Vesti Leads Sebring After Three Hours

Photo: Brandon Badraoui/IMSA

Frederik Vesti led the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring for Action Express Racing after three chaotic hours elapsed.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Alex Palou sat second aboard the HRC US-engineered No. 93 Acura ARX-06 after the most recent round of GTP pit stops were completed just as the race entered its fourth hour.

Palou closed the gap to the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R in the second hour, never dropping more than four seconds off of the Action Express machine ahead.

Just behind, Porsche Penske Motorsports ran third and fourth after leading the opening hour, with Laurens Vanthoor just ahead of Matt Campbell.

Marco Wittmann rounded out the top-five for BMW M Team RLL, having consistently fought amongst the leaders after the team brought the car into contention in the first hour.

Roman Grosjean’s No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 was temporarily at the head of the field for the race’s second restart but quickly fell to the rear of the class following a team radio miscommunication about the timing of the restart.

Grosjean sportingly pulled his Lamborghini to the side of the track so as not to impede his competitors, opening the door for Jack Aitken to assume the lead in the No. 31 Cadillac.

TDS continued to lead in LMP2 by more than 30 seconds with Hunter McElrea at the wheel, with the French squad electing to pit off-sequence in the second hour.

Just behind, United Autosports’ Ben Hanley and Rasmus Lindh ran second and third, respectively.

Nico Varrone led in GTD Pro just as front-runners began to stop for fuel and tires.

The class remains extremely tight at the sharp end of the field, with AO Racing, Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, Paul Miller Racing, and Ford Multimatic Motorsports having all taken turns in the class lead in the opening three hours.

In GTD, Alessandro Pier Guidi comfortably led for AF Corse after passing the No. 32 Korthoff Competition Motors Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo halfway through the third hour, opening up a sizable gap in the process.

The race’s third caution period was triggered halfway through the second hour when Tobi Lutke lodged his No. 18 Era Motorsports Oreca into the Turn 17 tire barriers.

Despite significant front-end and apparent suspension damage, he managed to bring his Era LMP2 machine back to the paddock under his own power.

A fourth caution followed before the end of the second hour when two simultaneous LMP2 accidents occurred on track, with the first involving PJ Hyett finding the Turn 1 tire barrier after gentle contact with Rodrigo Sales’s No. 52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports entry.

Gar Robinson’s Riley Oreca then fell victim to contact from the No. 88 AF Corse entry of Luis Perez Companc, though both cars continued on track.

The No. 47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 stopped running after Giorgio Sernagiotto pulled his car behind the wall at Turn 16 with an unknown issue.