Acura, Porsche Hit Trouble at Sunset

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06 dropped from the lead of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac after encountering an engine issue, while Porsche Penske Motorsport’s leading car spun out with a puncture.

Brendon Hartley had held the lead of the 72nd running of the Florida endurance classic with three hours remaining before pulling into the pits during a round of stops under caution.

There, the WTRAndretti mechanics lifted the car’s engine cover to address an issue that had been plaguing the car for roughly an hour that saw it smoke significantly from the rear end.

Team owner Wayne Taylor told IMSA Radio’s Nick Daman that the car was consuming more engine oil than planned, although that appeared to not have an impact on the car’s pace.

Hartley’s co-driver Ricky Taylor had managed to fight his way past the No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Maxime Martin in Turn 10 before handing over to the New Zealander.

BMW captured the lead by leaping to the front taking fuel-only stops under the race’s seventh caution, triggered by Pipo Derani’s big crash that eliminated the No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac from the race.

Martin and co-driver Nick Yelloly have since dropped to third as Fred Makowiecki moved to the front by not pitting under a caution that he himself helped cause.

The Frenchman, driving the No. 6 Porsche 963, made contact with the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 of Katherine Legge exiting Sunset Bend.

The contact sent Legge crashing into the tire barrier on drivers’ left and eliminating the all-female crew from the race.

Not much later, Makowiecki himself spun out at Turn 7 from an apparent puncture, dropping the lead to the No. 7 sister Porsche of Matt Campbell.

Renger van der Zande held second aboard the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac, ahead of Yelloly, Augusto Farfus and the No. 5 Proton Competition Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni.

In LMP2, the No. 2 United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson of Nico Pino led from TDS Racing’s Hunter McElrea and the second United machine in the hands of Paul Di Resta.

Ben Barnicoat has vaulted back to the lead of GTD Pro aboard the No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3, ahead of the No. 64 Ford Mustang GT3 as well as the No. 19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Indy Dontje led GTD aboard the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.