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Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO I came into Sebring riding the emotional high of our podium at COTA feeling optimistic, motivated, and dangerously close to developing self-esteem. Sebring saw that and kicked my door down. For anyone unfamiliar, Sebring is what happens when someone turns an old airfield into a motorsport-themed chiropractic experiment. The surface is held together by history, vibes, and probably unresolved legal disputes. Driving it is like being trapped in a steam oven inside a concrete mixer strapped to a rocket. The bumps are punishing, the heat feels medically concerning, and by the end of a stint you’re basically a sentient electrolyte packet. And I love it. Three years ago, I came here as a fan carrying a backpack, sunscreen, and zero understanding of what GT3 racing entailed. This year I was wrestling a Porsche 911 GT3 R around Sunset Bend with 21 other high-functioning sociopaths. Life comes at you fast. Photo: Colin McCarty From “We Have Pace” to “Oh No, Ex...

Source: Sports Car 365

Photo: AO by TF AO by TF will not only head into next month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with a new driver but also a new livery for its Oreca 07 Gibson LMP2 Pro-Am entry as it looks to defend its class victory in the French endurance classic. Revealed on Monday, its LMP2 car, which has so far only featured the character ‘Spike the Dragon’ will change to ‘Rockie the Pegasus’ for Le Mans, as part of a sponsorship deal with Mobil 1. The character, has been born from a “collaborative effort” between AO and Mobil 1. “Her towering wings and small hooves appear poised for takeoff, ready to take flight,” a statement from the team read. “Flared nostrils and a focused expression give her an aggressive edge, accompanied by a flowing red mane and a sharp white blaze running down the bridge of her nose.” The team also noted that ‘Rockie’ has already been registered as a trademark of ExxonMobil Corporation and its subsidia...

Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI Louis Deletraz will tackle this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac V-Series.R after Alex Lynn’s neck surgery was postponed. Lynn had already missed the opening two events of the FIA World Endurance Championship season amid what was described as an “ongoing neck injury” with Deletraz taking the Briton’s place in the No. 12 Cadillac at Spa earlier this month. But the team had previously stated that Lynn would be back in the car for Le Mans, however this is now no longer the case. Deletraz, who also races a Cadillac in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for Wayne Taylor Racing, will now again team up with Will Stevens and Norman Nato at Le Mans. He had been due to tackle the LMP2 class in the French endurance classic at the wheel of the AO by TF Oreca 07 Gibson — which will feature a new Mobil 1 livery and will be referred to as ‘Rockie’ — after winning the Pro-Am LMP2 division last...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/BMW BMW M Motorsport director Andreas Roos has hailed the top-five overall finish for the BMW M3 Touring 24H in the Nürburgring 24 as a ‘better than expected’ result for the one-off race car that started as an April Fools joke less than 14 months ago. Jens Klingmann, Connor De Phillippi, Neil Verhagen and Ugo de Wilde drove the GT3-based estate/wagon to a fifth place result and class victory in the SP-X class, after running as high as second overall in the Eifel endurance classic. “My goal was to have the car in the top-ten,” Roos told reporters post-race. “We managed to have the car in the top-five. We have to say the car was always able to be hang there and to have a great race. “It’s better what we ever expected to do with the Touring, to be honest. “We always said if we go here with the Touring, it has to be a competitive car. But it was that competitive that we can have at the end a top five result ...

Photo: Gruppe C Photography/SRO Mattia Drudi says he never expected “underdogs” Aston Martin to score a first-ever overall Nürburgring 24 podium in this year’s race, a contest he described as “crazy.” Drudi narrowly missed out on securing the runner-up spot in the No. 34 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo he shared with Nicki Thiim and Christian Krognes when encountering traffic and a Code 60 zone on the last lap while chasing down the No. 84 ABT Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 — which was carrying a post-race penalty — in the battle for second. The Walkenhorst car vaulted up the order at the start of the second hour of this year’s contest, after qualifying 11th, having opted for a shorter opening stint. It then continued to run near the front while a host of other top crews encountered issues or crashed out amid a chaotic first third of the race. When Sportscar365 asked Drudi if he expected to finish on the podium, he replied: “To be fair, no. ...

Source: Sports Car 365