Ganassi Cadillac leads with three hours to go

As the sun began to set over Sebring, following a glisteningly warm spring day in Florida, the battle in the overall class DPi prototype between Cadillac and Acura swam back and forth.

With just over three hours left, the Cadillac DPi-V.Rs of Kamui Kobayashi (Action Express Racing) and Earl Bamber (Chip Ganassi Racing) ran side by side for the lead as they crossed the start / finish line. Exhausted after a double stint with no drink system, Kobayashi dived for the pits shortly afterwards, dropping the car to fifth in the class as he ran from the sequence to his rivals.

That put Bamber on the lead in the nine-hour mark, ahead of Loic Duval’s JDC-Miller MotorSports Caddy and the first of the Acuras, Stoffel Vandoorne’s Meyer Shank Racing Rolex 24 winning car.

The # 31 AXR Cadillac runs fourth in the hands of Pipo Derani. It used to be late in a spin by Mike Conway.

Another British front runner, Will Stevens in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05, also dropped the ball by inexplicably leaving the pits over the wrong exit – the savings used for the penalty box reserved and not the RFID gate – which led to an expensive ride. -by punishment. An unimpressed team leader Wayne Taylor said: “If a driver makes such a mistake, what can you say?”

The WTR Acura dropped as a result of the top to sixth in the class, with only the much delayed # 01 CGR Caddy behind it.

In LMP2, Scott Huffaker’s PR1 / Mathiasen Motorsports Oreca, which he shares with Ben Keating and Mikkel Jensen, continues to dominate.

The Sean Creech Motorsports League of Malthe Jakobsen, Joao Barbosa and Lance Willsey leads LMP3. Reigning class champion team Riley Motorsports suffered a major setback as the car of Felipe Fraga, Gar Robinson and Kay van Berlo split its radiator and had to go behind the wall.

Corvette drives BMW in GTD Pro

In the GTD Pro, there have been sensational races in the last three hours as Chevrolet, BMW, Porsche, Lexus and Lamborghini have all fought hard against the head of the class.

Corvette’s Nicky Catsburg took the lead after a big battle with Matt Campbell’s Pfaff Porsche 911 GT3 R, with Nick Yelloly’s Rahal-running BMW M4 GT3 also in the mix.

After a mammoth Triple Stint, Catsburg handed over the leading ‘Vette’ to Jordan Taylor, with the pursuing BMW now in the hands of Marco Wittmann. Marco Mapelli – fighting back from a previous penalty – runs third for the Lamborghini, ahead of Ben Barnicoat’s Lexus.

In the Pro-Am GTD class there was also a good scrap for honors, with Bill Auberlen at the helm and his Turner Motorsports BMW despite a spin from Antonio Fuoco’s Cetilar Racing Ferrari. Allegra Motorsports Mercedes and AF Corse Ferrari remain in the hunt, along with the punished Cetilar Ferrari.

The # 70 Inception McLaren, who also ran to the front, was hit by a drive-through for too many pit crews over the wall.

With nine hours in the book, and the track soon in full darkness, the race for victory really begins.