Sebring Friday Notebook

Photo: Michael Meadows/IMSA

***Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring pole-sitter Dries Vanthoor said the reduced green flag time in qualifying on Friday changed the strategy for the run to his second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship pole, coming in his debut on the 3.7-mile Florida airfield circuit.

***Vanthoor said: “You only get two laps at the end,” he said. “Anyway, it was planned to get three or maybe four [laps], depending how fast we can do the out laps. Then you have to change a bit your procedure, have to go as fast as you can on the out lap and push. That’s what I did. It worked.”

***Despite a red flag for the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Jack Aitken, which stopped on track with software-related issues, the minimum green flag run time for GTP qualifying was achieved per an IMSA spokesperson, meaning that qualifying points have been awarded.

***Steven Thomas, who scored his sixth career WeatherTech Championship pole in LMP2, revealed that he’d likely not be racing if the qualifying session did not have a Bronze-rated driver mandate.

***He said: “We have a minimum drive time, which is generous in IMSA and it’s a ton of fun. [But] at the end of the day with so many yellows, it seems like everyone is stacked up at the end and the Pros are racing for the win. To be able to qualify with the Bronze, it means so much because you feel like you’re really contributing to the win at the end of the day.”

***Both Dries Vanthoor and second-place qualifier Tom Blomqvist denied Team Penske claiming its 700th career pole position, across all forms of motorsport, on Friday, with Felipe Nasr putting the No. 7 Porsche 963 third on the grid.

***A total of five cars: the No. 19 van der Steur Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3, No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson, No. 45 WTR Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and No. 70 Inception Racing Ferrari, each lost their fastest qualifying times due to causing red flags in practice sessions. Additionally, several cars were given five-minute stop-and-hold penalties in qualifying for the failure of data collection from earlier in the weekend.

***The WTR Lamborghini was rebuilt following Danny Formal’s accident in opening practice. “I think there is some residual from yesterday that we need to sort out,” said co-driver Trent Hindman after qualifying. “I felt like the first timed lap was appropriate from where it should have been with the build in tire temperature and pressure. From there, I expected to pick up quite a bit more time, but then something had happened where I was losing three seconds a lap, so we need to look at it.”

***DXDT Racing program manager Bryan Sellers revealed that the team’s No. 36 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R underwent an extensive rebuild after the car caught fire in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***Sellers told Sportscar365: “This is a moment where you feel super lucky to have good partners like Pratt Miller and GM, because the car went directly from Daytona straight to Pratt Miller Motorsports. We sent our crew there and for two weeks we tore the thing down and put it back together. They were able to examine the chassis, stress test it, make sure all the bonds and everything were good and we put it together and came right back here for a test again.”

***Additionally, Sellers indicated that DXDT is set to test with Robert Wickens at Sebring on Tuesday and Wednesday following tomorrow’s race, with that test set to feature the Bosch hand control systems that the Canadian will race in the WeatherTech Championship later this year. The test will be conducted with the team’s IMSA chassis.

***The livery commemorating 50 years of BMW North America adorning the pair of BMW Hybrid V8s in this weekend’s race will remain on the cars for the remainder of the WeatherTech Championship season, a BMW spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365.

***Porsche Penske managing director Jonathan Diuguid believes Michelin has made a “big step” in the development of its new-f0r-2026 Hypercar/GTP tires, which continued with a post-Qatar 1812km test at Lusail International Circuit earlier this month that was attended by the majority of FIA World Endurance Championship Hypercar manufacturers.

***Diuguid said: “Openly speaking, I think Michelin made a pretty big step in the latter half of last year and brought a tire to one of the tire tests that checked a lot of boxes and goals for the roadmap we have for 2026. The good thing is that they gathered a lot of data and brought an extremely competitive tire [to Qatar]. We’ll see how it’s going but as far as we’re concerned, Michelin is heading in the right direction in tire development.”

***Sportscar365 understands there are further tire tests scheduled for Paul Ricard in May and Watkins Glen in June, the latter which will involve WeatherTech Championship GTP teams and manufacturers, prior to the new tire’s expected debut in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona.

***Corvette Racing star Antonio Garcia is set for his 19th appearance in the Twelve Hours of Sebring, and 20th race at Sebring when counting the sprint race that was held at the Florida airfield circuit in July 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

***The National Corvette Museum has opened a special exhibition celebrating the artistry of Corvette Racing photographer Richard Prince, a 2024 Corvette Hall of Fame inductee. “Speed Captured: The Photographic Works of Richard Prince” will run through the end of the year.

***Heart of Racing has “not yet decided” on Tom Gamble’s replacement in the team’s GTD class No. 27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo for the two clashing WEC rounds at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and Canadian Tire Motorsport Park later this year according to team principal Ian James.

***Alpine’s vice president of motorsports Bruno Famin says there has been “no progress” on a prospective WeatherTech Championship entry for the Renault-owned brand, despite its planned entry into the U.S. road car market in 2027. “It’s still something we keep an eye on, but it’s not time to press the button yet,” said Famin.

***A total of 39 drivers who competed in last month’s WEC season opener in Qatar are present this weekend, including 25 drivers from the WEC’s Hypercar class. Several drivers including Earl Bamber, Dries Vanthoor and Sheldon van der Linde are competing full-time in both series.

***Ford has yet to comment on a potential IMSA GTP program in the wake of its already confirmed WEC factory Hypercar effort that’s set to debut in 2027. “All we’ve announced is a WEC program, so that’s all I can say,” Ford Performance global sports car manager Kevin Groot told Sportscar365.

***Groot, who indicated the WEC program is currently a three-year commitment through the end of the current set of Hypercar regulations in 2029, stressed the importance for the Blue Oval to return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a bid for overall honors. “It’s been important since day one in my book,” he said. “As cool as the [Ford] GT program was, it still wasn’t overall. It’s huge for us.”

***Peacock will carry exclusive flag-to-flag coverage of the 73rd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the U.S., led by the commentary team of Leigh Diffey, Brian Till, Dave Burns, Calvin Fish and Townsend Bell in the NBC Sports booth, with Kevin Lee, Matt Yocum and Chris Wilner on pit lane.

***The race will also again be available for international viewers on IMSA’s YouTube channel. The expanded IMSA Radio team consists of John Hindhaugh, Ryan Myrehn, Peter MacKay, Nick Daman and Joe Bradley. Radio Show Limited and IMSA recently inked a multi-year extension of its long-standing partnership.

Davey Euwema and Jamie Klein contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John