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Porsche Lost In The GTLM Class At 12 Hours Of Sebring, But Won Big In GTD

After dominating last year’s GT Le Mans competition at the 12 Hours of Sebring, not to mention securing the two best pole positions at this year’s race, one might have thought that the odds were stacked in the factory-run No. 911 and No. 912 Porsche RSRs’ favor.

Unfortunately for Porsche, races rarely – if ever – follow a script, and this year’s 12 Hours of Sebring was no different. Both factory-run Porsches led the GTLM pack by a sizable margin from the start, through temperatures which climbed to 95 degrees Fahrenheit come midday, and plummeted promptly when night fell. The No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR of Team Falken Tire had a harder time cutting through the traffic following a difficult qualifying, but eventually caught up.

Then, with about an hour left in the race, fickle fate struck in the form of gear-changing difficulties for the No. 911 car, shortly after the No. 912 car was held up in the pits during a routine stop. The former ended up with a disheartening fifth place finish, while the latter fared even worse, ending the race in seventh.

It’s not all bad news, though; the No. 17 Porsche 911 RSR of Team Falken Tire did manage to make the podium, scoring a third place finish in its class. And the news from the 2015 12 Hours of Sebring got even better in the GT Daytona class, where the No. 23 car fielded by Team Seattle/Alex Job Racing finished first-in-class. That victory only came after a challenging battle with the No. 007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage, and the No. 63 Ferrari 458 Italia. All three cars crossed the finish with the exact same number of laps.

The next race of the 2015 IMSA Tudor USCC season is on April 18th at Long Beach, California. Hopefully, Porsche can work out enough of the kinks to score a podium finish this time; the 911 RSR is clearly capable of utter domination in its class.

Aaron Birch is an automotive enthusiast and writer/filmmaker from Detroit, MI. As a rule, he only buys cars older than himself.

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