTD entries driven by Franck Perera and Billy Johnson came together in Turn 3 and collided hard into the tire barrier. Perera, in the No. 19 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3, skipped over curbing and collected Johnson in the No. 28 Alegra Motorsports Mercedes-AMG GT3.
Both drivers emerged from their cars unassisted and were taken to the infield care center for observation, from which they were evaluated and released. Wall repairs took nearly 30 minutes before racing could resume.
The first race for the No. 99 Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche got off to a rocky start. First, co-owner/co-driver Rob Ferriol was hit by the No. 24 BMW Team RLL BMW less than an hour into the race. Soon after, Ferriol went off course and made contact with the Turn 5 tire barrier. Laps behind after a lengthy pit stop, co-driver/co-owner Earl Bamber mixed it up with Corey Lewis in the No. 1 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini as they went through Turn 17. More damage forced the No. 99 to the paddock for repairs. |
