Scott Dixon in the #01 Cadillac leads the 12 Hours of Sebring after two hours of action as part of the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
The opening hour of the second round was characterised by exciting battles and penalties being awarded to teams, primarily to do with not adhering to the pit stop procedures by regulation.
Green flag conditions returned prior to the second hour commencing, and so #40 Wayne Taylor Racing (WTR) with Andretti driver Louis Deletraz was part of a fight just behind the leading pair of Cadillacs in P3.
Without any resistance from Pipo Derani, Sebastien Bourdais in the #01 Cadillac V-Series.R made a move on the inside line at Turn 1 past the #31 Wehlen Cadillac.
The pair commanded the front of the field ahead of Deletraz, and the #24 BMW M Team RLL of Philip Eng in fourth position.
Before the second full-course-yellow was deployed, Scott Dixon in the #01 Cadillac went side-by-side with Jack Aitken in the #31 Cadillac, and made the move into the lead at Turn 16.
The pair of Cadillacs controlled the front ahead of Brendon Hartley in the #10 WTRAndretti Acura ARX-O6.
After a seemingly strong start, #52 Inter Europol by PR1 driver Nick Boulle was forced to serve a drive-through penalty from the LMP2 lead after not adhering to the minimum full refuelling time at their previous pitstop.
As a result, the United Autosports USA team took control of the front with the #2 Oreca 07 of Ben Keating ahead of #22 Oreca driver Dan Goldburg.
Unfortunately for them, Keating’s lead was short-lived after an uncharacteristic lock-up into Turn 3. He moved out of the way so no other cars made contact during Keating’s moment, however, he rejoined in fourth position.
Meanwhile a tremendous charge was being made by PJ Hyett in the #99 ‘Spike the Dragon’ AO Racing Oreca after he did not start on pole due to a spin on the formation lap warming up his tyres, and so he overtook Dan Goldburg with an opportunistic manoverure amidst some GTD traffic.
Luis Perez Companc in the #88 Richard Mille AF Corse Oreca had a tense moment after slipping off the Turn 2 exit curb and hitting the wall on the right. He suffered aerodynamic damage and made it back to the pits without further drama.
Just before the end of the second hour, Michael Dinon in the #8 Tower Motorsports Oreca made a mistake into Turn 13 while passing traffic, having headed side-on into the tyre barrier and so this initiated the second full-course-yellow of the race so far. He got out of the car on his own strength.
United Autosports’ #2 Oreca was in the lead in the hands of Nico Pino, followed by Matthew Brabham in the #99 AO Racing Oreca, and the #22 United Autosports Oreca of Bijoy Garg.
In GTD Pro, a significant blow to the #14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F’s efforts were given as Jack Hawksworth served a drive-through penalty after the previous pit stop had their Lexus run over a hose and nudge one of the mechanics as the car was given the clear to exit the pit box.
The mechanic had dropped his earphones when they jumped over the wall to begin the pitstop, and so it was likely that that mechanic did not hear the call to release the #14.
Not too far after, Ben Barnicoat took over driving duties in the #14 as they looked to chase the distant class leaders.
Meanwhile Alexander Sims in the #3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R made a sterling move on the exit of Sunset Bend for the lead ahead of the #1 Paul Miller Racing driver of Madison Snow. Not too far afterwards, Snow returned the favour at Turn 1 regain the lead after going side-by-side on the start-finish straight.
At the end of the second hour, the #1 Paul Miller Racing of Neil Verhagen held the lead in front of the #3 Corvette Racing Z06 GT3.R, as the #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini resided in third.
In the GTD category, there was an exciting fight for the class lead between the #44 Magnus Racing AMR Vantage and the #57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Russell Ward.
After two hours of racing, the #12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus was in first ahead of the #44 Magnus Racing Aston Martin, and the #57 Winward Mercedes-AMG.
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