By Johan Laubscher
Round two of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship will be the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. The official Sebring Test was held this week, Thursday to Friday, 20-21 February.
Five Audi R8 LMS cars took part in the test, all within the GT Daytona (GTD) class. All five of the cars, from four different teams, were seen at the season opening 24 Hours of Daytona.
Flying Lizard Motorsports again entered their two cars (#35 and #45). The #35 was driven by Filipe Albuquerque, Seth Neimann, Alessandro Latif and Dion von Moltke. The #45 had Nelson Canache Jr, Tim Pappas, Spencer Pumpelly and Markus Winkelhock behind the wheel.
A single car each were entered by Fall-Line Motorsports, GMG Racing and Paul Miller Racing. The #46 Fall-Line Motorsports R8 LMS was driven by Christopher Mies, Charlie Putman and Charles Espenlaub. The #32 GMG Racing R8 LMS had James Sofronas, Alex Welch and Marc Basseng behind the wheel. Paul Miller Racing’s #48 R8 LMS was driven by Matthew Bell, Christopher Haase and Bryce Miller.
The Sebring Test consisted of four sessions, two each on Thursday and Friday.
The first session on Thursday concluded with one Audi within the GTD top ten, the #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS was second fastest. The sister #35 Lizards Audi was eleventh, followed by the remaining three Audis placing in positions fourteen through sixteen, #48 Paul Miller Racing, #32 GMG Racing and the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports.
The second session on Thursday ended with no Audis making it into the top ten. Four of the Audis finished together in positions twelve through fifteen, with the duo of Flying Lizard Motorsports cars (#45 and #35) ahead of the #48 Paul Miller Racing and #46 Fall-Line Motorsports cars. GMG Racing was eighteenth fastest with the #32 R8 LMS.
The third practice session was held on Friday. This first session of the day concluded with the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports R8 LMS in tenth, ahead of the Flying Lizard Motorsports #45 in eleventh. The #48 Paul Miller Racing, #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports and #32 GMG Racing cars placed together in positions sixteen through eighteen.
The fourth and final session took place on Friday afternoon. Three Audis made it into the top ten, with the #32 GMG Racing and #46 Fall-Line Motorsports cars placing seventh and eighth respectively, followed by the #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS in tenth. The remaining two Audis finished twelfth and thirteenth, the #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports car ahead of the #48 Paul Miller Racing R8 LMS.
The fourth and final session took place on Friday afternoon. Three Audis made it into the top ten, with the #32 GMG Racing and #46 Fall-Line Motorsports cars placing seventh and eighth respectively, followed by the #45 Flying Lizard Motorsports R8 LMS in tenth. The remaining two Audis finished twelfth and thirteenth, the #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports car ahead of the #48 Paul Miller Racing R8 LMS.
The combined results from the four sessions revealed that the Audis were in the lower half of the field. The Flying Lizard Motorsports #45 R8 LMS was the fastest Audi in twelve. They were followed by the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports and #32 GMG Racing cars in thirteenth and fourteenth. The remaining two cars, the #48 Paul Miller Racing and #35 Flying Lizard Motorsports cars, placed seventeenth and eighteenth respectively.
The teams will now be returning to Sebring in a few weeks, for the twelve hour race from 13-15 March.
Photo credit: Motorsport.com
