12 Hours of Sebring 2017: Race Report

The #911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet, Dirk Werner and Frédéric Makowiecki speeds around the Sebring circuit at this last weekend’s race. They finished seventh in class

Following their second- and sixth-place finishes at Daytona a few weeks back, the Porsche GTLM squad were understandably upbeat about their chances in the 12 Hours of Sebring 2017 race this past weekend. This was not to be, however, as the two works Porsches finished in seventh and eighth places in the second long-distance classic of the 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship.

The #911 Porsche of Patrick Pilet, Dirk Werner and Frédéric Makowiecki heads a group of GTLM cars during this last weekend’s Sebring race

The race was not short on drama and at one stage, the #911 car was on course for a podium finish and in fact, a maiden victory was even within reach on the notoriously difficult airfield circuit. Porsche had setup the 911 RSRs so that they would perform at their best during the cooler hours of the evening, and right up until this time, the strategy had unfolded precisely according to plan. But during a routine tyre change, an impact wrench suddenly failed, resulting in a longer than planned pit stop for the #911 car and as a consequence, Patrick Pilet fell back down the field from second to fifth place.