2023 Sebring 12 Hours: Wednesday Paddock Notes

Teams from the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship arrived last night in preparation for the 71st annual Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring.

This included the introduction of two new LMP3 entries making their 2023 season debuts at Sebring.

The first is Ave Motorsports, which is no stranger to LMP3 racing. It has been a stalwart of the IMSA Prototype Challenge series in recent years.

In fact, veteran road racer Tony Ave’s team collaborated with Riley Technologies many years ago to build the AR-2 LMP3 chassis. Ave Motorsports’ entry at Sebring this time out is with the Ligier JS P320.

Jr III Racing, is also WeatherTech Sportscar Championship season debut after forgoing the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

This begins the second season in IMSA’s main series for its #30 Ligier, anchored by gentleman driver Aristotle “Ari” Balogh.

Over in the GTD class, Inception Racing will give the McLaren 720S GT3 EVO its North American race debut this weekend at Sebring.

The 720S EVO officially launched last month, and Inception Racing have introduced the newest-spec McLaren with all of its aerodynamic and suspension enhancements, to match up against the latest Ferrari 296 GT3, Lamborghini Huracán GT3, and Porsche 911 GT3 R in the same class.

With the new spec car, also comes an updated livery by Sean Bull, taking inspiration from McLaren’s familiar red and white Formula One liveries, as well as the Team Goh-run 1996 McLaren F1 GTRs.

There’s one car with a new look in the GTD class that everyone’s been wanting to see up close since it was announced on Monday: AO Racing’s new T-Rex livery.

Nicknamed “Rexy the GT3 Rawr”, the new-look #80 Porsche of PJ Hyett, Seb Priaulx, and Gunnar Jeanette looks as striking in real life as it does in the renders.

Even the team’s garages have been updated with the ‘Rexy’ character.

It’s a wonderful idea hatched by a gentleman driver and team co-founder Hyett, in honour of his young son.

Hopefully, it now has the teeth to battle at the front of the GTD field after a recent BoP change for the new 992-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Sebring is also the second race for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, which took to the track today for its first practice sessions in preparation for qualifying this afternoon and a two-hour race on Thursday.

Crucial Motorsports has added a second McLaren Artura GT4 for this round of the MPC, the #85 driven by father and son Ron and Eric Zitza in the foreground (with the #58 of Michael O’Brien and Aurora Strauss in the background).