Fresh off a third-place finish at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, CORE autosport is preparing for another grueling endurance race: The 12 Hours of Sebring. The legendary race on old Hednricks Airfield in central Florida is the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
CORE continues its debut season in the Prototype category. The team recently completed two days of testing at Sebring International Raceway with the rest of the IMSA field. It was the first time the No. 54 ORECA 07 LM P2 ran on a track other than Daytona and the first time with road course tires and high-downforce configuration.
Full-season drivers Jon Bennett and Colin Braun are once again joined by endurance racing ace Romain Dumas.
CORE autosport has won the 12 Hours of Sebring three times (2012, 2014, 2016).
Jon Bennett and Colin Braun have won the race together twice (2014 and 2016).
Romain Dumas won the 12 Hours of Sebring in 2008 driving the Porsche RS Spyder.
Braun has won the Prototype Challenge pole at Sebring twice (2013 and 2016).
Jon Bennett
Driver: No. 54 ORECA 07 LM P2
“Our late February IMSA test at Sebring went quite well. We were all interested to experience our ORECA 07/Gibson at a new track. Until this test, we only had laps with the car at Daytona, which is a unique circuit given its high-speed banking and special tire construction. We learned quickly at the Sebring test and Jeff Braun quickly zeroed in on a fast, user friendly, set-up for the car.
“The harshness of Sebring always takes a few laps to digest. For me, it is amazing that after 10 laps or so, the bumps and harshness fade into background noise as we search for more performance. At the end of the test, we had a compliant and comfortable race car to drive.
“Our goal at Sebring is similar to our expectations for Daytona. While absolute results are beyond our control, a properly executed race is something that we train and prepare for. I will meet the minimum time to qualify for Truman points. Still, our target for this race and all races this year is the overall win.”
Colin Braun
Driver: No. 54 ORECA 07 LM P2
“Our Sebring test went really well. For us, it was the first time with the Continental Tire road course tire and the first time with the high-downforce package. It’s quite a bit different. There were a lot of things to work through, but luckily we had a lot of running time and were able to work through everything with a good degree of success.
“I think the greatest thing about the ORECA is it makes so much downforce that you’re stuck to the ground through the bumps. It was a little less bouncy or shaky than in the Porsche or the PC car, because it makes so much grip. That helps makes it feel honestly pretty smooth.
“We showed at Daytona that we have the pace and the guys did a great job during the race on pit stops and strategy. I feel like we have good momentum going into Sebring. Like always, we’re not trying to put a number on what we’re trying to accomplish, we’re just focused on improving, in small areas, what we did at Daytona. Some people may say ‘wow, you finished third, that’s an amazing first race,’ but we took that and looked at all the things we could improve to find speed and efficiency. Jon and Romain are fantastic teammates and we’ll keep our heads down, keep pushing and see how it goes.”
Romain Dumas
Driver: No. 54 ORECA 07 LM P2
“For sure Sebring will be a challenge, but I think we have to keep the same momentum we had at Daytona. Jon needs to continue to do the good job that he did at Daytona. If we can get a little bit more yellows than at Daytona that would help us.
“I won with the Porsche Spyder in 2008. We had the LMP2 compared to the LMP1 cars, so it’s possible we do the same this year.
“Sebring is the hardest race in USA in terms of endurance. The track is very rough and bumpy. On top of that it is always quite warm. The track is also quite narrow. These three things make the race quite interesting. It will be a good challenge for us.”
