In the warmest conditions of the week thus far, CORE autosport qualified 11th for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Driver Colin Braun was given qualifying duties at the historic 17-turn, 3.74-mile road course. In the mid-day sun, track temperatures reached triple digits for the first time since teams arrived in Sebring, Florida.
At the wheel of the No. 54 Flex-Box / Composite Resources ORECA 07 LM P2, Braun’s best lap of 1:49.158 (123.345 mph) put him 13th in the qualifying order, but the disqualification of two competitors moved his final starting position to 11th.
In addition to being Round Two of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the 12 Hours of Sebring is Round Two of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup (TPNAEC), for races six hours and longer. Cars will earn TPNAEC points based on their positions at hours four, eight and 12. Braun shares the No. 54 with Jon Bennett and Romain Dumas.
The 12 Hours of Sebring airs live on the FOX Sports family of networks, March 17, starting at 10:30am ET. The full TV schedule is below.
Colin Braun
Driver: No. 54 ORECA 07 LM P2
“The track’s a lot warmer than it was yesterday. The heat has a big effect on the naturally aspirated cars, so we lost some straight-line performance. The conditions were unlike anything we ‘d previously seen and it wasn’t an ideal session for us. All the P2 cars seem to be in the same position. We learned at Daytona that the DPi cars are quick for a few laps, but fall off a little bit, so we’ll see what happens on race day. The hotter it is, the more the performance level of the cars change.”
