On Wednesday, IMSA released the Provisional Entry List for the 65th Running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. The 12-hour race on Mar. 18 is Round No. 2 of both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup. 46 cars are entered in the four classes.
In the Prototype ranks, 11 teams are entered. Most of the teams are fielding three drivers instead of the four they had at Daytona. Action Express Racing’s No. 5 and Visit Florida Racing’s No. 90 are completely unchanged as they ran the Rolex 24 at Daytona with three drivers. Brendon Hartley is only listed in Tequila Patron ESM’s No. 22 after being entered in both of the Nissan DPi’s at Daytona. Tequila Patron ESM’s No. 22 is the only entry in the class with four drivers.
Likely the biggest change is Alex Lynn in the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R. for Wayne Taylor Racing. The move, which was announced last month, sees Lynn replacing Max Angelelli, who chose to retire after the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jeff Gordon is not entered in the No. 10. He has TV responsibilities for FOX Sports in Phoenix that weekend.
The only Prototype team from Daytona not entered is DragonSpeed, but that was expected. The team was only expected to race at Daytona before returning to Europe in order to prepare for the European Le Mans Series season.
Prototype Challenge has a number of changes given the low number of entries (four). Starworks Motorsport has entered only one car, the No. 8. As of right now, only James Dayson, a former IMSA Prototype Lites racer who drove the No. 88 at Daytona, is entered. Additional drivers will be named later this week.
For BAR1 Motorsports, full-time drivers Buddy Rice and Don Yount are joined by Manitoba’s Daniel Burkett. Burkett will be making his third career start for the team, but the first since 2015. Last year, Burkett raced full-time for CJ Wilson Racing in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with Marc Miller as a teammate and finished second in Grand Sport points.
BAR1 Motorsports’ second entry welcomes Marc Drumwright back to the team. He joins Chapman Ducote and Gustavo Yacaman in the No. 26, who both move over from the No. 20. Performance Tech Motorsports has their Daytona-winning lineup, minus Nick Boulle.
GT Le Mans has ten strong entries. Everyone from Daytona is here with the exception of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s fourth entry (No. 69). The most visible change here will be a number change for BMW Team RLL. At Daytona, the team ran a special BMW Art Car designed by John Baldessaro that wore the No. 19 since it was the 19th BMW Art Car. For the rest of the year, the car will run the No. 25. For Sebring, the rechristened No. 25 will have Kuno Wittmer move over from the No. 24 to join full-season drivers Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims.
GT Daytona is down from 27 to 21 entries for Sebring. Not entered are a number of part-time and one-off entries (Konrad Racing’s No. 21 Lamborghini, Spirit of Race’s No. 51 Ferrari, Manthey Racing’s No. 59 Porsche, GRT Grasser Racing Team’s No. 61 Lamborghini, Aston Martin Racing’s No. 98 Aston Martin and The Racers Group’s No. 991 Porsche). Despite the drop in numbers, it should still be a very strong contingent.
All but three of the teams entered have three drivers listed. Daytona class winners Alegra Motorsports is an exception to the rule. The team has added Spencer Pumpelly to their lineup, replacing Michael de Quesada. Jesse Lazare is also not entered. Pumpelly tested the No. 28 Porsche at both the Roar Before the 24 and the Sebring Open Test. In addition, Pumpelly helped the team out behind the scenes during the Rolex 24 weekend.
GRT Grasser Racing Team has also replaced Ezequiel Perez Companc in their No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with American racer Richard Antinucci. Antinucci is a very quick driver, having set the fastest GT Daytona lap in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona for the now shuttered O’Gara Motorsport. However, Antinucci has had trouble finding decent rides here in the United States.cc
2017 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Entry List
| Class | Team | Drivers | Car |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | 2 - Tequila Patron ESM | Ryan Dalziel Pipo Derani Scott Sharp | Nissan DPi |
| GT Le Mans | 3 - Corvette Racing | Antonio Garcia Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| GT Le Mans | 4 - Corvette Racing | Marcel Fässler Oliver Gavin Tommy Milner | Chevrolet Corvette C7.R |
| Prototype | 5 - Action Express Racing | Filipe Albuquerque Joao Barbosa Christian Fittipaldi | Cadillac DPi-V.R. |
| Prototype Challenge | 8 - Starworks Motorsport | James Dayson | ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet |
| Prototype | 10 - Wayne Taylor Racing | Alexander Lynn Jordan Taylor Ricky Taylor | Cadillac DPi-V.R. |
