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Sebring 12h: Deletraz bests Bourdais to claim victory for Acura

Sebastien Bourdais Acura Louis Deletraz Jordan Taylor Nick Yelloly Colton Herta Jack Hawksworth Matt Campbell Andretti Felipe Nasr

Deletraz, driving the Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti’s No. 40 Acura ARX-06, applied the pressure with less than six minutes to go on Cadillac Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, who had a firm hold of the lead for much of the final hour. The two tangled with on-track shoves, but it was Deletraz that prevailed with a Turn 10 move around the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit to win the 72^nd edition of IMSA’s endurance classic.

The Final Four Hours

Maxime Martin’s No. 25 BMW M Hybrid V8 led the field to the restart, which commenced just five minutes at the conclusion of the eighth hour. Despite the tight push into Turn 1, he was able to hold off Matheiu Jaminet (Porsche Penske Motorsports) and Ricky Taylor (Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti).

It didn’t take long – 20 minutes, to be exact – for Taylor’s No. 10 Acura ARX-06 to work around the No. 6 Porsche 963 of Jaminet.

Taylor then began to close on the lead and got within 0.4s of Martin, who began cutting through traffic and ended up making contact with Matteo Cressoni in Iron Lynx’s No. 60 Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 in Turn 15. Cressoni was able to continue on, while Martin saw his lead shrink even more.

As Taylor continued to gain ground, traces of smoke could be seen occasionally trailing his Acura. Regardless of that, though, Taylor’s pace continued, and he caught Martin out in traffic and put on a move to take the lead with 23 minutes remaining in the ninth hour.

A run of pit stops by the leaders soon after saw Taylor hand off to Brendon Hartley, who maintained the top spot, which was now occupied by Renger van der Zande in the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R.

Martin handed off to Nick Yelloly, who came out third.

The action was halted for a ninth time after the No. 6 Penske Porsche 963 of Fred Makowiecki, running fourth in GTP and overall, dove under Katherine Legge’s No. 66 Acura NSX GT3 entering Turn 17. The two made contact, which sent Legge into a wild spin briefly before making hard contact into the tire barrier. Makowiecki was able to continue on, while Legge climbed out under her own power.

#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3: Sheena Monk, Katherine Legge, Tatjana Calderon (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

The caution happened right at the conclusion of the ninth hour.

Some of the field took another opportunity for service in the pits, with most of the attention focused on the No. 10 Acura of Hartley as the crew investigated for the source of the occasional omitting smoke.

By opting not to pit, Makowiecki inherited the lead, with Gianmaria Bruni running second in the No. 5 Porsche 963 for Proton Competition. Matt Campbell, piloting the Porsche Penske Motorsports’ No. 7 GTP machine, rose to third.

Cadillac Racing’s van der Zande sat fourth, ahead of Yelloly. Hartley ended up falling to ninth, behind Romain Grosjean, who was listed a lap down in Iron Lynx’s Lamborghini SC63.

The race resumed 13 minutes after the conclusion of the ninth hour, with Makowiecki getting a clean start and accelerating away from Campbell, who managed to climb to second.

Moments later, Makowiecki lost the lead after his right-rear tire exploded and he was forced to nurse back to the pits. This propelled his team-mate, Campbell, to the lead and the Cadillac of van der Zande to third.

Through all of the drama of GTP, there was still a tight fight in LMP2 as Nico Pino (United Autosports USA) held a narrow lead of two tenths of a second over Hunter McElrea (TDS Racing). Paul Di Resta (United Autosports USA) quietly assumed third at 1.7s back.

Ben Barnicoat returned for another stint behind the wheel of Vasser Sullivan’s No. 14 Lexus RC F GT3 and served up a GTD Pro lead of 4.4s over Chistopher Mies in the Ford Mustang GT3.

#14 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Jack Hawksworth, Ben Barnicoat, Kyle Kirkwood, #12 VasserSullivan Lexus RC F GT3: Frankie Montecalvo, Parker Thompson, Aaron Telitz, #19 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2: Franck Perera, Jordan Pepper, Mirko Bortolotti, #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW M4 GT3: Bryan Sellers, Madison Snow, Neil Verhagen (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

Meanwhile, Indy Dontje, driving the No. 57 Mercedes AMG GT for Winward Racing, sported a 9s advantage over Parker Thompson in Vasser Sullivan’s GTD entry.

With 20 minutes left in Hour 10, Campbell continued to hold a lead of four tenths of a second over van der Zande. Yelloly held third at 1s back, while Colton Herta, driving the No. 40 Acura ARX-06 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, in fourth a 2.5s behind.

