ROCK HILL, S.C. (March 12, 2019) – The second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season is the legendary 12 Hours of Sebring at Sebring International Raceway, March 14 – 16.
Sebring is a demanding track on drivers and cars. The former WWII airstrip has been battered by the Florida heat resulting in a bumpy surface. Crews need to pay extra attention to wear and tear, while drivers will need to take extra care of their bodies after being bounced around in the seat.
CORE was able to get some private test time on the 3.74-mile track and log more miles with its Nissan Ligier DPi. This helped the team improve its notes on the newly acquired car, which to this point CORE had only run at Daytona.
Romain Dumas will once again join the full-season lineup of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun for this second round of the Michelin North American Endurance Cup.
Noteworthy
- CORE narrowly missed a podium at last year’s Sebring race, finishing fourth in the ORECA LM P2.
- CORE has seven podium finishes at Sebring, including wins in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
- Colin Braun qualified on the Prototype Challenge (PC) pole at Sebring in 2013 and 2016.
- Romain Dumas won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2008 driving a Porsche RS Spyder.
- CORE finished fourth in the season opener at Daytona.
JON BENNETT
Driver: No. 54 Nissan Ligier DPi
“At Daytona, we were learning a new race car platform for the third-straight season. As we head to Sebring, we will benefit from a productive test and our Rolex 24 experience. While Sebring is our second race with the Nissan, we are much more streamlined compared to Daytona.
“Sebring is half the distance and double the effort compared to the Rolex 24. The circuit is physical and rough on equipment and drivers. One of the keys to success is building pace with peak performance achieved as the sun goes down.
“We tested our Nissan DPi a few weeks ago. Combined with Nissan’s Sebring victory last year, we have a high level of confidence for a strong finish in the Sebring 12 Hour.”
COLIN BRAUN
Driver: No. 54 Nissan Ligier DPi
“The fact that we were able to test for a couple days at Sebring was great. We were able to get some practice in at night and understand more about the car, setup changes and start to learn more about the Michelin tire. We’re feeling more confident and comfortable in the race car from the engineering and driving stand point.
“Sebring comes down to speed at the end of the race, but we have to execute the first 11 hours flawlessly to be in the right place at the end.
“Sebring is a bumpy place. I feel like we had a good opportunity to do some long runs at the test and see how the tires held up. We tried to improve on our pace when it comes to older tires when the track is hot and slippery in the afternoon.”
ROMAIN DUMAS
Driver: No. 54 Nissan Ligier DPi
“Sebring is more difficult than a 24-hour race because the track is very hard on the car with the bumps. Year after year it gets worse. There are a lot of corners with sand on the outside as well. Sebring is well known as a track to go to and test for a 24-hour race because it is the toughest track in the world.
“It’s nice to know that the Nissan won last year, but last year was a different story; now we are on Michelins. The team has prepared with a test and hopefully we’ve found more grip than we had at Daytona. Daytona was a good result for a first time with the car. The team was pushing like crazy to be ready on time. It was a good achievement for them. Hopefully we can be in the hunt at the end of this race too and hopefully on the podium.”