Smashes, spins and safety cars have been the order of business for this the third hour of the 12 Hours of Sebring.
Two spins and a sizeable shunt have been the incidents of note, mainly perpetrated by the Prototype Challenge class who seem to be spinning on dry track almost on demand.
The first spinner was the #87 BAR1 Motorsport machine who seemed to get beached at turn ten. The safety car was called for as the machine was towed to safety.
After what seemed like an eternity under yellow, the green flag came out and two more PC cars – the #88 and the #27 – tangled to bring out yet another safety car.
In all this the Prototype lead stayed pretty static with Scott Dixon remaining front and centre for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Klaus Graf had been going great guns for a while until Muscle Milk had to serve a drive through penalty, relegating them down to 10th place.
The final full course caution of the hour went to Matteo Malucelli in the #62 Risi Ferrari. It all started with the Ferrari spinning into the tyre barriers, when the Italian pulled back onto the track he blocked most of the racing line and collided with the #30 MOMO NGT Porsche 911 GT America which had it’s front right wheel ripped from it’s chassis.
With all the action in the PC, GTLM and GTD classes, the racing order has changed significantly over the last hours.
2014 12 Hours of Sebring class standings after 3 hours
P
#02 – Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Kanaan/Karam
#5 – Action Express Racing – Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais #10 – Wayne Taylor Racing – Angelelli/R.Taylor/J.Taylor
PC
#09 – RSR Racing – Junqueira/Ende/Heinemeier Hansson
#08 – RSR Racing – Tagliani/Cumming/Mitchell
#25 – 8Star Motorsport – Marsal/Rayhall/Lux/Kimber-Smith
GTLM
#91 – SRT Motorsports – Farnbacher/Goossens/Hunter-Reay #93 – SRT Motorsports – Bell/Bomarito/Wittmer #4 – Corvette Racing – Milner/Gavin/Liddell
GTD
#23 – Team Seattle – Farnbacher/James/Riberas
#555 – AIM Autosport – Sweedler/Bell/Mediani/Segal #94 – Turner Motorsport – Cameron/Dalla Lana/Palttala/Lewis