Only five minutes later Herta managed to close on the back of Yelloly to challenge for third, which he cycled up to seconds later after Campbell elected to dive to the pits. Although van der Zande was handed the lead with Campbell pitting, it would only be momentarily as he pitted the next lap and gave the lead to Yelloly. The stop for van der Zande saw him hand off to Sebastien Bourdais.

During this stretch, Herta was able to manage the traffic and push to the lead by Yelloly and pull a 2s gap with only eight minutes remaining in the hour.

At this point, Pino dove to pit road and gave up the class lead in LMP2, vaulting McElrea to the top spot.

With two hours to go, Herta stretched his lead to over 6s on Yelloly, who was only 3s ahead of BMW team-mate Augusto Farfus in third.

Herta gave up his stranglehold on the lead dove to the pits just five minutes into Hour 11, swapping places with co-driver Jordan Taylor. With Yelloly pitting two laps prior – and making way for Connor De Phillippi to take over, Bruni took the lead briefly before eventually giving way to Bourdais.

#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06: Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Colton Herta (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

While the top spot was a revolving door due to pit strategy sequences, LMP2’s fight was heating up once again as McElrea managed to catch Pino as they hit traffic. Even though the pair went side-by-side and split an GTD car in the sequence, it was McElrea coming out with the lead. From there, Toby Sowery (Crowdstrike Racing by APR) closed heavily on Pino and was able to secure the runner-up position moments later. Despite the stout pace in the stint, Sowery was held in check by 2s by McElrea.

GTD Pro saw Barnicoat trade his seat with co-driver Jack Hawksworth, who maintained a lead by 1.5s out of the pits. However, AO Racing’s Laurens Heinrich closed to within four tenths of a second before caution came out for the 10^th time for debris in Turn 16.

The halt in action also wiped away a stout lead of over 8s by Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis – in for Dontje – in GTD.

Back to GTP, Bourdais pitted from the lead moments before the caution, which elevated Jordan Taylor up the leaderboard.

A cycle of pit stops happened once again and Louis Deletraz swapped with Jordan Taylor as the closer of the final run to the finish. De Phillippi and Philipp Eng, in the No. 24 BMW, followed Deletraz off pit lane.

This exchange allowed Bourdais to vault into the lead, with Felipe Nasr behind in the No. 7 Penske Porsche 963, followed by Deletraz, De Phillippi and Eng.

The caution also shook up the standings in LMP2 as DragonSpeed’s Mikkel Jakobsen catapulted to the top spot, ahead of TDS Racing’s Mikkel Jensen – in for McElrea – and Colin Braun, who took over for Sowery.

Despite leading going into the pits, Hawksworth came out second in GTD Pro behind Daniel Juncadella in the No. 3 Corvette Z06 GT3.R. And Winward Racing was also tossed off the top spot in GTD with Ellis restarting second to Andy Lally in the No. 44 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo for Magnus Racing.

Bourdais vs. Deletraz

The green flag returned with 58 minutes left in the running as Bourdais led the field into Turn 1. The 45-year-old Frenchman got a strong launch, pulling 3s on Nasr and 3.5s on Deletraz over the following two laps.

During this, Hawksworth managed to get around Juncadella to retake the lead in GTD Pro, with Elllis also reclaiming the GTD lead.

The yellow flag returned after multiple cars were stopped on course in Turn 9, which proved to be a brief hiatus until the race resumed.

Although Bourdais once again kept the lead, the LMP2 order changed with Braun surging forward with Conor Zilsch in the No. 18 for Era Motorsport.

Then yellow flag came out once more for debris in Turns 15-16, setting up only 35 minutes left in the running.

During this caution, Filipe Albuquerque, running the No. 10 Acura ARX-06 for Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, opted to pit for fresh tires and charge in an all-out effort to go full rich to the end. He returned to the running order eighth.

Daniel Serra, in the No. 62 Ferrari 296 GT3 for Risi Competizione, was able to swing to the lead in GTD Pro, with Hawksworth in tow and Juncadella in third. Meanwhile, Ellis was still out front in GTD as the clock under caution continued to tick down to 25 minutes left.

The race restarted with 23 minutes to go as Bourdais took the green, but it was Deletraz under attack by Nasr. Despite the effort, Nasr failed to push by and the fight allowed a chance to Bourdais to stretch a lead of nearly 2s.

The battle for the lead in GTD Pro began to get physical as Hawkworth made a move on Serra, but was then hit slightly by his rival. Then, the two went side-by-side and began to lean on each other, which resulted in Serra falling from the contention and dropping to third. Juncadella moved up to second behind Hawksworth.

Braun’s fight for the win went away after colliding with the Riley of Felipe Fraga, which prompted Zillisch out front by four tenths of a second as Braun dropped to 10^th in class.

