Action Express Cadillac Wins Sebring After Three Leaders Wreck Late

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AXR Cadillac Wins Sebring After Three Leaders WrecIcon Sportswire - Getty Images
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With 15 minutes to go in today's 12 Hours of Sebring, a brilliant day of close racing in the new GTP class seemed to be coming down to a three-car battle between two of Porsche's factory-run Penske 963s and the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 of Wayne Taylor Racing. Seconds later, all three would find themselves in the same fence.

The story started earlier, with a late full-course yellow setting up a half-hour sprint between five remaining healthy GTP cars for the win. Fresh tires and a quick pit stop got the No. 6 Porsche being driven by Mathieu Jaminet into the lead, but closing No. 10 Acura closing driver Filipe Albuquerque was able to stay with the leading Porsche throughout the brief green flag run. He had a very narrow window to try a move to the outside into turn 1 as the pair caught GTD traffic, but he quickly abandoned the move and regrouped just in time to see a narrow window to swing around the outside one corner later. Then, disaster.

Albuquerque was nudged off the track in the melee, leaving him flying out of control into the exit of the next corner. He somehow hits the No. 6 Porsche square, immediately ending the day for both leaders. Albuquerque is not finished, though; he stops sideways on track for just long enough that the No. 7 Porsche, the car that would have easily won the race overall had the crash happened slightly further off track, piled into the same Acura and was also forced to retire.

That left two cars, the pole-sitting No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R and the No. 25 Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMW M Hybrid V8 that had just returned to the lead lap with a wave-around on the earlier caution, in contention. The race re-started with just four minutes left, and the No. 31 sailed away from the No. 25 to claim victory for Cadillac, Action Express Racing, and drivers, Jack Aitken, Alexander Sims, and Pipo Derani.

Three other GTP cars fell out of contention earlier. The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura that won Le Mans fell out of contention after losing a wheel, while both the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac and No. 24 RLL BMW suffered mechanical issues.

In GTD Pro, Pfaff Motorsports took the first-ever win for the 992-generation 911 GT3 R that had struggled so mightily on pace at Daytona. The No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC-F and No. 79 WeatherTech Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 completed the class podium. The No. 1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 led a 1-2 for the manufacturer in the pro-am GTD category, leading the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW and the No. 92 Kellymoss Porsche.

The overall podium was completed by the LMP2 class winner, the No. 8 Tower Motorsports entry headlined by IndyCar star Scott McLaughlin. Riley's No. 74 program won in LMP3.

After two big endurance races in Florida, IMSA's GTP era continues with a race at Long Beach on April 8th. That will be the first street race for the new LMDh-based prototypes and the first sprint race of the season.

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