On Wednesday, IMSA released the Provisional Entry List for the 65th Running of the Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring. The 12-hour race on Mar. 18 is Round No. 2 of both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup. 46 cars are entered in the four classes.
In the Prototype ranks, 11 teams are entered. Most of the teams are fielding three drivers instead of the four they had at Daytona. Action Express Racing’s No. 5 and Visit Florida Racing’s No. 90 are completely unchanged as they ran the Rolex 24 at Daytona with three drivers. Brendon Hartley is only listed in Tequila Patron ESM’s No. 22 after being entered in both of the Nissan DPi’s at Daytona. Tequila Patron ESM’s No. 22 is the only entry in the class with four drivers.
Likely the biggest change is Alex Lynn in the No. 10 Cadillac DPi-V.R. for Wayne Taylor Racing. The move, which was announced last month, sees Lynn replacing Max Angelelli, who chose to retire after the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Jeff Gordon is not entered in the No. 10. He has TV responsibilities for FOX Sports in Phoenix that weekend.
The only Prototype team from Daytona not entered is DragonSpeed, but that was expected. The team was only expected to race at Daytona before returning to Europe in order to prepare for the European Le Mans Series season.
Prototype Challenge has a number of changes given the low number of entries (four). Starworks Motorsport has entered only one car, the No. 8. As of right now, only James Dayson, a former IMSA Prototype Lites racer who drove the No. 88 at Daytona, is entered. Additional drivers will be named later this week.
For BAR1 Motorsports, full-time drivers Buddy Rice and Don Yount are joined by Manitoba’s Daniel Burkett. Burkett will be making his third career start for the team, but the first since 2015. Last year, Burkett raced full-time for CJ Wilson Racing in the IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge with Marc Miller as a teammate and finished second in Grand Sport points.
BAR1 Motorsports’ second entry welcomes Marc Drumwright back to the team. He joins Chapman Ducote and Gustavo Yacaman in the No. 26, who both move over from the No. 20. Performance Tech Motorsports has their Daytona-winning lineup, minus Nick Boulle.
GT Le Mans has ten strong entries. Everyone from Daytona is here with the exception of Ford Chip Ganassi Racing’s fourth entry (No. 69). The most visible change here will be a number change for BMW Team RLL. At Daytona, the team ran a special BMW Art Car designed by John Baldessaro that wore the No. 19 since it was the 19th BMW Art Car. For the rest of the year, the car will run the No. 25. For Sebring, the rechristened No. 25 will have Kuno Wittmer move over from the No. 24 to join full-season drivers Bill Auberlen and Alexander Sims.
GT Daytona is down from 27 to 21 entries for Sebring. Not entered are a number of part-time and one-off entries (Konrad Racing’s No. 21 Lamborghini, Spirit of Race’s No. 51 Ferrari, Manthey Racing’s No. 59 Porsche, GRT Grasser Racing Team’s No. 61 Lamborghini, Aston Martin Racing’s No. 98 Aston Martin and The Racers Group’s No. 991 Porsche). Despite the drop in numbers, it should still be a very strong contingent.
All but three of the teams entered have three drivers listed. Daytona class winners Alegra Motorsports is an exception to the rule. The team has added Spencer Pumpelly to their lineup, replacing Michael de Quesada. Jesse Lazare is also not entered. Pumpelly tested the No. 28 Porsche at both the Roar Before the 24 and the Sebring Open Test. In addition, Pumpelly helped the team out behind the scenes during the Rolex 24 weekend.
GRT Grasser Racing Team has also replaced Ezequiel Perez Companc in their No. 11 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 with American racer Richard Antinucci. Antinucci is a very quick driver, having set the fastest GT Daytona lap in last year’s Rolex 24 at Daytona for the now shuttered O’Gara Motorsport. However, Antinucci has had trouble finding decent rides here in the United States.cc
2017 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring Entry List
Class
Team
Drivers
Car
Prototype
2 - Tequila Patron ESM
Ryan Dalziel
Pipo Derani
Scott Sharp
Nissan DPi
GT Le Mans
3 - Corvette Racing
Antonio Garcia
Jan Magnussen
Mike Rockenfeller
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
GT Le Mans
4 - Corvette Racing
Marcel Fässler
Oliver Gavin
Tommy Milner
Chevrolet Corvette C7.R
Prototype
5 - Action Express Racing
Filipe Albuquerque
Joao Barbosa
Christian Fittipaldi
Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Prototype Challenge
8 - Starworks Motorsport
James Dayson
ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet
Prototype
10 - Wayne Taylor Racing
Alexander Lynn
Jordan Taylor
Ricky Taylor
Cadillac DPi-V.R.
