54 Cars On The Sebring 12 Hours Entry
The second round of the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season is upon us, with the teams travelling to Sebring for the second of the four major endurance races on the calendar.
For the race, there are 54 cars on the entry list across the five classes, with a smattering of changes since the season opener.
In the top class, the GTP field is largely unchanged, the only absentee being the #02 Cadillac which joins the FIA WEC field for the 1000 Miles after a one-off at Daytona. This leaves two (renamed) V-Series.Rs, the #01 run by Ganassi and the #31 from Whelen Engineering. The field is now eight cars strong and is expected to stay this way until JDC Miller takes delivery of its Porsche 963 later in the season.
Beyond that, there are a handful of drivers that aren’t on the entry, as the Acuras and BMWs have reduced their line-ups from four drivers to three for the 12 Hours.
In LMP2, the size of the field is smaller, but with eight cars, this is still a strong class.
LMP3 on the other hand has grown to 10 cars for what will be the first points-scoring round of the season. Two new cars are on the list, a pair of Ligiers for Ave Motorsports and 2022 Sebring LMP3 class winner Jr III Racing. FastMD Racing is the only team that competed at Daytona but hasn’t filed an entry for Sebring.
In GTD Pro, MDK Motorsports’ Porsche 911 GT3 R is the only car from the Daytona field that isn’t going to compete.
Ryan Hardwick cited issues with the BoP for the Porsche teams as the reason for Wright Motorsports to step back from a full season commitment to the Michelin Endurance Cup in the #16 Wright Motorsports car.
“It is now my intent to only run the remaining IMSA Endurance rounds,” said Hardwick in a statement.
“Multiple factors have led to this decision, starting with what recently transpired at the Rolex 24. I am extremely disappointed by what took place in the GTD class at Daytona. There has been a lot of finger pointing as to who was at fault for one brand being at such an extreme performance disadvantage compared to the rest of the GTD class.
“Personally, I don’t care who is at fault. I do feel strongly that some changes need to be made.”
GTD, the largest category in the field, has 20 cars. Only SunEnergy 1, Iron Lynx Lamborghini and NTE Sport aren’t present after competing in January together with the absent MDK Porsche.
The post 54 Cars On The Sebring 12 Hours Entry first appeared on dailysportscar.com.