Scott Pruett, coming 28 years after a GTO class victory in the 1986 Twelve Hours. Co-drivers Pruett, Memo Rojas and Marino Franchitti also made Chip Ganassi Racing in its first Twelve Hours of Sebring appearance – the first team to win Sebring, the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500. The last time Ford won at Sebring was in 1969. The last win for an American car was in 1996, when Wayne Taylor, Jim Pace, Eric Van de Poele took the checkered flag in an Oldsmobile R&S Mk3.
Joerg Bergmeister, the No. 912 Porsche North America RSR crossed the line 5.296 seconds ahead of No. 93 SRT Motorsports driver Jonathan Bomarito in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class to remain undefeated in its debut factory season, run in conjunction with CORE autosport.
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Sebring 1969
In 1969, facing more experienced prototypes and the new yet still unreliable 4.5 L flat-12 powered Porsche 917s, the winners Jacky Ickx/Jackie Oliver managed to beat the remaining 3.0 litre Porsche 908 by just a few seconds with the already outdated GT40 (in the very car that had won in 1968 - the legendary GT40P/1075). Apart from brake wear in the Porsche and the decision not to change pads so close to the race end, the winning combination was relaxed driving by both GT40 drivers and heroic efforts at the right time by (at that time Le Mans' rookie) Ickx, who won Le Mans five times more in later years.
Fast forward to Road Atlanta where SpeedSource's No. 00 Mazda6 captured its first GX class win in the hands of Joel Miller and Andrew Carbonell.
"After that rough debut at Daytona, everyone stepped up to make sure we had a fast, reliable car as soon as humanly possible," said Tremblay, who finished third at Road Atlanta with Tom Long.
"The normal plan with a new car is to spend the first year in development, the second year seeking race wins and challenging for a championship in year three.
In only its fourth race, the all-new Mazda6, powered by a production-based SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel engine, scored a win in the Rolex Grand-Am GX race at Road Atlanta. Joel Miller and Andrew Carbonell drove the #00 Visit Florida Racing Mazda6 to the win, with team-mates Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long finishing third in the similar #70 SpeedSource Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D. The 70 car had to pit after smoking out on the track, trouble found was a pinhole oil leak in the oil filter, what? It was a three-way battle for most of the race with a Porsche Cayman splitting the two Mazdas.
The 57 Camaro pulls on Ferrari for a win and in the video clip you'll see how competitive the Camaro is even on cold tiers.
"This was our first time racing here and I have to tell you, I like this place," said team owner John Stevenson. "This is most definitely my best day in the sport."
Brumos Racing is leaving Grand AM Racing on hard economic times, no sponsor. This year's race at Road Atlanta saw Davis and Keen finish a bittersweet fourth – hopeful of more but satisfied that the team had given 100% and then some.
"We ran up front throughout the race, which was refreshing after our recent struggles," said Davis. "The race was tough with lots of hard racing and quick cars and not many mistakes in the GT field so we are very proud of our fourth-place finish. It has been an amazing opportunity to be a Brumos driver alongside Leh Keen, following in the footsteps of Hurley Haywood and Peter Gregg."
What comes next is conjecture although many believe it's not a case of good-bye but, rather, see you soon.
On the 2.54-mile circuit in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley. it was their second victory of the season and extended their lead in the Daytona Prototype standings to seven points over Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty.
“We were hooked up from the start,” said Pruett, winner for the 40th time in DP. “We were fastest in the opening test on Thursday, and fastest in Friday’s practice. I’m glad I was out front. I heard it was pretty crazy behind me near the end, and glad I wasn't part of it.”
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