Meanwhile, the battle in GTP began to tighten as Deletraz closed to within 0.6s of Bourdais with 15 minutes remaining. At this time, Nasr fell to 4s behind in third.

#01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon (Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images)

Ellis’s lead in GTD became unsafe as Antonio Fuoco’s No. 47 Ferrari 296 GT3 clawed to within six tenths of a second with 13 minutes remaining.

Back at GTP, Deletraz continued to stalk Bourdais and remained within 0.4s of the leader and appeared to be stronger under braking.

Bourdais came under heavy attack approaching traffic from Deletraz as they went side-by-side through traffic and into Turn 10 with eight minutes to go.

The other battles in LMP2, GTD Pro and GTD remained the same, but it was the GTP battle that continued to tighten up as Deletraz and Bourdais came together and continued to make contact over the next several turns. The two exchanged contact multiple times as Deletraz pulled off a double move and completed the pass in Turn 10 with less than five minutes to go.

Bourdais attempted to fight back but the chance was stalled as he came up on traffic in the form of Hawkworth, which allowed Deletraz to pull a gap of 0.7s.

As Deletraz continued to push through traffic, it was now Bourdais clawing back in the fight to pull within 0.5s on the penultimate lap.

The Victors

Deletraz took the white flag with 1.2s up on Bourdais, Nasr remains a distant third at over 7s behind.

And the thriller belonged to Acura, Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti, and Deletraz as he took the checkered flag over Bourdais. Nasr took the final step on the podium, ahead of De Phillippi in fourth.

Zilisch maintained his composure and outlasted Jensen and Paul Di Resta (United Autosports USA) to claim the LMP2 class win.

The GTD Pro class went to Hawksworth, who bested Serra Iron Lynx’s Mirko Bortolotti. Ellis collected the GTD win over Fuoco and Wright Motorsports’Elliott Skeer.

