Written by:
Marshall Pruett
Start of the 55th 12 Hours of Sebring (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
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The race got underway without drama and without accident. To no one's surprise, the Audi's and the Corvette's crept off into the distance in their respective categories. Not so in LMP2 and GT2.
A fierce battle in between the Penske and Dyson Porsche's dominated the opening stages of the race, with the AGR and Highcroft Acura's just moments behind. Further back, but no less fierce has been the battle between Lola LMP2 entries from B-K Mazda and Fernandez Racing.
In the old days of IMSA, the Camel Lights class always had a strong field, but lacked depth of competition. In this modern era of ALMS prototype 'lights,' we're fortunate to find the best racing in the field amongst the 'slower class.' Unlike the rather slow Camel Lights cars, their modern predecessors are just a whisker behind the LMP1 Audi's for outright pace.
The LMP2 battle begins. Expect 12 hours of fighting from the various cars in the class. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
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The GT2 battles saw a brace of Porsche's jump to the fore, but in time, the Krohn Ferrari F430 pulled itself up into the fray. More Ferrari's are coming to help in the fight. It's not exactly Porsche 917 against Ferrari 512 as seen at Sebring forty years ago, but the Porsche versus Ferrari rivalry is welcomed, even in the slowest ALMS class. Unlike the bigger, lighter, and more powerful prototypes, GT2 class cars have to be driven on the ragged edge to extract the best lap times; over 12 hours, the Porsche's and Ferrari's will dip more wheels off the edge of the course, pound over more kerbs, have more sideways moments, and lock more brakes in their efforts to shorten even the slightest gap to the next car in class. In-car footage of a good GT2 car will see a flurry of action-be sure to watch and appreciate the efforts of the masters at work in their GT2 offices.
The PTG Panoz team takes the fight to the Ferrari F430's at the start (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
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ALMS' slogan 'for the fans' has stood for sometime, and with the resurgence of LMP2 and GT2, the fans have some incredibly strong racing to enjoy.
View our new PHOTO GALLERY to see our exclusive SPEEDtv.com ALMS from Sebring. More will be uploaded throughout the race
