Heinrich Leads Vanthoor After Three Hours in Sebring

Photo: Jurgen Tap/Porsche

The No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 has risen to the fore after three hours in the books of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, following an impressive drive to the front by Laurin Heinrich.

The German driver held a five-second lead over the sister No. 6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor, who had a collision while under the race’s second full course caution with Earl Bamber’s No. 31 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Bamber, who was running third at the time, was forced to pit for a new engine cover and rear deck, while Vanthoor continued with minor nose damage.

IMSA ruled the incident inconclusive, with apparently no available video evidence.

The caution was for the No. 81 DragonSpeed Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Henrik Hedman, who was shoved off the track in a side-swipe move by the No. 52 Bryan Herta Autosport with PR1/Mathiasen Oreca 07 Gibson of Parker Thompson.

Thompson, who was running second in the LMP2 class, received a five-minute stop-and-hold penalty for incident responsibility.

The race’s third caution came out just prior to the three-hour mark when the No. 65 Ford Mustang GT3 EVO of Seb Priaulx and Alessandro Pier Guidi’s No. 62 Risi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo collided in Turn 17 and collected the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo of Russell Ward, who was seeking its third consecutive GTD Sebring class win.

The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Ricky Taylor ran third, behind the safety car again, ahead of the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 of Colin Braun in fourth.

Robin Frijns completed the top-five in the No. 24 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

LMP2 was led by the No. 8 Tower Motorsports entry of Sebastian Alvarez, who passed Rasmus Lindh’s No. 22 United Autosports car just prior to the most recent yellow.

In addition to Thompson’s incident, there have been numerous other incidents by LMP2 cars, and subsequent penalties, since the opening hour.

Most notable was the defending race-winning No. 43 Inter Europol Competition car of Jeremy Clarke, who was spun by the No. 64 Ford Mustang of Ben Barker in Turn 17 while attempting to pit, damaging the rear deck.

While Inter Europol received a drive-through for having too many people working on the car, Barker’s Mustang did not receive a penalty for the contact.

Penalties were also issued for the Nos. 2 and 22 United Orecas and No. 04 CrowdStrike by APR entry.

Porsches also ran 1-2 in GTD Pro, led by the No. 911 Manthey Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R Evo of Klaus Bachler ahead of Alessio Picariello in the No. 77 AO Racing entry.

Kyle Kirkwood has dropped to third in the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3.

There was trouble for the team’s No. 12 GTD class entry of Frankie Montecalvo, which was taken to the garage with an overheating gearbox.

The No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo of Zach Robichon is back up front in GTD, ahead of the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 Evo.

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