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The 12 Hours of Sebring test by the numbers

Story by Gary Becker Photographs by Mike Beckers, Mike Bratton, Gary Becker

Looking back over the two days, four sessions of testing at Sebring International Raceway it is very apparent that the Cadillac DPi V.R. is the class of the field and may yet face the appearance of the dreaded Balance of Performance prior to the start of next month's Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida.

All three Cadillacs, No.31 Whelen Engineering Racing Cadillac, No.5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac and the No.10 Konica Minolta Cadillac took turns atop the time sheets over the four sessions. Fastest during the test overall was Jordan Taylor in Session three with a lap of 1:49.600 with the other two Cadillacs within the a tenth of second.

The rest of the prototype field?

The best of the rest were the P2 cars running according to ACO/FIA rules and being held as the standard for the rest of the prototypes. The No.52 PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier and the No.85 JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA were the class of the P2 field with the JDC-Miller Motorsports ORECA with Stephen Simpson at the wheel posting a two day best lap of 1:50.348.

That shows a .748 seconds difference over the 3.74 mile circuit between the fastest Cadillac and the fastest P2 machine. That works out to (according to my 6th grade math level) something around four laps after twelve hours considering the winning car in the last non-rain interrupted event in 2015 completed 340 laps.

Those numbers are too large to be ignored by the dreaded Balance of Performance which will now probably show its ugly face prior to the next race weekend.

While the Cadillacs may be slowed the Mazda and Nissan powered cars may need help. The fastest of the two Tequila Patron ESM Nissan DPi cars was the No.2 of Ryan Dalziel in session three with a lap of 1:50.767. That equates to 1.167 seconds off the fastest Cadillac during that session.

Meanwhile in Mazda land the lead car was the No.55 Mazda Motorsports Mazda DPi of Jonathan Bomarito with a quick lap of 1:50.828 also run in the third session. That comes out to 1.228 seconds off the Cadillac set pace.

So how do these numbers compare to last year's pre Sebring test? A year ago Olivier Pla at the wheel of the No.60 Honda Ligier JS P2 for Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian was atop the time sheets with a lap of 1:51.546 nearly two seconds off this year's pace.

In GTLM thing look much more even as Corvette, Ford and BMW all headlined at least one of the four sessions with a Corvette setting the class overall best time.

During the third session the No.3 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C7.R with Jan Magnussen driving set the overall class standard with a lap of 1:58.525. The No.912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR of Dirk Werner posted 1:58.531 in session three a mere .006 of the Corvette's pace.

Third in class was the No.67 Ford Chip Ganassi Racing Ford GT Ryan Briscoe at 1:58.636 only 0.111 off the top time. The No.25 BMW Team RLL BMW M6 GTLM of Alexander Sims posted a test best of 1:58.795 which is 0.270 seconds of the pace with the No.62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 488 GTE of Toni Vilander at 1:58.809 which equals 0.284 second slower than the lead Corvette.

A five team, five manufacturer class covered by only 0.284 seconds over 3.74 miles of bumps and bruises is pretty impressive.

GTD with six manufacturers, multiple independent teams and variety driver skill levels is a little tougher to figure out.

Overall the No.54 CORE autosport Porsche 911 GT3 R with Colin Braun driving set a two day class best time of 2:02.476 in session three. The second best in class was the No.29 Montaplast by Land-Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 of Christopher Mies at 2:02.662 which was 0.186 off the CORE autosport Porsche.

From the top two marques is a half second drop off to the third quick manufacturer, the Lamborghini Huracan GT3. Bryan Sellers in the No.48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini posted a test best 2:03.051 or 0.575 seconds off the lead Porsche.

Following as fourth fastest marque was the No.14 3GT Racing Lexus RCF GT3 with Sage Karam driving with a test best of 2:03.157 which was 0.681 seconds off the CORE Porsche.

Both Acura and Mercedes were nearly a full second off the pace of the class leader. The No.93 Michael Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Acura NSX GT3 of Mark Wilkins ran a test best of 2:03.409 or 0.933 seconds behind the top Porsche. The No.50 Riley Motorsports - WeatherTech Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 with Gunnar Jeannette in control posted a lap of 2:03.454 which is 0.978 seconds off the Porsche time.

With the Lamborghinis a half second off the pace and followed by the Lexus, Acura and Mercedes, the last two nearly a full second a lap slower, look for some Balance of Performance action prior to the 12 Hours of Sebring.

All-in-all no big surprises with the exceptions of the Mazda and Mercedes seeming to struggle. IMSA definitely needs to look at the Cadillacs or the 12 Hours of Sebring will be a repeat of the Rolex 24, a long Cadillac commercial.

Session one results - Session two results

Session three results - Session four results

02/25/17

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