Jack Aitken wins 12 hours of Sebring, Scott McLaughlin takes class victory
Jack Aitken took victory in a wild finish to the 12 Hours of Sebring as Scott McLaughlin took the class honours in LMP2.
Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani, and Alexander Sims celebrate in victory lane. (IMSA)
Aitken and his teammates, Pipo Derani and former Formula E driver Alexander Sims took the #31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series R to victory after starting on pole and taking the green flag in the lead.
A three-car accident took out Mathieu Jaminet and Felipe Nasr in the #6 and #7 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s, and Filipe Alburquerque in the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-06 by Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Autorsport.
Jaminet was in the lead with Alburqueque in second and Nasr in third, the trio getting caught up in slower GT cars and retiring in the final thirty minutes of the race.
“Obviously it was quite tricky at the end,’’ said former FIA Formula 2 driver Aitken.
“There was a lot going on.”
“To be honest, we were struggling a lot with the tires at the end.”
It’s not really how you want to win the race, but we were there when we needed to be and kept it clean.”
“It’s a great reward for the Whelen Engineering guys, they did a massive job this week. Thank you to them.’’
Kiwi Scott McLaughlin led the #8 ORECA LMP2 07 to victory in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class, holding off a challenge from Mikkel Jensen in the frantic final minutes of the race to take the chequered flag with teammates John Farano and Indy NXT driver Kyffin Simpson
Kyffin Simpson, Scott McLaughlin and John Farano celebrate their overall third place finish and LMP2 class victory at Sebring. (IMSA)
“It’s not just me, it’s the bounce-back from the whole team,” said Indycar regular McLaughlin.
“Daytona was a tough one, as we all know, but Kyffin drove well today, as well as John.”
“They really put us on the right path.”
The Indycar race-winner had to hold off a challenge from the #52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports ORECA at the second-last restart with half an hour to go, before the field was brought together once again after the GTP-class incident at the front.
With four minutes remaning, McLaughlin held firm and crossed the line third overall.
“I’m really proud of everyone on the team,” said McLaughlin.
“The strategy at the end was just incredible.”
“Glad I could hold them off for them.”
