CGR’s Bamber Rebounds Twice for 12H Sebring Victory

Photo: Michelin

Chip Ganassi Racing has claimed victory in the 70th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring thanks to two comeback drives from Earl Bamber in the No. 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R.

The Kiwi crossed the line 6.471 seconds ahead of the No. 5 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac of Tristan Vautier, which inherited the lead with co-driver Richard Westbrook twice in the final 1 hour and 15 minutes of the Florida endurance classic.

Bamber, who held nearly a 30-second lead, was handed a drive-through penalty for incident responsibility after making contact with the No. 13 AWA Duqueine D08 Nissan of Kuno Wittmer on his out lap in the dark.

Dropping behind Westbrook, Bamber got around the Englishman with 58 minutes remaining to retake the lead only to spin moments later after contact with Simon Mann’s No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 Evo 2020.

The ex-Porsche factory driver then mounted a second comeback drive, re-taking the lead again from Westbrook, this time on the Ulmann Straight with 45 minutes to go.

Bamber shared top honors with Alex Lynn and Neel Jani, who was a late substitute for Kevin Magnussen in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Pipo Derani took the No. 31 Action Express entry to a Cadillac sweep of the podium despite colliding with the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 of Stoffel Vandoorne with 2 hours and 34 minutes to go.

The Brazilian was given a warning for the contact, which damaged the floor on the Rolex 24-winning DPi entry.

Tom Blomqvist took the wounded MSR entry to a fifth place result, losing out to the No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura DPi of Ricky Taylor in the final stint.

Taylor’s co-driver Will Stevens, meanwhile, lost more than 30 seconds due to a drive-through penalty for missing the RFID reader at pit-out with less than four hours to go.

WTR was unable to recover the lost time as the race ran caution-free from that point to the finish.

The No. 48 Ally-sponsored Action Express Cadillac of Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Rockenfeller dropped out of podium contention when the car sustained left-front brake failure with two hours remaining.

It finished sixth overall, five laps behind the winning No. 02 Cadillac.

CGR’s sister pole-sitting No. 01 Cadillac suffered gearbox issues from the start, with Sebastien Bourdais reporting downshifting issues that ultimately led to a lengthy gearbox change that put it more than 30 laps behind.

Sebring Repeat LMP2 Victory for PR1/Mathiasen; Sean Creech Wins LMP3

PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports scored a commanding victory in LMP2, with Mikkel Jensen, Ben Keating and Scott Huffaker repeating from one year ago with the same lineup.

Jensen took the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson to a one-lap win over the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry of Giedo van der Garde.

Ryan Dalziel, Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley completed the class podium in the No. 18 Era Motorsport Oreca.

The Rolex 24 class-winning No. 81 DragonSpeed entry was an early retirement after Juan Pablo Montoya was collected in a multi-car accident in the third hour while leading the race at the time.

LMP3 class honors went to the Sean Creech Motorsport trio of Malthe Jakobsen, Joao Barbosa and Lance Willsey, which battled clutch issues with its Ligier JS P320 Nissan.

Jakobsen took over the lead in the final third of the race after the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Ligier of Kay van Berlo collided with the Mathieu Jaminet-driven No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R with just over three hours to go.

The Riley entry was ultimately retired after damage led to a water leak.

It marked Sean Creech’s first WeatherTech Championship class win.

Jr III Racing’s Ari Balogh, Garett Grist and Dakota Dickerson cane home second in class, with the No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports making it an all-Ligier podium in class.

RESULTS: 12H Sebring

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