| GT Daytona | 11 - GRT Grasser Racing Team | Richard Antinucci Mirko Bortolotti Christian Engelhart Rolf Ineichen | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| Prototype | 13 - REBELLION Racing | Sebastien Buemi Nick Heidfeld Neel Jani | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| GT Daytona | 14 - 3GT Racing | Ian James Sage Karam Scott Pruett | Lexus RC F GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 15 - 3GT Racing | Robert Alon Austin Cindric Jack Hawksworth | Lexus RC F GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 16 - Change Racing | Corey Lewis Jeroen Mul Brett Sandberg | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 18 - DAC Motorsports | Emanuel Anassis Brandon Gdovic Anthony Massari | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| Prototype Challenge | 20 - BAR1 Motorsports | Daniel Burkett Buddy Rice Don Yount | ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet |
| Prototype | 22 - Tequila Patron ESM | Ed Brown Brendon Hartley Bruno Senna Johannes van Overbeek | Nissan DPi |
| GT Daytona | 23 - Alex Job Racing | Townsend Bell Frankie Montecalvo Bill Sweedler | Audi R8 LMS GT3 |
| GT Le Mans | 24 - BMW Team RLL | Nicky Catsburg John Edwards Martin Tomczyk | BMW M6 GTLM |
| GT Le Mans | 25 - BMW Team RLL | Bill Auberlen Alexander Sims Kuno Wittmer | BMW M6 GTLM |
| Prototype Challenge | 26 - BAR1 Motorsports | Marc Drumwright Chapman Ducote Gustavo Yacaman | ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet |
| GT Daytona | 27 - Dream Racing | Lawrence DeGeorge Paolo Ruberti Cedric Sbirrazzuoli | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 28 - Alegra Motorsports | Michael Christensen Carlos de Quesada Daniel Morad Spencer Pumpelly | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| GT Daytona | 29 - Montaplast by Land-Motorsport | Connor de Phillippi Jules Gounon Christopher Mies | Audi R8 LMS GT3 |
| Prototype | 31 - Action Express Racing | Dane Cameron Mike Conway Eric Curran | Cadillac DPi-V.R. |
| GT Daytona | 33 - Riley Motorsports | Jeroen Bleekemolen Mario Farnbacher Ben Keating | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| Prototype Challenge | 38 - Performance Tech Motorsports | James French Kyle Masson Patricio O'Ward | ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet |
| GT Daytona | 46 - EBIMOTORS | Fabio Babini Michele Beretta Emanuele Busnelli Emmanuel Collard | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 48 - Paul Miller Racing | Bryan Sellers Madison Snow Dion von Moltke | Lamborghini Huracan GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 50 - Riley Motorsports (WeatherTech Racing) | Gunnar Jeannette Cooper MacNeil Shane van Gisbergen | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| Prototype | 52 - PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports | Mike Guasch José Gutierrez Tom Kimber-Smith | Ligier JS P217-Gibson |
| GT Daytona | 54 - CORE autosport | Jon Bennett Colin Braun Nic Jonsson | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| Prototype | 55 - Mazda Motorsports | Jonathan Bomarito Tristan Nunez Spencer Pigot | Mazda RT24-P |
| GT Daytona | 57 - Stevenson Motorsports | Lawson Aschenbach Matt Bell Andrew Davis | Audi R8 LMS GT3 |
| GT Le Mans | 62 - Risi Competizione | James Calado Giancarlo Fisichella Toni Vilander | Ferrari 488 GTE |
| GT Daytona | 63 - Scuderia Corsa | Alessandro Balzan Matteo Cressoni Christina Nielsen | Ferrari 488 GT3 |
| GT Le Mans | 66 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Sébastien Bourdais Joey Hand Dirk Müller | Ford GT |
| GT Le Mans | 67 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing | Ryan Briscoe Scott Dixon Richard Westbrook | Ford GT |
| GT Le Mans | 68 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK | Billy Johnson Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla | Ford GT |
| Prototype | 70 - Mazda Motorsports | Marino Franchitti Tom Long Joel Miller | Mazda RT24-P |
| GT Daytona | 73 - Park Place Motorsports | Jörg Bergmeister Patrick Lindsey Matt McMurry | Porsche 911 GT3 R |
| GT Daytona | 75 - SunEnergy1 Racing | Kenny Habul Boris Said Tristan Vautier | Mercedes-AMG GT3 |
| Prototype | 85 - JDC/Miller MotorSports | Mikhail Goikhberg Chris Miller Stephen Simpson | ORECA 07-Gibson |
| GT Daytona | 86 - Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Tom Dyer Oswaldo Negri Jr. Jeff Segal | Acura NSX GT3 |
| Prototype | 90 - Visit Florida Racing | Marc Goossens René Rast Renger van der Zande | Riley Mk. 30-Gibson |
| GT Daytona | 93 - Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian | Andy Lally Katherine Legge Mark Wilkins | Acura NSX GT3 |
| GT Daytona | 96 - Turner Motorsport | Jens Klingmann Jesse Krohn Justin Marks | BMW M6 GT3 |
| GT Le Mans | 911 - Porsche GT Team | Frédéric Makowiecki Patrick Pilet Dirk Werner | Porsche 911 RSR |
| GT Le Mans | 912 - Porsche GT Team | Kevin Estré Richard Lietz Laurens Vanthoor | Porsche 911 RSR |
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
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