OAK Leads Session 4; Action Express Fastest Overall at Sebring

OAK Racing led the fourth and final test session of the two-day TUDOR United SportsCar Championship test at Sebring International Raceway, although it wasn’t the team’s or overall fastest lap of the week.

The No. 42 Morgan Nissan driven by Gustavo Yacaman, Olivier Pla and Alex Brundle was a little more than a tenth off its time in Session 3 of 1:53.230. In Friday afternoon’s session, a 1:53.338 was enough to lead the pack.

It was Action Express Racing that led the timesheets overall for the two-day test, with its best time of 1:52.480 set in Thursday’s Session 2.

READ: Action Express Sets Pace Thursday at Sebring Winter Test

Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi and Sebastien Bourdais co-drove the team’s No. 5 Corvette DP, but only ran 22 laps in Session 4.

“With the balance and the new aero configuration and everything the car feels really good,” Bourdais said. “We just nailed it and got a really good lap and got it done at the end of that session.”

In Session 4, Spirit of Daytona’s No. 90 Corvette DP and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates’ No. 01 Ford EcoBoost Riley trailed the OAK Morgan by 0.061 and 0.114 of a second, respectively.

Extreme Speed Motorsports put both of its HPD ARX-03bs in the top five with the No. 1 in at 1:53.459 and the sister No. 2 at 1:53.637.

8Star Motorsports’ No. 25, driven at the test by Tom Kimber-Smith, Robert La Rocca and Eric Lux, led the afternoon session in the PC class at 1:56.289. Kimber-Smith, Lux and Michael Marsal will share the 8Star car for the race next month.

The No. 8 Starworks Motorsport and No. 88 BAR1 Motorsports Oreca FLM09s were next up in PC.

Porsche continued its stranglehold atop the GT Le Mans class, with the No. 911 Porsche North America Porsche 911 RSR driven by Nick Tandy, Richard Lietz and Patrick Pilet dipping below the 2-minute mark at 1:59.395. The sister No. 912 911 RSR also was under 2-minutes, at 1:59.867.

The Krohn Racing No. 57 Ferrari F458 Italia, with the Krohn team joined by Risi Competizione’s Matteo Malucelli at the test, clocked in third at 2:00.731.

Team Falken Tire brought its No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR, in its first test, into fourth at 2:00.941 with the No. 93 SRT Motorsports SRT Viper GTS-R fifth at 2:01.099

GT Daytona again saw a Porsche on top as well, this time the No. 22 Alex Job Racing Porsche 911 GT America entry driven by Leh Keen, Cooper MacNeil and new driver Philip Frommenwiler of Switzerland clocking in at 2:04.359.

That was a fairly significant gap ahead of the rest of the GTD field, with the No. 33 Riley Motorsports SRT Viper GT3-R in second at 2:05.075.

The No. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche was third, the No. 51 Spirit of Race Ferrari 458 Italia GT3 fourth and the No. 94 Turner Motorsport BMW Z4 GTD rounding out the top five.

Of note, the No. 13 Rum Bum/Snow Racing Porsche 911 GT America had an apparent engine issue going down the front straight, after only completing seven laps in the session. Jan Heylen, Madison Snow and Matt Plumb are sharing the car.

RESULTS: Session 4
RESULTS: Combined Sessions 1-4

Also of note, the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge was in action during the two days at Sebring, with 28 cars setting representative times.

In the GS class, Andrew Aquilante and Kurt Rezzetano led the two-day test with a best time of 2:16.831 in the No. 32 Phoenix American Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R.

ST was led by Daytona class winners Eric Foss and Jeff Mosing, aboard the No. 56 Murillo Racing BMW 328i, at 2:25.485.

Both the TUDOR Championship and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge will be back in action at Sebring next month, with the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring running on Saturday, March 15.

RESULTS: Combined Sessions 1-4