Jaminet puts Porsche Penske on top at Sebring IMSA test

After 10 hours of running on Wednesday at Sebring International Raceway, Porsche Penske Motorsport’s Mathieu Jaminet set the quickest time in the second day of IMSA’s sanctioned test.

GTP and LMP2 prototypes joined the GT classes for the first time this week, and in Wednesday morning’s first session, Jaminet set the quickest time of the day with a 1m48.465s aboard the No.6 Porsche 963. Daytona 24 Hours winner Nick Tandy was third-fastest in the No.7 Penske Porsche, behind the No.60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing ARX-06 of Tom Blomqvist in second place.

Later, in the four-hour, 30-minute afternoon session, Scott Dixon set the top time in the No.60 Acura (1m49.057s), just 0.003s ahead of Matt Campbell’s best in the No.6 Penske Porsche. In third was the No.31 Cadillac Whelen V-Series.R of Earl Bamber.

Jaminet also led the two-hour night test, from Blomqvist and Jack Aitken in the No.31 Cadillac.

But everyone at Sebring – and anyone following the test in real time – was eager to hear and see the No.23 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie in action with its updated exhaust system. Trouble was, the Valkyrie lost most of the morning session fixing a mechanical issue, and wouldn’t get significant run time for the rest of the morning session.

The No.23 Valkyrie turned 82 laps with a best time of 1m51.319s set by Alex Riberas in the afternoon. Of the GTP cars, the No.25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid V8 turned the most laps with 231 across all three sessions.

Inter Europol Competition’s No.43 ORECA 07 turned the quickest time in LMP2, a 1m50.065 turned in by Bijoy Garg during the afternoon. His co-driver, Tom Dillmann, led the morning session with a 1m50.293s, and 69-year-old Jon Field’s best time in the car was within a second of his younger running mates.

Hunter McElrea set the quickest time in the night session for TDS Racing in the No.11 ORECA.

Three different cars took turns on the top of the GTD leaderboard. In the morning, it was Tuesday’s fast runner, Jan Heylen in the No.34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 (2m01.206s). Heylen’s streak of top times was broken in the afternoon by Mike Skeen in the No.021 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari with a 2m01.011s.

But at the end of the night, the best time in GTD belonged to Maximilian Götz, driving the No.32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3. Götz turned in a 2m00.867s at the very end of the night to go quickest, ahead of the No.12 Vasser Sullivan Racing Lexus RC F GT3 of Jack Hawksworth.

The No.48 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3 EVO led all three sessions in GTD PRO. Jesse Krohn set the car’s best time in the afternoon with a 2m02.237s, a tenth up on the best time from the No.64 Ford Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 of Seb Priaulx.

Of note, the No.18 Era Motorsport ORECA LMP2 of David Heinemeier Hansson crashed in the morning session and brought out a red flag. The car lost the remainder of the morning and a significant portion of the afternoon session undergoing repairs.

The IMSA Sanctioned Test at Sebring concludes tomorrow with a pair of prototype-only sessions, from 8:00 AM-12:00 PM and 1:00-4:00 PM.