CLA	DRIVERS	#	CHASSIS	LAPS	TIME	INTERVAL	PITS
1	J. Taylor L. Deletraz C. HertaWAYNE TAYLOR RACING WITH ANDRETTI	40	Acura ARX-06	333	-		13
2	R. van der Zande S. Bourdais S. DixonCADILLAC RACING	01	Cadillac V-Series.R	333	+0.891 0.891	0.891	14
3	D. Cameron F. Nasr M. CampbellPORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	7	Porsche 963	333	+8.898 8.898	8.007	15
4	C. de Phillippi N. Yelloly M. MartinBMW M TEAM RLL	25	BMW M Hybrid V8	333	+12.056 12.056	3.158	13
5	R. Taylor J. Barbosa B. HartleyWAYNE TAYLOR RACING WITH ANDRETTI	10	Acura ARX-06	333	+13.398 13.398	1.342	14
6	J. Krohn P. Eng A. FarfusBMW M TEAM RLL	24	BMW M Hybrid V8	333	+28.438 28.438	15.040	16
7	M. Cairoli A. Caldarelli R. GrosjeanLAMBORGHINI IRON LYNX	63	Lamborghini SC63	333	+28.501 28.501	0.063	14
8	G. Bruni A. Picariello J. AndlauerPROTON COMPETITION	5	Porsche 963	333	+44.807 44.807	16.306	15
9	N. Tandy M. Jaminet F. MakowieckiPORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT	6	Porsche 963	331	2 laps		17
10	D. Merriman R. Dalziel C. ZilischERA MOTORSPORT	18	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		21
11	S. Thomas M. Jensen H. McElreaTDS RACING	11	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		18
12	D. Goldburg P. di Resta B. GargUNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	22	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		16
13	L. Willsey J. Barbosa J. EdgarSEAN CREECH MOTORSPORT	33	Ligier JS P217	330	3 laps		18
14	G. Robinson F. Fraga J. BurdonRILEY	74	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		20
15	J. Smiechowski N. Boulle T. DillmannINTER EUROPOL BY PR1 MATHIASEN MOTORSPORTS	52	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		19
16	M. Jakobsen H. Hedman R. LindhDRAGONSPEED	81	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		17
17	D. Andersen S. Lucas L. HörrMDK BY HIGH CLASS RACING	20	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		24
18	G. Kurtz C. Braun T. SoweryCROWDSTRIKE RACING BY APR	04	ORECA 07	330	3 laps		17
19	B. Keating N. Pino B. HanleyUNITED AUTOSPORTS USA	2	ORECA 07	329	4 laps		20
20	J. Hawksworth B. Barnicoat K. KirkwoodVASSER SULLIVAN	14	Lexus RC F GT3	316	17 laps		12
21	D. Serra D. Rigon J. CaladoRISI COMPETIZIONE	62	Ferrari 296 GT3	316	17 laps		12
22	F. Perera J. Pepper M. BortolottiIRON LYNX	19	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	316	17 laps		11
23	B. Sellers M. Snow N. VerhagenPAUL MILLER RACING	1	BMW M4 GT3	316	17 laps		11
24	R. Gunn A. Riberas M. FarnbacherHEART OF RACING TEAM	23	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	316	17 laps		14
25	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni L. PulciniIRON LYNX	60	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	316	17 laps		15
26	H. Tincknell M. Rockenfeller C. MiesFORD MULTIMATIC MOTORSPORTS	64	Ford Mustang GT3	316	17 laps		12
27	J. Hand D. Muller F. VervischFORD MULTIMATIC MOTORSPORTS	65	Ford Mustang GT3	316	17 laps		16
28	L. Heinrich S. Priaulx M. ChristensenAO RACING	77	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	316	17 laps		12
29	R. Ward P. Ellis I. DontjeWINWARD RACING	57	Mercedes AMG GT3	314	19 laps		12
30	R. Lacorte G. Sernagiotto A. FuocoCETILAR RACING	47	Ferrari 296 GT3	314	19 laps		15
31	A. Adelson E. Skeer J. HeylenWRIGHT MOTORSPORTS	120	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	314	19 laps		18
32	R. De Angelis Z. Robichon I. JamesHEART OF RACING TEAM	27	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	314	19 laps		15
33	M. Goikhberg L. Spinelli D. DeFrancescoFORTE RACING	78	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	314	19 laps		11
34	R. Foley P. Gallagher J. WalkerTURNER MOTORSPORT	96	BMW M4 GT3	314	19 laps		12
35	B. Iribe F. Schandorff O. MillroyINCEPTION RACING	70	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	314	19 laps		14
36	J. Andretti G. Chaves S. HargroveANDRETTI MOTORSPORTS	43	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	314	19 laps		16
37	O. Fidani M. Bell L. KernAWA	13	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD	314	19 laps		15
38	J. Potter A. Lally S. PumpellyMAGNUS RACING	44	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	314	19 laps		12
39	M. Franco A. Costa C. SbirrazzuoliCONQUEST RACING	34	Ferrari 296 GT3	314	19 laps		15
40	K. Li A. Fjordbach K. BachlerMDK MOTORSPORTS	86	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	314	19 laps		16
41	F. Montecalvo P. Thompson A. TelitzVASSER SULLIVAN	12	Lexus RC F GT3	314	19 laps		13
42	A. Garcia A. Sims D. JuncadellaCORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS	3	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	313	20 laps		14
43	O. Triarsi C. Scardina A. RoveraTRIARSI COMPETIZIONE	023	Ferrari 296 GT3	313	20 laps		15
44	P. Hyett P. Chatin M. BrabhamAO RACING	99	ORECA 07	313	20 laps		19
45	T. Milner N. Catsburg E. BamberCORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS	4	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	307	26 laps		15
46	M. Kirchhofer O. Jarvis J. HinchcliffePFAFF MOTORSPORTS	9	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	293	40 laps		21
47	K. Marcelli D. Formal G. DoyleWAYNE TAYLOR RACING WITH ANDRETTI	45	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	292	41 laps		14
48	R. Hardwick G. Levorato C. LewisPROTON COMPETITION	55	Ford Mustang GT3	291	42 laps		18
49	J. Farano M. Dinan C. EastwoodTOWER MOTORSPORTS	8	ORECA 07	247	86 laps		15
50	S. Monk K. Legge T. CalderonGRADIENT RACING	66	Acura NSX GT3	233	100 laps		11
51	S. Yoluc R. Andrade S. AndrewsLONE STAR RACING	80	Mercedes AMG GT3	218	115 laps		14
52	P. Derani J. Aitken T. BlomqvistWHELEN CADILLAC RACING	31	Cadillac V-Series.R	210	123 laps		10
53	S. Mann F. Heriau M. MolinaAF CORSE	21	Ferrari 296 GT3	197	136 laps		10
54	T. van der Helm R. Westbrook P. HansonJDC/MILLER MOTORSPORTS	85	Porsche 963	178	155 laps		7
55	R. Frey M. Gatting S. BovyIRON DAMES	83	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2	128	205 laps		11
56	L. Perez Companc N. Nielsen L. WadouxRICHARD MILLE AF CORSE	88	ORECA 07	65	268 laps		6
57	M. Skeen M. Grenier K. KochKORTHOFF/PRESTON MOTORSPORTS	32	Mercedes AMG GT3	16	317 laps
58	A. Mantella N. Varrone T. MerrillAWA	17	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R GTD	2	331 laps		3

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