Late Race Move Gives WTR with Andretti Twelve Hours of Sebring Win
Words by Matthew Boyce
Cover Image by Jake Galstad/LAT Images
Louis Delatraz made a daring late race pass on Chip Ganassi Racing driver Sebastien Bourdais to claim the 72nd running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The win is the first win for the expanded Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti squad since 2022 and the first Twelve Hours of Sebring for Acura.
Delatraz navigated his No. 40 Acura ARX-06 around the No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R of Sebastien Bourdais with six minutes to go in the race after pressuring the Cadillac pilot numerous times over the course of the races final hour. Three restarts during the final hour resulted in the field being bunched up giving repetitive chances for the No. 40 to make a move on the No. 01. With the race winding down, and GT traffic in plain site, Deletraz managed to move around the No. 01 with a power move into turn seven, claiming the win.
Deletraz shared the No. 40 Acura with Jordan Taylor and IndyCar Series star Colton Herta. For Taylor, the win was the second overall Sebring win with his first coming in 2017. Rounding out the podium in the GTP class was the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963 of Felipe Nasr, Dane Cameron and Matt Campbell, who followed up their Rolex 24 at Daytona victory with a podium at Sebring. The No. 25 Team RLL BMW M Hybrid of Connor De Phillipi, Nick Yelloly and Maxine Martin finished in fourth position while the second Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura finished in fifth.
IMSA
Iron Lynx, who were on debut with their new Lamborghini SC63, finished a trouble free race in seventh position with Romain Grosjean, Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Calderelli piloting the car. The car that sat on the pole, the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac of Pipo Derani, Jack Aiken and Tom Blomqvist had a rather dramatic end to their Twelve Hours of Sebring race. In the seventh hour, Derani crashed out of the race after making contact with the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Miguel Molina while trying to move around the Ferarri in turn 10. The collision sent the No. 31, at full speed, into the inside wall. The impact with the tires sent the car airborne and resulted in the Cadillac ending up on the tire wall upside down. Derani walked away from the incident with no apparent injuries.
Era Motorsport Doubles Up on 2024 Season, Claims LMP2 Class Victory
After a tight battle ensued during the final hours of the LMP2 class race, Era Motorsport emerged with the win. Connor Zilisch piloted the car to checkered flag with co-drivers Ryan Dalziel and Dwight Merriman. The win backs up the teams 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona victory with a win at Sebring. The 17-year-old Zilisch now has both a Rolex 24 at Daytona win and a 12 Twelve Hours of Sebring win to his credit with a full career of racing still ahead of him.
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Finishing second in class was the No. 11 TDS Racing Oreca of Mikkel Jensen, Steven Thomas and Hunter McElrea who crossed the finish line 1.127 seconds behind Zilisch. Paul Di Resta piloted the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca to a third place finish with teammates Dan Goldburg and Bijoy Garg sharing the final step on the podium with Di Resta. The lone Ligier chassis in the field run by Sean Creech Motorsport finished fourth in class. Felipe Fraga, driving the No. 74 Riley Motorsports Oreca pressured Zilisch over the course of the final minutes of the race until a collision with the No. 04 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca ended their bid for a podium. The collision eliminated podium chances for both the No. 74 and No. 04 entries.
