SEBRING, Fla. - More than a two-hour red flag helped to interrupt the flow of this year’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida, but the race is now running with six hours in the books and is an official race distance.
Action Express Racing has resumed at the front with Filipe Albuquerque in the team’s No. 5 Corvette DP, having taken over the top spot in the sixth hour from Scott Sharp in the No. 2 Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda.
AXR also runs second with the No. 31 car, now wheeled by Scott Pruett, ahead of the next round of pit stops.
HALFWAY!!!! #Sebring12. The @mustangsampling #CorvetteDP leads, with the @WhelenEng DP right behind. #IMSA
— Action Express (@AX_Racing) March 19, 2016
The surprise runner in Prototype is third-placed Daniel Morad, in the debuting No. 24 Riley BMW for Alegra Motorsports. The talented young Canadian shares the car with Carlos de Quesada, Cameron Lawrence and Dominik Farnbacher.
Lucas Luhr had been leading in GTLM in the No. 100 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM prior to a pit stop, and that brought the Nos. 911 and 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSRs of Nick Tandy and Michael Christensen respectively up to first and second. Porsches, Michelins and rain is always a good combination.
Half way home at #Sebring12, temps remain cool in the wet weather. https://t.co/PLvEi65H1b pic.twitter.com/YRsezi9dd0
— Michelin Racing USA (@MichelinRaceUSA) March 19, 2016
PC had a bit of a messy period in the sixth hour. Misha Goikhberg had two incidents in the No. 85 JDC/Miller Motorsports car. The first saw him get contacted by Kyle Marcelli in the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Oreca FLM09 at Turn 10 and was stopped on course. The second saw him lose control on corner exit of Turn 17, but despite the loop it was only cosmetic front end damage.
Marcelli had a separate off of his own; meanwhile the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport had suspension issues and the No. 20 BAR1 Motorsports had a couple spins. CORE autosport assumed the lead as a result with Colin Braun driving.
GTD has been an up-and-down battle with Corey Lewis now leading at the halfway mark for Change Racing in its sole remaining No. 16 Lamborghini Huracán GT3, after the No. 11 car retired once Townsend Bell aquaplaned.
But with the top 12 runners on the lead lap at the six-hour mark from six different manufacturers (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, Aston Martin and BMW), it’s anyone’s race.