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Dalziel Leads with One Hour to Go

ESM holds lead heading into final hour at Sebring…

Photo: IMSA

Photo: IMSA

Extreme Speed Motorsports is out front heading into the final hour of the 62nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.

The No. 1 HPD ARX-03b of Ryan Dalziel holds a narrow 8-second gap over Sebastien Bourdais’ No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP in second, in what’s been a rather unpredictable race up front between the two prototype platforms.

Olivier Pla is also still in contention, elevating his No. 42 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan to third, with Marino Franchitti running in fourth, despite a spin in the hairpin with one hour and 16-minutes to go.

The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Riley-Ford of Memo Rojas led the way heading into the final two hours but was passed by David Brabham, who opened up a lead in the No. 1 ESM HPD.

Rojas faced further drama during his pit stop 20 minutes later when he was hit from behind by the No. 9 Action Express Racing of Joao Barbosa and spun at the pit entry. No penalty was issued.

The No. 2 ESM HPD of Simon Pagenaud runs in fifth, also on the lead lap, rebounding from contact with the Paul Miller Racing Audi in the previous hour.

The fight for top honors in PC has been a two-way battle between the No. 54 CORE autosport Oreca FLM09 and No. 09 RSR Racing entry, with Colin Braun now out front ahead of Bruno Junqueira.

GTLM is currently being led by the No. 93 SRT Motorsports Viper GTS-R of Jonathan Bomarito, with Patrick Long closely in pursuit in the No. 912 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR.

The No. 23 Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America paces GTD, with Alex Riberas holding a 15-second lead over the No. 44 Magnus Racing entry of Andy Lally in second.

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

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