Second class win in a row for Winward Racing
Winward Racing Mercedes first GTD Class
Winward Racing secured back-to-back class wins at Daytona and Sebring creating a sizeable gap with other GTD entries in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GTD title battle. The Houston-based team dominated by far the 12 Hours of Sebring GTD class with 164 laps in the lead (out of 314) despite starting from last in the grid due to a technical infraction after winning pole during qualifying session.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 .
Philip Ellis, Russell Ward and Indy Dontje with #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 steadily advanced through the field, moving into 10th spot in the opening laps and then to fourth place before the two-hour mark. A fortuitous pit stop just before a full-course yellow enabled the Winward Mercedes to leapfrog the cars ahead and take the lead after a little more than two hours of racing.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 .
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #57 Winward Racing Mercedes AMG GT3 .
“The whole week has been going really well, it was just unfortunate in qualifying that we got disqualified,” said Dontje. “In the end, we knew that knew we had a good car, so actually from the second stint onwards we were like ‘Yeah, let’s get this.’”
“We’re used to it, ‘cause the last three years we’ve had to start from last at some point,” laughed Ward. “We knew we had the car for it, and we just wanted to keep our heads clean, especially after starting the season with such great form at Daytona. And our goal was just to get the maximum amount of points out of this race. The crew performed flawless, the drivers made a few mistakes, and we came out on top.” Source: IMSA
Cetilar Ferrari second
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the #47 Cetilar Ferrari 296 came alive, steadily advancing up to and through the top 10. As the final hour loomed Antonio Fuoco, in the Cetilar Ferrari, was second.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #47 Cetilar Ferrari 296 GT3
With 40 minutes remaining, Fuoco demoted Skeer to third and moved within striking distance of the lead. While Fuoco never gave Ellis’ Leading Mercedes a moment’s rest, he ended 0.646 seconds behind the winning Mercedes.
#120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R 3rd
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R.
A. Adelson, E. Skeer, J. Heylen in the #120 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R lead the race during 17 laps but Skeer was passed by #47 Ferrari and #57 Mercedes to end third two seconds behind.
Aston Martin Fourth
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.
R. De Angelis, Z. Robichon and team owner I. James with #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo end fourth
A Lamborghini fifth
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 #78
M. Goikhberg, L. Spinelli and D. Francesco end fifth of GTD class with Forte Racing Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 #78
Disappointment for early race leaders
Both Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3 #12 and Turner Motorsport BMW M GT3 #96 did animate the race during the first half with #12 Lexus spending 54 laps in the lead (ending 13th) and #96 BMW M GT3 totalling 45 laps in the lead before the 5th hour (ending 6th). The #70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 EVO did also lead the race during 19 laps ending 7th in class.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024.
GTD Race Official Results
Source: IMSA
Related Info
📷 luc Warnotte at Sebring 2023. Second straight win in 2024 for Era Motorsport.
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. Vasser Sullivan wins hard fought GTD PRO class
📷 © Luc Warnotte at Sebring 2024. Louis Delétraz charges to victory at Sebring.
📷 Courtesy of IMSA. Sebring 12 Hours: hours 1 - 4
