Almost every class saw its lead change multiple times during the eleventh hour of the Twelve Hours of Sebring as pit stops took place up and down the field.
As darkness now consumed the majority of the circuit, there seemed to be large groups of cars clumping together, creating some hair-raising moments for the leaders in their respective classes, with cars running up to four wide at one point.
David Brabham and Memo Rojas spent the early part of the hour in a tight battle, only for Rojas to be forced to back off when a GT car in front of him had a major sideways moment having just lost his position to Brabham just a few minutes earlier.
Away from the pits, there was yet more fun coming out of Turn 17, with both the #4 Corvette and the #01 Chip Ganassi Racing DP completing almost perfect piroueetes directly in front of the pit entrance. The #4 went straight back to the circuit, while the #01 came in for what looked like a scheduled stop.
The leaders in the GTLM category appeared to be changing every few minutes with cars constantly coming in to the pits, the #93 SRT Viper eventually holding on to the top spot at the turn of the hour.
As the clock neared the top of the hour and the race’s final 60 minutes, Sebastien Bourdais was a man on a mission as he hunter Ryan Dalziel‘s leading #1 machine, taking seconds at a time out with each lap.
Finally, Alex Job Racing took the GTD lead around 30 minutes in, holding the lead for the remainder of the hour.
2014 12 Hours of Sebring class standings after 11 hours
P
#1 – Extreme Speed Motorsports – Dalziel/Sharp/Brabham
#5 – Action Express Racing – Barbosa/Fittipaldi/Bourdais
#02 – Chip Ganassi Racing – Dixon/Kanaan/Karam
PC
#54 – CORE Autosports – Bennett/Braun/Gue
#09 – RSR Racing – Ende/Junqueira/Heinemeier Hansson
#85 – JDC/Niller Motorsports – Miller/Kraut/Simpson
GTLM
#93 – SRT Motorsports – Bell/Wittmer/Bomarito
#912 – Porsche North America – Bergmeister/Long/Christensen
#4 – Corvette Racing – Gavin/Milner/Liddell