Two Belgians were at the start of the Sebring 12 Hours, the second largest endurance competition in the Americas, and both were on the podium. Laurens Vanthoor drove his Porsche to victory in the GTD class, Jan Heylen finished second.
For Laurens Vanthoor and his teammates Zac Robichon and Lars Kern, the endurance race at the former airport had started with a setback: due to braking problems in qualifying, the Porsche of Pfaff Motorsports had to leave at the back. However, it took Vanthoor and co only a few hours to take first place in the GTD class, and they wouldn’t give it back.
Because the match was neutralized more than once, it got exciting at the end. The Porsche that Jan Heylen shared with the Americans Long and Hindman was able to start the final phase with only a handful of seconds behind, but Vanthoor held on without many problems. The difference on the line was only two seconds.
“No mistakes, no incidents, perfect strategy”, Laurens Vanthoor summarized the race. “We managed to get a comfortable lead, but because of the neutralization at the end it went up in smoke. I had to pay attention to the restart, but afterwards I had it under control. ”
The overall victory in Sebring went to the Cadillac of the French trio Bourdais, Duval and Vautier. In the front, too, it continued to bite until the end: the top 5 was only separated by five seconds.
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