12 Hours of Sebring race preview

By Tom Phillips

17th March 2010

THE countdown to Le Mans has begun! The legendary event takes place on the weekend of June 12th/13th, and Auto Express will be there in force. In the run up to the event, we’ll be offering some great competition prizes in partnership with the event’s radio station Radio Le Mans.

But before the greatest car endurance race on earth begins, the leading protagonists will be putting their latest cars through their paces in a number of long distance events, beginning with the 12 hours of Sebring, which takes place this weekend.

Held as part of the American Le Mans Series, the 58th running of the event begins at 14.30 UK time on March 20th. The race is takes place at Sebring in Florida and is excellent preparation for Le Mans – the combination of high ambient temperatures and bumpy track surface make the event a true test of man and machine.

36 cars representing five classes will take part, and leading the charge will be the Peugeot team. The French firm’s LMP1 908 diesel prototypes took victory at last year’s Le Mans, but lost out to Audi at Sebring. Peugeot will enter two cars at the weekend, with Brit Anthony Davidson joining fellow ex-F1 stars Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene in car number seven.

The American Le Mans Series runs the same rules that apply at Le Mans. And with the French governing body, the ACO, changing its regulations as late as November last year, Audi decided not to attempt an eighth straight victory at Sebring.

Instead, the firm will race its R15 Plus diesel prototype at Paul Ricard in the eight-hour race in April, leaving Aston Martin to take the fight to Peugeot at Sebring with its single car entry.

The most hotly contested class will be GT2. The 13 entrants are based on production cars, with teams fielding Ferrari F430s, BMW M3s, and Jaguar XKRs all taking the fight to the pace-setting Porsche 911s and Chevrolet Corvettes.

For full coverage of the 12 hours of Sebring, listen to the event live at RadioLeMans.com

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