Action Express, Porsche NA Out Front in TPNAEC

The No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP team used speed and consistency to take the lead in the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup Prototype (P) standings following last Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh From Florida.

STANDINGS: Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup

The Patrón Endurance Cup is a prestigious endurance competition that rewards the top performing teams, manufacturers and drivers in the four longest races in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

The Patrón Endurance Cup is worth $100,000 to the winners of the P and GT Le Mans (GTLM) classes, and $50,000 to the Prototype Challenge (PC) and GT Daytona (GTD) teams. The unique competition awards points at different segments in each of the four races.

Action Express Racing’s No. 5 team capitalized on those segments in both the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona and Twelve Hours of Sebring to claim the Patrón Endurance Cup P-class lead despite not winning either of the first two rounds.

The No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR (GTLM), AIM Autosport’s No. 555 Ferrari 458 Italia (GTD) and CORE autosport’s No. 54 ORECA FLM09 also lead their respective classes through two events.

The No. 02 Chip Ganassi Racing Ford EcoBoost/Riley team won the second round of the Patrón Endurance Cup at Sebring last weekend. Drivers were awarded a limited edition bottle of Gran Patrón Platinum, while team owner Chip Ganassi took home a custom Paul Reed Smith guitar.

The team earned the most points through the race’s three segments to move within one point, 23-22, of the leading No. 5 Action Express Racing entry. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Corvette DP won the opening Patrón Endurance Cup round at Daytona and sits two points back, 23-21, despite only scoring the minimum of two points in each segment at Sebring.

In GTLM, the Rolex 24-winning No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR holds a one-point lead, 23-22, over the No. 4 Corvette Racing Corvette C7.R despite failing to receive more than the minimum two points in any of the three segments at Sebring.

The No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR ran third in each of the first two segments at Sebring and parlayed its race victory into the Round 2 win, moving the team within two points, 23-21, of the class lead.

Running under a different team name, the No. 555 Ferrari 458 Italia leads the Patrón Endurance Cup standings in GTD with a second-place finish at Sebring under the AIM Autosport banner. It was the second consecutive round victory for the No. 555 team after winning the Rolex 24 At Daytona as Level 5 Motorsports.

Twelve Hours of Sebring race winners Magnus Racing scored the maximum five points in the final segment in the No. 44 Porsche 911 GT America to close the deficit to 12 points, 30-18, behind the No. 555 team. The No. 45 Flying Lizard Audi R8 LMS also sits 12 points back after scoring the minimum two points in each segment at Sebring.

The No. 54 CORE autosport team is off to an impressive start in the PC class this season, sweeping the first two events at Daytona and Sebring while winning each of the first two rounds of the Patrón Endurance Cup.

The team leads 8Star Motorsports’ No. 25 ORECA FLM09 by seven points, 31-24. After scoring the minimum eight points at Daytona, the No. 8 Starworks Motorsport team rebounded at Sebring and moves to third in the standings and 15 points out of the lead, 31-16.