Porsche Was Unstoppable At Sebring Despite Hauling 44 Pounds Of Added Ballast
· Yahoo Sports
Love it or hate it, the regulatory mechanism known as "balance of performance" aims to ensure a relative balanced playing level in sports car racing for a wide variety of machinery. It's an instrument that can also stifle dominance, which only makes it more impressive when a team overcomes the odds. Porsche Penske Motorsport overcame such odds and took a controlling 1-2 victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring last weekend. The German automaker's 20th overall victory at the 12-hour race came after its victory at Daytona and BoP changes made to hamper the 963's pace.
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IMSA strapped 20 more kilograms (44 pounds) to the Porsche 963 ahead of Sebring, making it the heaviest GTP in the field. The Porsche was also mandated to be the least-powerful prototype at speeds under 143 miles per hour alongside the BMW. The two-car team led 79.5% of the entire 12-hour classic despite the BoP. The lap time data also showed the six drivers behind the wheel of the No. 6 and No. 7 Porsches were the six fastest across the GTP class.
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Porsche Penske spent Sebring's final hour battling themselves
The No. 7 Porsche 963 leading the No. 6 Porsche 963 during the 12 Hours of Sebring - Porsche AGIt wasn't all formation flying at the front. Sebring's finale centered around the intra-team duel for the victory between Kévin Estre in the No. 6 and Felipe Nasr in the No. 7. Nasr's decisive pass for the lead came with just over an hour remaining, but he had to hold off his stablemate during a pair of restarts during the final hour. Nasr, Julien Andlauer and Laurin Heinrich were ultimately the Porsche trio celebrating in victory lane. The Brazilian said after the race:
"I'm here to race and that's what I did today. That's what we should be celebrating today. It's a victory.... What matters is today we came out winning, winning for the team and the brand. That's what we do our jobs for."
The 1-2 victory sealed Porsche's second consecutive 36 Hours of Florida sweep, back-to-back wins at Daytona and Sebring in 2025 and 2026. The automaker also had a 1-2 sweep in the GTD Pro class. With Thomas Preining, Klaus Bachler, and Ricardo Feller behind the wheel, Manthey Racing's 'Grello' Porsche 911 won its first race in the United States. It seems like if another team wants to defeat Porsche, they're going to have to do it the old fashioned way and figure out a way to be faster out on track.
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