Sebring Weekend Notebook

Photo: Fabian Lagunas/SRO

***A season-low 14 cars are entered for this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS rounds at Sebring International Raceway, with a number of withdrawals and previous racing plans contributing to the grid size for the final regular-format event of the season.

***TR3 Racing has not made the trip due to multiple reasons. Team principal Gregory Romanelli told Sportscar365 that a family matter for Ziad Ghandour has ruled him out for the remainder of the season, while Paul Kiebler, who was placed on a two-race suspension due to exceeding his Behavioral Warning Points following his accident at Road America, elected to sit out Sebring.

***Romanelli said regarding Kiebler’s situation: “Paul’s new to the car. I don’t think it was a mistake of drivability that happened at Road America but maybe it’s better, not take a step back but to get some more seat time in the car to not make mistakes as far as spinning off. We rather take a step back and focus on Indy with Paul.”

***TR3, however, does plan to have the No. 77 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo at the Indianapolis 8 Hour but with a to-be-announced driver lineup according to Romanelli, who indicated that reigning race winner Daniel Morad could be a possibility. Romanelli said the team has elected to replace the chassis on the car following Kiebler’s accident.

***ACI Motorsports is missing its second consecutive race, but the first due to an ankle injury for Pedro Torres, while Esses Racing and GMG Racing, which were both present at Road America, never had planned to contest this weekend’s pair of 90-minute races.

***The No. 33 Triarsi Competizione Ferrari 296 GT3, however, is back in action after missing Road America, with the Ryan Dalziel and Justin Wetherill-driven Prancing Horse sporting a new patriotic livery, but still with support from Jeff’s Bagel Run, this weekend.

***The Pro class championship-leading No. 28 RS1 Porsche, meanwhile, missed this afternoon’s practice session due to a gearbox issue (pictured above) that brought the car to a halt on track in the morning.

***This weekend marks Adam Christodoulou’s first trip to Sebring since taking part in Star Mazda competition in 2009, which had marked his first-ever U.S. race at the time.

***Anthony Bartone is coming off of a sixth and fourth place finishes in the International GT Open rounds at the Red Bull Ring earlier this month. Bartone was paired with Brit Aaron Walker and drove a Getspeed Performance-prepared Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo. It marked Bartone’s European racing debut.

***Sebring is set to be the final Fanatec GT outing for Bartone Bros Racing with RealTime this year, with the team electing to skip next month’s Indianapolis 8 Hour, which unlike some previous editions, only pays points for completing the full race distance.

***The entry list for the fourth round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli/Fanatec GT enduro is expected to be released next week.

***The identity of the team that will campaign two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs in Fanatec GT next year is expected to be announced during the Indianapolis event next month.

***Deliveries of the cars are currently earmarked for April according to Corvette Z06 GT3.R program manager Christie Bagne, who said the team has been made aware that they will likely miss the season-opener at Sonoma as a result.

***Sportscar365 understands that Mario Farnbacher’s future as a HPD-contracted driver is uncertain amid rumored changes to Acura’s NSX GT3 Evo22 program in North America for next year.

***Michael Cooper is not expected to arrive at the track until Saturday morning, with the Flying Lizard Motorsports driver already having previous testing commitments prior to being entered into this weekend’s event in the No. 2 Aston Martin Vantage GT4 alongside Jason Bell.

***Cooper and Bell were ineligible to take part in Friday’s NOLA make-up race anyways due to their car not having been originally entered for the event in April.

***While John Capestro-Dubets makes his Pirelli GT4 America return in the No. 51 Auto Technic Racing BMW M4 GT4 alongside Zac Anderson this weekend, Eric Powell is driving solo in the No. 22 TechSport Nissan Z GT4 due to a non-racing related back injury for Colin Harrison.

***Qualifying for Fanatec GT competitors gets underway Saturday at 9 a.m. EDT, followed by the first race of the weekend at 3:05 p.m., both which will be streamed live on SRO’s GT World YouTube page with the commentary team of Ryan Myrehn, Calvin Fish and Amanda Busick. Race 2 is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. on Sunday, with streaming coverage as well.

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