IMSA has released the official entry list for Saturday’s virtual stand-in for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring (rescheduled to Nov. 11-14 because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic).
IMSA’s Sebring SuperSaturday on iRacing will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday with a 50-car field of real-world drivers from IndyCar and various sports car series.
The 90-minute race will be streamed live on the iRacing eSports Network on YouTube and iRacing’s Twitch channel, with pre- and postrace from the Torque Show on Facebook Live. IMSA Radio’s John Hindhaugh will be part of the broadcast.
Drivers will have a choice between racing four cars from the GT division of the WeatherTech Series Championship on the 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway: Porsche 911 RSR, BMW M8 GTE, Ford GT and Ferrari 488 GTE.
Click here for the entry list in the “SuperSaturday” at Sebring International Raceway.
There are several IndyCar veterans in the race, including Colton Herta. The Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport driver who had two victories in his No. 88 Honda as a 2019 rookie in the NTT Series. Herta also was part of the BMW team that won the 2019 GTLM class in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.
“I’m looking forward to racing this weekend,” Herta, who will drive the No. 23 BMW in the online race, said in a release. “It’s always exciting to go up against everyone, no matter the circumstances. Like many things right now, racing is coming to a stop at the minute. So I think this will help propel interest and hopefully give people an outlet to watch some form of motorsport.”
Back in the @BMWMotorsport M8 this weekend, except it’s in the virtual world on @iRacing and to those that enjoyed it the lip fur will make a return for the race this weekend pic.twitter.com/fhygr2xxIX
— Colton Herta (@ColtonHerta) March 19, 2020
He will be joined by fellow 2019 IndyCar rookie Santino Ferrucci, who drives the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan and will be driving the No. 18 BMW in iRacing.
IndyCar drivers Dalton Kellett and Sage Karam also are in the online event, which will include seven drivers who have won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Joao Barbosa, the 2015 winner, will drive the No. 5 Ferrari 488 GTE, and last year’s overall winner, Felipe Nasr, will pilot the No. 31 BMW M8 GTE. Richard Westbrook, who won the GT class in 2013 at Sebring, will be in a Ford Mustang.
Four past GTD winners are in the online race. Jeff Segal (2016) will drive the No. 69 Ferrari; Jeroen Bleekemolen (2017) is piloting a Porsche 911 RSR; Corey Lewis (2018) is in the No. 39 BMW, and Mirko Bortolotti (2019) will drive the No. 888 Porsche.
There are 11 IMSA champions in the field, including Barbosa and Nasr from the top divisions. Other champions: Filipe Albuquerque, Segal, Westbrook, Bleekemolen, Mark Wilkins, Michael Lewis, Stevan McAleer, Roman De Angelis and Ryan Hardwick.
Frenchman Tristan Vautier, a veteran of IndyCar who scored consecutive Sebring pole positions in GTD and Prototype in 2017-18, also is in the race, driving the No. 85 BMW.
Here’s the schedule for Sebring SuperSaturday (all times ET):
1:30-2:30 p.m. – The Torque Show iRacing Pre-Race Show – Facebook Live
2:30-4 p.m. – IMSA Sebring SuperSaturday on iRacing – iRacing eSports Network on YouTube, Twitch
4 p.m. – The Torque Show – iRacing Post-Race Show – Facebook Live
7:30 p.m. – The Torque Show – NBCSN Preview
NBCSN, which has been broadcasting IMSA races since last season, will show a one-hour highlight show of the 2019 Twelve Hours of Sebring at 8 p.m. ET Saturday. It was the closest overall finish in the race’s 67-year history.
Fans are encouraged to use the #IMSASuperSaturday hashtag to discuss the race on social media.
.@SageKaram is fastest so far in today's @IMSA Super Saturday practice session, leading they way with a best time of 1:56.284 ahead of @FoleyRacingRFR and @nickcatsburg.
— Evan Posocco (@evanposocco) March 20, 2020
Tune in to watch tomorrow's race at 2:30pm ET at https://t.co/X6dIC7mYhq.#IMSA / #IMSASuperSaturday pic.twitter.com/BRem4YVIB0