It seems fitting that the last international edition of the Great American Endurance Race should be one by the Great American Sports Car. The GT trophy from the last Twelve Hours of Sebring sanctioned by the American Le Mans Series and welcoming the world’s best cars and teams, went to the #4 C6-ZR1 of Corvette Racing—a car in its last year also, incidentally.
It wasn’t an easy ride for the winning Corvette, driven by Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Richard Westbrook. The car had to overcome electrical problems and penalties and spent the last three hours chasing the leading Ferrari. In the end, the Ferrari driver faltered and the Corvette took the win—Corvette’s tenth in the 12 Hours.
“Certainly seemed like we were making it harder than we wanted to,” said Olly Gavin after the race. “We had some issues with the car and we got about a lap and a bit down. Then we got a penalty for something, not really sure what [contact with the #23 Ferrari], a stop plus 60 seconds.
“The crew was fantastic today, and Tommy and Richard drove fantastically today. Tommy at the end did an amazing job, relentlessly closing the Ferrari dow,n putting big pressure on him and the Ferrari eventually made a mistake and ran wide at Turn Ten and that was the victory for us.
“An amazing twelve hours of just never giving up. Delighted for everybody: for Corvette Racing, for Tommy, first Sebring win, and a first win for Richard, so yeah, it’s fantastic.”
Tenth Win a Tough One
This victory marked the tenth time Corvette has won its class in the Twelve Hours of Sebring under the ALMS.
Corvette also has nine poles at Sebring, but didn’t get one this year. It was outqualified by the Risi Competizione Ferrari and early on the AJR-West Ferrari was equally fast.
Tom Milner took advantage of pit strategy to take the class lead after an hour, and Richard Westbrook held onto the lead until his stop near the three-hour mark. Westbrook stint was cut short by an electrical malfunction which shorted out the dashboard. After five minutes in the pits, Westbrook handed off to Oliver Gavin who collected a pit-lane speeding penalty on the way back to the race, costing the car a stop-and-go.
Meanwhile Antonio Garcia in the #3 Corvette got off to a much rougher start. He collided with the #5 Core Autosports PC Oreca after only nine minutes of racing, earning himself a stop-plus-sixty. Half an hour later he brought in the #3 Corvette with transmission problems. This car would be in and out off the pits until it retired, apparently because of the failure of an 89-cent part.
Joey Hand in the new BMW Z4 took over the class lead for a while, then lost it to Dominick Farnbacher in the #91 SRT Viper, a car which has suddenly found its competitive pace. During qualifying and practice the Viper was off the pace but on race day it surprised everyone with its speed. Mark Goosens set the second-quickest GT lap at 2:00.057 in the #91 Viper. Incidentqal issues cost this car a few minutes here and there, enough to keep it off the podium, the #91 finished fifth.
Even faster than the Vipers were the Aston Martin Vantages; Darren Turner in the #97 Vantage turned in the fastest GT lap, the only one under two minutes. Unfortunately accidents and reliability issues held them back. The #97 sustained radiator damage in the first half-hour and had to head to the garage. It rejoined, but its sister car then lost an hour in the pits.
The BMWs handles well, but lacked top speed; the #56 also lost a lot of time with a faulty left front strut and a penalty for working on the car while refueling. Other than that the cars ran cleanly (except for one notable off by the #55, which did not damage) finishing fourth and seventh in class.
The AJR-West Ferrari did well in its race debut until, seven and a half hour in, Bill Sweedler cut across the #4 Corvette in Turn Ten. The Ferrari spun and apparently did some suspension damage, because a few minutes later it hit the wall hard in Turn 14, bringing out a yellow flag. Westbrook in the Corvette received a stop-plus-sixty for avoidable contact, pushing the Vette down the order after it had spent several hours fighting its way back.
Fight Back to the Front
The #4 Corvette resumed its battle back towards the front. With three hours to go Matteo Malucelli in the #62 Risi Ferrari held the lead, followed by Ryan Dalziel in the #91 Viper and Bryan Sellers in the #17 Falken Porsche, another surprising quick car.
Dalziel lost eight minutes in the pits, possibly chasing a loose headlight wire which had already cost the car some time. With two hours left Olly Gavin had gotten the Corvette past the Porsche and was chasing the Ferrari. Entering the final hour Tom Milner in the Corvette was only 27 seconds behind Gianni Bruni in the Ferrari, but Bruni had to pit. Apparently Sebring’s bumpy surface had taken its toll—he had numbness in his lower back and couldn’t feel his legs.
The very quick Bruni handed off the car to Sebring rookie Matteo Malucelli, who had done a creditable job in his earlier stint, but now the pressure was much higher. He had Milner’s big Corvette roaring down on him from behind and the checkered flag out ahead of him in the most important race he had ever entered.
With 45 minutes left the lead was down to ten seconds. Milner kept charging and Malucelli did his best, but with fifteen minutes left in the race, his concentration lapsed for an instant. Malucelli skidded off the track at Turn Ten and immediately rejoined, but that brief bobble was enough to let Milner by and into the lead.
Mallucelli worked hard to get the lead back, but Milner’s Vette was just too fast. When the checkered flag waved at 10:45 p.m. the Corvette driver had a 2.7 second lead and Corvette racing’s tenth class win in the Sebring 12 Hours.
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
[etssp 624]
