American Le Mans Series

Sebring 12H – Hour 11 & 12 Report

The final two hours of the 58th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh From Florida started with drama. Just after 8:30 pm the #01 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ferrari F430 GT2 was seen on the track with flames coming from the rear. At the end of the Ulmann Straight Scott Sharp stopped the car and had the fire extinguished by one of the corner workers.

The clean-up operations due to the fire caused another full course caution. Most teams used the opportunity to pit as soon as it was reopened, but no leads were lost due to these pit stops. Positions remained unchanged.

Andy Wallace in the Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09 encountered more of the team’s bad luck. The car had stopped out on the track and was towed back to the pitlane. A place it had visited already more than the team wanted.

Twenty minutes after the yellow flag came out the green flag was waved and we got underway again for the last hour and a half of racing at the Sebring International Raceway.

The LMPC cars hit more trouble in the minutes after the restart; first Wallace was back in the pit with electrical problems, a minute later the Intersport Racing car of David Ducote was back in with a steering wheel issue.
Drayson Racing also came in again, the water issue was not solved and the squad had to fill the car once more. The car would be back in later again.

GTC cars also hit trouble. Duncan Ende’s #63 Porsche came into the pit after a spin on the track. A few minutes later the #32 Porsche, which had only just returned to the track, returned to the pit again and was again moved behind the wall.

After 11 hours of racing Wurz and Bourdais were still leading, their nearest rivals – the #007 Aston Martin – 3 laps down.

Seven minutes into the final hour Pagerey brought the Intersport Racing FLM09 in the pit, the car went behind the wall with troubles. Coolant system problems were reported and the car would not return to the track.

When Alexander Wurz went into the pit for another scheduled stop the Austrian driver was passed by Bourdais. But with one stop left for the #08 Peugeot as well it was clear that this would not last till the finish and in fact five minutes later the French driver pitted and Wurz got back in the lead.
Christophe Bouchut, leading comfortably in LMPC, served a stop and go penalty with just 45 minutes left on the clock. It did not harm their lead. The Primetime #11 was given a black flag after spreading oil all over the track.

Just twenty minutes were left in the race when Stefan Mücke in the 3rd placed Lola Aston Martin nearly caused his crewmembers to suffer a heart attack when the German spun the car at the hairpin and then stopped. Fortunately for AMR he managed to get it running again and maintained his position.

In the remaining minutes nothing changed and at 10:32 pm it was Alexander Wurz who crossed the line in first place, making it the first non-German manufacturer victory since 1998. Even though the French flag will now be added to the long list of winners on the Sebring pit wall none of the three drivers on-board the #07 Peugeot 908 HDI FAP is French. Behind Wurz Bourdais secured a Team Peugeot Total 1-2, with Aston Martin Racing taking the final podium spot.

Dirk Müller, second in the GT2 class whilst going into the final lap, hit the tyres at Turn 17. Even though the German was able to continue, teammate Dirk Werner was able to get by him and take second place for BMW. The BMWs were beaten fair and square by the Risi Competizione Ferrari F430 GT2 of Gianmaria Bruni, Pierre Kaffer and Jaime Melo.

Klaus Graf in the Muscle Milk Team Cytosport Porsche RS Spyder took the class win in LMP2, four laps ahead of the Highcroft Racing HPD ARX-01c.

Level 5 Motorsports took the first ever win in the Le Mans Prototype Challenge. Christophe Bouchut, Scott Tucker and Mark Wilkins stayed out of trouble and finished 10th overall. The nearest LMPC was the #99 Green Earth Team Gunnar car in 17th overall and 16 laps down on the #55 car.

Alex Job Racing secured the podium clean sweep in GTC. The #81 of Butch Leitzinger, Leh Keen and Juan Gonzalez beat their team mates in the #23 and #80 cars.

– Michelin Green X Challenge Results after 12 hours –

1. #08 Team Peugeot Total – Peugeot 908 HDI FAP
2. #07 Team Peugeot Total – Peugeot 908 HDI FAP
3. #8 Drayson Racing – Lola B09/60 Judd
4. #6 Muscle Milk Team Cytosport – Porsche RS Spyder
5. #1 Patron Highcroft Racing – HPD ARX-01c
6. #007 Aston Martin Racing – Lola B09/60 Aston Martin

After the race the #95 Level 5 Motorsports and #99 Green Earth Team Gunnar Oreca FLM09s were excluded from the results as one of the drivers on each car did not race the minimum number of laps required during the race. As a result of this the Genoa Racing Oreca FLM09 inherited second place.