Sebring, SVRA, Historic, Trans Am

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By: IMSA Wire Service | March 6, 2019 2:59 PM It’s considered one of the most grueling tests of sports car endurance racing anywhere in the world, and it’s North America’s oldest endurance race.It’s the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, which

starts just past 10:30 a.m. ET next Saturday, March 16, and it will feature an outstanding field of 38 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship machines ready for a once-around-the-clock battle on the legendary, 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway circuit.

Entry listThe field will include 11 Daytona Prototype international (DPi) entries, two LMP2 machines, eight GT Le Mans (GTLM) entries and 17 GT Daytona (GTD) race cars. A total of 13 different manufacturers are represented in at least one class, and every car in the field will be riding

on Michelin tires.Live television coverage of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring begins Saturday, March 16 at 10:30 a.m. ET on CNBC, with continuing coverage on the NBC Sports App and NBCSN. IMSA Radio will have live coverage throughout race week on IMSA.com,

RadioLeMans.com and the IMSA App, with IMSA Radio’s race call available on SiriusXM Radio (Sirius 216/XM 201/Internet 972).Tickets for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring event week, which has been dubbed the “Super Sebring” event weekend, are available now on

SebringRaceway.com. Race week also includes a 1,000-mile FIA World Endurance Championship race and the two-hour Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 for the IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge on Friday, March 15; and a one-hour and 45-minute IMSA Prototype Challenge race on

Thursday, March 14. Here’s a closer look at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring entry list released today:Of 114 drivers on the provisional entry list, 39 drivers (34 percent of the field) have won at least once previously in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.The winningest active

driver at Sebring is No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R pilot Oliver Gavin, who owns six class wins (GTS in 2001 and 2002, GT1 in 2006 and 2007, GT in 2013 and GTLM in 2016). He’s one Sebring win ahead of his teammate, Jan Magnussen, in the No. 3 Corvette C7.R.

Magnussen’s five wins came in 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015 and 2017.Pipo Derani, who drives the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R is the winningest active driver in terms of overall Sebring victories with two. He won in 2016 and last year with the Patrón ESM team.There are

17 drivers on the entry list with at least one pole position at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M6 GT3 driver Bill Auberlen has the most among active drivers with four: 1994 (GTU), 1997 (GTS-3), 1998 (GT3) and 2016 (GTLM).The No. 911

Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR is the only 2018 Sebring winning team to return with the same driver lineup it used last year. Patrick Pilet, Nick Tandy and Frederic Makowiecki – who also won the 2018 WeatherTech Championship season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans – will

be looking for back-to-back GTLM victories.The No. 48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini Huracán GT3, which won the GTD class championship last year, returns two of the three drivers from its 2018 lineup in Bryan Sellers and Corey Lewis. Ryan Hardwick, the 2018 Lamborghini Super

Trofeo Pro/Am world champion, completes the lineup in the No. 48 in place of Madison Snow, who went on to win the 2018 WeatherTech Championship GTD title alongside Sellers.There are 17 teams on the entry list with at least one Sebring victory. Corvette Racing is far and

away the winningest, with 11 victories at Sebring. It won its class seven times in eight years with three straight GTS wins in 2002, 2003 and 2004 followed by four consecutive GT1 wins from 2006 through 2009. It also won the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) GT class in 2013,

before three consecutive WeatherTech Championship GTLM wins in 2015, 2016 and 2017.Eleven of the 13 participating manufacturers have at least one previous Sebring victory. Porsche leads the way with 95 Sebring wins, followed by Chevrolet with 41 and Ferrari with 37.

Previous Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring winning drivers in 2019 field (39)Oliver Gavin (6) – GTS – 2001, 2002; GT1 – 2006, 2007; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2016
Jan Magnussen (5) – GT1 – 2006, 2008, 2009; GTLM – 2015, 2017
Bill Auberlen (3) – GTS-2 – 1995; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998
Dirk Mueller (3) – GT – 2000, 2011; ALMS GT – 2012
Antonio Garcia (3) – GT1 – 2009; GTLM – 2015, 2017
Timo Bernhard (2) – GT – 2004; P2/Overall – 2008
Patrick Long (2) – GT2 – 2005; GTLM – 2014
Sebastien Bourdais (2) – GTD – 2006; P/Overall – 2015
Joey Hand (2) – GT – 2011; ALMS GT – 2012
Joao Barbosa (2) – ALMS P2 – 2012; P/Overall – 2015
Marcel Fassler (2) – P1/Overall – 2013; GTLM – 2016
Ryan Briscoe (2) – P2 – 2013; GTLM – 2015
Tommy Milner (2) – GT – 2013; GTLM – 2016
Jeroen Bleekemolen (2) – GTC – 2013; GTD – 2017
Jon Bennett (2) – PC – 2014, 2016
Colin Braun (2) – PC – 2014, 2016
Mario Farnbacher (2) – GTD – 2015, 2017
Pipo Derani (2) – P/Overall – 2016, 2018
Romain Dumas (1) – P2/Overall – 2008
Dane Cameron (1) – PC – 2011
Ryan Dalziel (1) – WEC PC – 2012
Townsend Bell (1) – GTC – 2012
Oliver Jarvis (1) – P1/Overall – 2013
Richard Westbrook (1) – GT – 2013
Cooper MacNeil (1) – GTC – 2013
John Potter (1) – GTD – 2014
Andy Lally (1) – GTD – 2014
Alex Riberas (1) – GTD – 2015
Christina Nielsen (1) – GTD – 2016
Ricky Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2017
Jordan Taylor (1) – P/Overall – 2017
Kyle Masson (1) – PC – 2017
Mike Rockenfeller (1) – GTLM – 2017
Ben Keating (1) – GTD – 2017
Patrick Pilet (1) – GTLM – 2018
Nick Tandy (1) – GTLM – 2018
Frederic Makowiecki – GTLM – 2018
Bryan Sellers – GTD – 2018
Corey Lewis – GTD – 2018

Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring pole winners in 2019 field (17)
Bill Auberlen (4) – GTU – 1994; GTS-3 – 1997; GT3 – 1998; GTLM – 2016
Oliver Gavin (3) – GTS – 2001, 2003; GT1 – 2009
Timo Bernhard (3) – GT – 2003, 2004; P2 – 2007
Olivier Pla (3) – WEC P2 – 2012; P/Overall – 2015, 2016
Jan Magnussen (2) – GT1 – 2007; ALMS GT – 2012
Dane Cameron (2) – PC – 2011; GTD – 2014
Ryan Briscoe (2) – P2 – 2013; GTLM – 2017
Colin Braun (2) – PC – 2013, 2016
Tristan Vautier (2) – GTD – 2017; P/Overall – 2018
Dirk Mueller (1) – GT – 2000
Scott Dixon (1) – P1/Overall – 2009
Marcel Fassler (1) – P1/Overall – 2013
Andy Lally (1) – GTC – 2013
Sebastien Bourdais (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Frederic Makowiecki (1) – GTLM – 2015
Jeroen Bleekemolen (1) – GTD – 2015
Connor De Phillippi (1) – GTLM – 2018

Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winning teams in 2019 field (17)
Corvette Racing (11) – GTS – 2002, 2003, 2004; GT1 – 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009; GT – 2013; GTLM – 2015, 2016, 2017
Team Penske (4) – Proto 15 (P 5000+) – 1964; GT13 (GT – 5000+) – 1966; Trans-Am – 1968; P2/Overall – 2008
Team Joest (4) – LMP900/Overall – 2003; P1/Overall – 2009, 2013; WEC P1/Overall – 2012
CORE autosport (3) – ALMS PC – 2012; PC – 2014, 2016
BMW Team RLL (2) – GT – 2011; ALMS GT – 2012
PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports (2) – PC – 2013, 2015
Porsche GT Team (2) – GTLM – 2014, 2018
Black Swan Racing (1) – GTC – 2011
Starworks Motorsport (1) – WEC P2 – 2012
Chip Ganassi Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2014
Magnus Racing (1) – GTD – 2014
Action Express Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2015
Scuderia Corsa (1) – GTD – 2016
Wayne Taylor Racing (1) – P/Overall – 2017
Performance Tech Motorsports (1) – PC – 2017
Riley Motorsports/Team AMG (2) – 2017
Paul Miller Racing (1) – GTD – 2018

Previous Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring winning manufacturers in 2019 field (11)
Porsche – 95
Chevrolet – 41
Ferrari – 37
Audi – 12
Nissan – 12
Ford – 9
BMW – 7
Acura – 3
Mercedes – 2
Cadillac – 1
Lamborghini – 1

By: Marshall Pruett March 14, 2019 9:22 AM Stefan Johansson is half convinced the crazy adventures and obstacles he faced while trying to reach Sebring in 1984 inspired the popular 1987 movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ starring Steve Martin and John Candy.Some 35 years ago, Johansson was doing his best to keep a shaky Formula 1 career from flaming out. Invited to race at the famed 12-hour endurance event in Florida in an aged Porsche 935 against cutting-edge IMSA GTP models from March, Lola, and Jaguar, a battle of eras was at play. Taking paying rides when offered, Johansson accepted the challenge in the Joest-built 935 arranged by Colombian gentleman racer Mauricio de Narváez. Along with German pro Hans Heyer, the trio weren’t expected to do more than pad an obscene entry list overflowing with sports cars.Provided Heyer and Johansson made it to Sebring.From the outset, everything that could go wrong for the spiky-haired Swede did, and often with comical results. What ensued was an endurance race to get to the endurance race that far surpassed the rigors of racing a Porsche 935 around the old school airport circuit.“Oh, this [is] a really good one, actually,” Johansson says. “It was with Joest, Reinhold Joest, because I’d been driving for him the year before in ’83 with a [Porsche] 956 in Europe, and this deal came together very, very late, with Mauricio de Narváez who was the third driver in the car, [who] came up with the money, I guess. And they actually pulled out this old Moby Dick Porsche, the 935, out of the museum. Literally, the Porsche museum. It had been in there for years. I mean it still had duct tape numbers on the sides… Like, absolutely last minute. Just fill it up with fuel and send it, more or less.“But the funny part of the story is that Hans and I, we were leaving Frankfurt [Germany] to fly out on…I’m guessing it would’ve been Monday probably, to arrive here Monday night in Sebring. Anyway, it was like that movie ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ on steroids ’cause we didn’t arrive [until] Saturday morning, before the race.”De Narváez, left to practice and qualify the retro 935 without the support of his professional co-drivers, must have been wondering if he’d be driving solo for 12 hours after his teammates failed to materialize for five full days.“It was like, unbelievable,” Johansson continues. “It was engines broken, snow delays, diversions, trains literally from somewhere up in upstate New York down to some other airport. I mean, it was crazy. To make a very long story short, this went on for like four days to try to get there. And we arrive on Saturday morning, by car. We flew in, so we had to drive like three hours. We arrive here at like at 8:00 in the morning.”It’s worth mentioning at this point that, despite accepting the invitation, and going through travel hell from Monday through Saturday morning — race morning, to be more precise — Johansson had never seen the Sebring circuit. Never walked it. Never driven it. And if that wasn’t enough, he and Heyer were completely exhausted. Compounding the problem, Johansson had never driven a Porsche 935.

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