Six hour report from Sebring

With six hours down and six to go at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Fresh from Florida, there have been plenty of surprises and action to open the American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón 2011 season.

The pole-winning No. 8 Peugeot 908 from Peugeot Sport Total is the current race leader. Driver Franck Montagny leads Highcroft Racing’s Marino Franchitti in the HPD ARX-01e. Team ORECA Matmut’s Peugeot 908 driven by Nicolas Lapierre runs third. The Audi Sport Team Joest R15s are currently a glaring omission from the top of the order. Michael Rockenfeller experienced not one but two flat left-rear tires on the No. 1 R15 Plus, while the No. 2 R15 Plus driven by Dindo Capello made contact with Marc Gene’s Peugeot Sport Total 908 in Turn 17 just past the four-hour mark.

There were fireworks early in the GT category when the Patrick Long’s Flying Lizard Motorsport Porsche 911 GT3 RSR came together with Corvette Racing’s Jan Magnussen in Turn 17. The ESM Ferrari driven by Johannes van Overbook hit the tires attempting to avoid the incident and was forced to retire. Five GT cars currently run on the same lap. Risi Competizione’s Jaime Melo led in a Ferrari F458. BMW Motorsport Team RLL ran second in class with Andy Priaulx. The team’s sister BMW M3 GT of Dirk Werner was third.

Christophe Bouchut leads the LMP2 field in Level 5 Motorsport’s Lola-Honda coupe, five laps ahead of the team’s second car driven by Luis Diaz. Diaz brought out the sixth full-course caution of the race when he lost drive at T2.

Genoa Racing holds a three-lap led in LMPC with its ORECA FLM09. Polesitter Dane Cameron was ahead of CORE autosport’s Ryan Dalziel. PR1/Mathiasen and Ryan Lewis are third.

Proton Competition and Luca Roda led the GTE-AM category in a Porsche 911 GT3 RSR. Sean Edwards leads GTC in an NGT Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

(c) ALMS PR