GT Daytona
11 - GRT Grasser Racing Team
Richard Antinucci
Mirko Bortolotti
Christian Engelhart
Rolf Ineichen
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Prototype
13 - REBELLION Racing
Sebastien Buemi
Nick Heidfeld
Neel Jani
ORECA 07-Gibson
GT Daytona
14 - 3GT Racing
Ian James
Sage Karam
Scott Pruett
Lexus RC F GT3
GT Daytona
15 - 3GT Racing
Robert Alon
Austin Cindric
Jack Hawksworth
Lexus RC F GT3
GT Daytona
16 - Change Racing
Corey Lewis
Jeroen Mul
Brett Sandberg
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
GT Daytona
18 - DAC Motorsports
Emanuel Anassis
Brandon Gdovic
Anthony Massari
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
Prototype Challenge
20 - BAR1 Motorsports
Daniel Burkett
Buddy Rice
Don Yount
ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet
Prototype
22 - Tequila Patron ESM
Ed Brown
Brendon Hartley
Bruno Senna
Johannes van Overbeek
Nissan DPi
GT Daytona
23 - Alex Job Racing
Townsend Bell
Frankie Montecalvo
Bill Sweedler
Audi R8 LMS GT3
GT Le Mans
24 - BMW Team RLL
Nicky Catsburg
John Edwards
Martin Tomczyk
BMW M6 GTLM
GT Le Mans
25 - BMW Team RLL
Bill Auberlen
Alexander Sims
Kuno Wittmer
BMW M6 GTLM
Prototype Challenge
26 - BAR1 Motorsports
Marc Drumwright
Chapman Ducote
Gustavo Yacaman
ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet
GT Daytona
27 - Dream Racing
Lawrence DeGeorge
Paolo Ruberti
Cedric Sbirrazzuoli
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
GT Daytona
28 - Alegra Motorsports
Michael Christensen
Carlos de Quesada
Daniel Morad
Spencer Pumpelly
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GT Daytona
29 - Montaplast by Land-Motorsport
Connor de Phillippi
Jules Gounon
Christopher Mies
Audi R8 LMS GT3
Prototype
31 - Action Express Racing
Dane Cameron
Mike Conway
Eric Curran
Cadillac DPi-V.R.
GT Daytona
33 - Riley Motorsports
Jeroen Bleekemolen
Mario Farnbacher
Ben Keating
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Prototype Challenge
38 - Performance Tech Motorsports
James French
Kyle Masson
Patricio O'Ward
ORECA FLM09-Chevrolet
GT Daytona
46 - EBIMOTORS
Fabio Babini
Michele Beretta
Emanuele Busnelli
Emmanuel Collard
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
GT Daytona
48 - Paul Miller Racing
Bryan Sellers
Madison Snow
Dion von Moltke
Lamborghini Huracan GT3
GT Daytona
50 - Riley Motorsports (WeatherTech Racing)
Gunnar Jeannette
Cooper MacNeil
Shane van Gisbergen
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Prototype
52 - PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports
Mike Guasch
José Gutierrez
Tom Kimber-Smith
Ligier JS P217-Gibson
GT Daytona
54 - CORE autosport
Jon Bennett
Colin Braun
Nic Jonsson
Porsche 911 GT3 R
Prototype
55 - Mazda Motorsports
Jonathan Bomarito
Tristan Nunez
Spencer Pigot
Mazda RT24-P
GT Daytona
57 - Stevenson Motorsports
Lawson Aschenbach
Matt Bell
Andrew Davis
Audi R8 LMS GT3
GT Le Mans
62 - Risi Competizione
James Calado
Giancarlo Fisichella
Toni Vilander
Ferrari 488 GTE
GT Daytona
63 - Scuderia Corsa
Alessandro Balzan
Matteo Cressoni
Christina Nielsen
Ferrari 488 GT3
GT Le Mans
66 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
Sébastien Bourdais
Joey Hand
Dirk Müller
Ford GT
GT Le Mans
67 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing
Ryan Briscoe
Scott Dixon
Richard Westbrook
Ford GT
GT Le Mans
68 - Ford Chip Ganassi Racing UK
Billy Johnson
Stefan Mücke
Olivier Pla
Ford GT
Prototype
70 - Mazda Motorsports
Marino Franchitti
Tom Long
Joel Miller
Mazda RT24-P
GT Daytona
73 - Park Place Motorsports
Jörg Bergmeister
Patrick Lindsey
Matt McMurry
Porsche 911 GT3 R
GT Daytona
75 - SunEnergy1 Racing
Kenny Habul
Boris Said
Tristan Vautier
Mercedes-AMG GT3
Prototype
85 - JDC/Miller MotorSports
Mikhail Goikhberg
Chris Miller
Stephen Simpson
ORECA 07-Gibson
GT Daytona
86 - Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
Tom Dyer
Oswaldo Negri Jr.
Jeff Segal
Acura NSX GT3
Prototype
90 - Visit Florida Racing
Marc Goossens
René Rast
Renger van der Zande
Riley Mk. 30-Gibson
GT Daytona
93 - Michael Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian
Andy Lally
Katherine Legge
Mark Wilkins
Acura NSX GT3
GT Daytona
96 - Turner Motorsport
Jens Klingmann
Jesse Krohn
Justin Marks
BMW M6 GT3
GT Le Mans
911 - Porsche GT Team
Frédéric Makowiecki
Patrick Pilet
Dirk Werner
Porsche 911 RSR
GT Le Mans
912 - Porsche GT Team
Kevin Estré
Richard Lietz
Laurens Vanthoor
Porsche 911 RSR
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