A quartet of first-time Mission Meals HSR Sebring Traditional 12 Hour, Pistons & Props, Offered by the Alan Jay Automotive Community, race winners emerged for the primary time in six years Sunday at Sebring Worldwide Raceway. The 4 total Run Group winners got here out on prime after 9 hours of continuous competitors Saturday and three extra Sunday afternoon for a symbolic 12 hours of racing paying tribute to the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring sports activities automobile race, which can be run for the 73rd time subsequent March.
Opponents in Run Teams A, B, C and D took to the legendary Sebring airport circuit for 4 race segments over the course of the final two days. The groups protecting probably the most mixed distance of their 4 segments have been topped Mission Meals HSR Sebring Traditional 12 Hour champions, and this yr’s race produced the standard mixture of convincing victories, a record-stopping upset and a dramatic end on the very finish.
The strongest runs got here within the mixed Group A and Group B races that noticed rivals share the observe whereas competing for total and Group honors. In each divisions, the eventual race winners took the Group leads at the beginning and by no means misplaced them over the course of the 2 days.
With the assistance of his countryman and a number of Mission Meals HSR Traditional race winner Nigel Greensall, Englishman John Emberson introduced his UK-based automobile and staff to North America for the primary time final month to compete in each the HSR Traditional Daytona 24 and this weekend’s HSR Traditional 12.
Emberson, Greensall and the Foxcraft Racing 1970 No. 15 Chevron B19 ran with the assist of the Atlanta-based Classic Racing Firm staff in Run Group A. The No. 15 squad overcame a damaged half shaft on the Chevron early within the race weekend to take management of the Group A race from the beginning.
The stable efficiency included the No. 15 staff and drivers taking the general Group A/B win in phase two after scoring division honors and P2 total in Saturday afternoon’s opening spherical. The Chevron staff even gained the fourth and ultimate A/B phase on Sunday, however by then the main focus was firmly on sealing the Group A victory. The Chevron finally took the checkered flag in first place a full lap away from its nearest A division competitor.
In Run Group B, veteran HSR rivals Kenneth McKinnon and Predator Racing broke by means of for his or her first Mission Meals HSR Traditional victory after a second-place end final yr at Sebring and a third-place exhibiting in 2022. McKinnon co-drove the Predator Racing 1972 No. 01 Porsche 911 RSR to the victory with longtime teammate Mike Bruns and Predator coach and co-driver Charles Espenlaub.
The No. 01 took an total and Group B win in Saturday’s opening race phase and backed it up with one other total win within the third spherical. McKinnon and firm secured the Group B win by greater than a lap and led the No. 15 Chevron to the road by over a minute to prime the mixed A/B standings as properly.
The record-stopping upset was delivered by Bob Neapole and Man Cosmo who broke by means of for his or her first Mission Meals HSR Traditional victory with a managed and completely executed efficiency in Run Group C. Co-driving the RBN Motorsports with Cosmo-Sport 2020 No. 60 Acura ARX-05 ready by Hudson Historics, Neapole and Cosmo didn’t put a wheel improper all through Saturday and Sunday.
Taking the Group C lead after Saturday’s second phase, the No. 60 Acura squad went on to seal the victory Sunday over their buddies and on-track rivals Pierce Marshall and Eric Foss within the 2017 No. 02 Matador Motorsports Cadillac DPi.
Marshall and his staff have been racing to be the primary to attain a Mission Meals HSR Traditional in season triple win sweep after victories earlier this yr within the HSR Traditional 6 Hour at The Glen and final month’s HSR Traditional Daytona 24 Hour. The No. 02 Cadillac staff pulled out the stops to shave a full 30 seconds off of the Acura’s lead within the ultimate Group C phase however the Acura staff took the checkered flag with a margin of victory just below a minute.
The late drama — and associated heartbreak and elation — got here in Run Group D that supplied a GT automobile showdown that was the closest battle within the HSR Traditional Sebring 12. The British duo of Mike Jordan and his son Andrew Jordan went into the fourth and ultimate phase with a scant 10-second lead of their Jordan Racing Staff 2011 No. 77 Porsche 997.2 GT3 Cup.
The Jordans withstood the stress from multiple shut competitor, however maintained the general lead the No. 77 held all through the race for almost all of the fourth phase till a lower proper rear tire lower than quarter-hour to the end took the staff out of profitable competition.
The 2015 No. 002 Fortress Stabilization Porsche 991 GT3 Cup staff of Ed Wheatley and Jimmy Llibre beat the JRT staff by lower than a second in Saturday night time’s third phase and have been fast to pounce when the No. 77 had its tire hassle. Llibre took the lead and the fourth spherical win by greater than a minute to affix Wheatley for a deserving total Group D victory greater than two minutes away from the second-place finisher.
The general Run Group winners have been offered with all-new and custom-made Wall Clocks from B.R.M. Chronographes. Displaying the identical dial design as B.R.M.’s distinctive time items, the outsized clocks have been an enormous hit this yr with the race winners at The Glen, Daytona and now Sebring.
Different Sunday highlights included the late morning departure of the featured classic plane that after once more have been a cornerstone of the HSR Traditional Sebring 12, Pistons and Props. On Saturday, the pilots offered their annual Pilots Alternative Award for greatest automobile and staff whereas HSR rivals in flip chosen the Greatest Airplane of this yr’s occasion.
The pilots selected Olthoff Racing and the staff’s Superformance GT40 that driver Dan Lengthy and Staff Principal Dennis Olthoff co-drove in Group A within the HSR Traditional Sebring 12. The airplane of selection by the HSR four-wheel contingent was the battle-scarred USAF 1968 Cessna 02A, owned and flown to Sebring by Sam Lauff. Nicknamed “Oscar Deuce,” the twin-tail and push-pull tandem-engine plane noticed motion in Vietnam and carries bullet gap patches nonetheless seen on wing elements. A army model of the civilian Cessna 337, this feisty fighter included explosion-proof gasoline tanks, bulletproof seats, a full complement of army radios, rockets, bombs and mini weapons.
