Derani: ‘Staying Alive’ at End Key to Victory at Sebring

Photo: Mike Levitt/IMSA

Pipo Derani says that staying out of trouble and ‘being alive’ for the final run to the checkered flag is key to victory in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac.

The Brazilian, who holds four overall wins in the Florida endurance classic, will be looking to defend his 2023 triumph with Action Express Racing in next weekend’s second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season.

Derani, who won the race in 2016, 2018, 2019 and last year, will again share the No. 31 Cadillac V-Series.R with Jack Aitken and new-for-2024 third driver Tom Blomqvist.

“Sebring has been very kind to me over the last few years,” Derani said. “I won there in my debut in 2016, which was a very cool race win, and then had the luck to be involved with great teams and great lineups that allowed me to win a few more times.

“I think the GTP championship is extremely strong this year. We saw last year at Sebring that you have to be alive to try to win that race. Luckily, last year things turned toward the end.

“We weren’t meant to win but we won because we survived.

“The whole race we were there with the top five, fighting on the same lap, and after the final restart we all know what happened.”

Derani added: “Sebring is one of those places where you have to make sure you survive because it’s such a difficult race on man and machine.

“It’s a place that you can’t predict because you might have a strong pace during the day and it might differ at night when the temperature drops, so it’s a unique place to try to set up your car in the best possible way for the end but you don’t want to suffer for 11 hours and 30 minutes as well of the race.”

Derani said the increased competition in the GTP field, which will feature a series-high 11-car field including the U.S. debut of Lamborghini’s SC63, will play a considerable factor in this year’s race.

“I think it’s going to take a lot this year to pull out a win,” he said. “Focusing on trying to improve the last phase of the race will be crucial for us in such a competitive field if we want to go down a sprint the last 30 minutes of the race.

“You need to be on your toes and be very quick in this important part of the race if you want to achieve something.”

When asked by Sportscar365 on whether there’s extra motivation after finishing second in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, Derani said he’s looked at the hard-fought season-opener with a “very positive” view.

“We put on a great show,” he said of Daytona. “We led a bunch of that race and came up just short because of a pit stop at the very end.

“We still had a fantastic showing through the week with pole position, led a lot of the race, the car was competitive from beginning to the end. The equipment ran flawlessly.

“If you look at all that, it’s very positive. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a Rolex home. It was a fantastic weekend and gives up great hope that we started the year strong.

“Sebring is a different animal. When you look at last year, we weren’t as quick as we wanted to be at night. With that race finishing at night, we were lucky to win but we had some things that we had to work on for this year.

“We have been working on those things and hopefully we have a stronger car at the end.”

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