American Le Mans Series

Sebring 12 Hours - Audi R10 takes historic first win

© Planetlemans - Dennis Murray

The Danbury, Conn.-based Highcroft Racing team and drivers Duncan Dayton, Rick Knoop and Gregor Fisken made a valiant effort but they were forced to retire their Lola EX257 AER No. 9 from the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Saturday at Sebring International Raceway due to a fuel leak that occurred four hours and 45 minutes into the event.
After owner/driver Dayton, also of Danbury, Conn., qualified seventh overall and fifth in class, he and Knoop, of Laguna Beach, Calif., and Fisken, of London, England, ended up fourth in the top class, LMP1, and 29th overall in the race. Several other LMP1 teams had problems about the same time they did and ironically if the Highcroft team could have completed just 46 more laps it would have been on the podium in the seven-car LMP1 class. The stats will show the Highcroft car completed 128 laps around the 3.7-mile road course, running almost five of the 12 hours (4:45.31.837).

Things started just fine for the entry, which is sponsored by Gregor Fisken Fine Historic Automobiles, Stand 21 Racewear, Dunlop Tires, Koni Shocks, Hella Lights, KEEN Shoes and Resole.com.

Dayton was running a very comfortable pace and was just cruising along in sixth place 22 minutes into the race when he spun in oil in Turn 10. That dropped the entry back to 15th place, but the car was no worse for wear so hopes were still high.

Eleven minutes later, however, Dayton reported that the engine had a misfire. Engineer Thomas Knapp had him try a different map number but the problem was persistent, so 36 minutes into the race Dayton pitted for fuel and new spark plugs and an ignition coil. The work took 17 minutes to complete but the car ran fine once again, so the team dug deeper and started to climb back up from 33rd place overall. The track was very greasy at that point in the afternoon Florida sun, but Dayton was dealing with it.

An hour and 42 minutes were complete when Dayton pitted and Fisken took over, and at the beginning of hour two the team was in 32nd place, 12 laps down.

Fisken pitted for fuel only two hours and 35 minutes into the race, but shortly thereafter he complained of a slight cramp in one of his legs so he pitted again 13 minutes later and Knoop took over. The entry was 27th overall and sixth in class when Knoop left the pits.

Knoop was recording very consistent laps but 70 minutes into his stint he reported that he’d just been hit in the right rear by an Aston Martin entering Turn 10, Cunningham Corner. He pitted for fuel only a few minutes later and although the car now had a hole in its bodywork its performance hadn’t been compromised, so he soldiered on. At the four-hour mark the car was 21st overall and sixth in class. Knoop completed his double stint 31 minutes later, and Fisken took another turn.

Unfortunately Fisken was back in the pits 14 minutes later with what turned out to be the terminal fuel leak. After some time in the pits he drove the car back to the Highcroft paddock and the crew worked on it for awhile before calling it a day about an hour and a half later.