Barbosa Leads With Three Hours to Go

Hour nine of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring saw several minor incidents shakeup the running order across the four classes.

Action Express Racing still leads overall with Joao Barbosa behind the wheel of the No. 5 Corvette DP.

The sister No. 31 Corvette DP hit trouble with 3 hours and 27 minutes remaining when Eric Curran spun from second place.

That spin came following the restart from the race’s seventh safety car period.

That caution period was due to Kyle Marcelli nosing his Performance Tech entry into the tire barriers in Turn 10.

It was not the first off-course excursion for the car, which has reported a stuck throttle at various times throughout the race.

Another incident a few minutes later saw Johannes van Overbeek spin the Tequila Patron ESM Ligier JS P2 Honda exiting Turn 17.

Then-PC leader Jose Gutierez was forced to spin as well to miss the ESM machine, but has recovered to second place in class.

Late in the ninth hour, the No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca FLM09 came together with Lucas Luhr in the No. 100 BMW M6 GTLM, knocking Luhr well down the GTLM standings to sixth.

An additional safety car period came when Jan Heylen pulled the No. 73 Park Place Porsche 911 GT3 R off course with smoke coming from the car.

Other class leaders include the No. 54 Core Autosports Oreca FLM09 of Mark Wilkins (PC), Bill Auberlen (GTLM), and Corey Lewis in the No. 16 Lamborghini Hurrican GT3 (GTD).