MOMO NGT Motorsport is hoping for yet more success at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, having finished on the podium twice in just three attempts.
Having missed out on the IMSA series test at Sebring in February, drivers Henrique Cisneros, Kuba Giermaziak and Sebring rookie Christina Nielsen will be itching to see how their Porsche 911 GT America feels on the legendary circuit.
“It’s an entirely different animal this time around,” said Cisneros, discussing the chances of the team reaching the podium for a third time. “There is three times the number of entries in the GTD class compared to the GTC class of ALMS, so triple the number of potential winners. However, we have always done well at Sebring and we know we will be competitive again this year as long as we don’t run into bad luck. It is our home track so setup should not be an issue for us. However, it will be a sad race for us since we are missing two of our pillars that we have always had in the last 3 years. It will be a tough race without Sean Edwards and our lead engineer Konsta, who recently passed away. They will be in our hearts and it would be really special to dedicate a podium for them.”
Meanwhile, Nielsen will be looking to learn from the experience of her team-mates, while also pulling on some small track knowledge from testing in 2013.
“At our test last year, I only got 10 laps so it wasn’t enough for me to get comfortable with the track,” said Nielsen. “However, during the IMSA GT3 official tests, I got to drive the car and really focus on learning the track, so I’m much more comfortable now. I am lucky that the team has provided us with two fast drivers who were there to help us out and help us get faster as the day went along. I have also watched videos to prepare myself for my first race at Sebring. It is definitely one of the most difficult tracks when looking at the technical aspect but also from the physical aspect. It is a track with a lot of tricky corners, which took time to learn, but because the track is so bumpy and you are almost constantly turning and driving the car on the edge, it is also hard physically. I think it is an awesome track and I cannot wait to be back for the first race.”
“Sebring is our home track, yet I feel we have unfinished business there,” concluded team owner, Ramez Wahab. “This year is going to be tougher than ever, as we are competing against multiple manufactures and the field is huge with very fast drivers. We have a strong driver lineup and we’ll make the best out of it. The rest, only time will tell. We had the fastest Porsche at Daytona in the GTD class during the race, we where three-tenths of a second faster than the rest of the Porsche field, and yet we couldn’t keep up with Audi and Ferrari due to the Balance of Performance. IMSA came up with some new regulations for Sebring, which should close the gap but the question still remains as to how close the gap will be.”