SEBRING, Fla. – Farewell was the theme of practice sessions Thursday as preparations got underway for the 68th Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts at Sebring Int’l Raceway.
Renger van der Zande, who won’t be returning to Wayne Taylor Racing in 2021, recorded the fastest lap of the second practice session – 1 minute, 47.478 seconds (125.271 mph) around the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit – in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R, the fastest of the first two practice sessions and best in the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) class.
The team battled back from mechanical issues earlier in the day to turn the fastest lap.
“We had a gearbox issue, but somehow we got it fixed just before this session,” van der Zande said. “I got in at the end just for a tire run, and I was fastest. I would say (that’s) not too bad for a driver without a job.”
Van der Zande will share the No. 10 car with Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season finale gets underway shortly after 10 a.m. ET Saturday. The team is two points behind the No. 7 Acura Team Penske Acura ARX-05 DPi driven by Helio Castroneves, Ricky Taylor and Alexander Rossi.
Taylor posted the fastest lap of Thursday’s 90-minute night practice session at 1:48.358. The session ran under green-flag conditions throughout.
While van der Zande was making his statement, so were two Porsche drivers in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. Laurens Vanthoor had the fastest lap in class in the No. 912 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 at 1:57.975 (114.125 mph), followed by Nick Tandy in the team’s sister car.
Porsche announced earlier this season that it would be discontinuing its factory GTLM program after the season. The team’s other entry – the No. 911 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 – had the second-fastest lap of the second session with Tandy behind the wheel (1:58.172, 113.935 mph).
Vanthoor will co-drive the No. 912 with Earl Bamber and Neel Jani. Tandy – who also led night practice – will share the No. 911 with Bamber and Fred Makowiecki.
The team held a farewell dinner Wednesday night, and Vanthoor echoed the sentiment of sadness surrounding the final race.
“It’s a program I really love to do,” Vanthoor said. “It’s coming to the end, to the last race. There’s quite a lot of goodbyes. … It’s kind of cool to have been a part of it. Beside that, we’re racing. We’re trying to go out with a bang.”
Mikkel Jensen had the fastest lap of Thursday in the Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) class at 1:50.127 – set in night practice – aboard the No. 8 Tower Motorsport by Starworks ORECA LMP2 07. He’ll share the car with John Farano and David Heinemeier Hansson.
In the GT Daytona class, Steijn Schothorst was fastest at 2:02.352 (110.042 mph) in the No. 11 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracán GT3 that won the Twelve Hours of Sebring last year. The car he’ll share this weekend with Franck Perera and Richard Heistand has only competed in the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the TireRack.com Grand Prix at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta this season. With its best finish of eighth this season, Schothorst said the team is seeking some redemption to close the season.
“This year, we haven’t been having the luck on our side, I would say,” Schothorst said. “We’ve been fast pretty much all weekend we competed but didn’t get any good results. Since this is our last chance, we are very motivated to get it this time.”