BRASELTON, GA – For the 61st time in its history, a group of the world’s best sports car manufacturers and teams are gearing up to tackle one of the toughest challenges in all of endurance racing. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida features a 42-car entry with a number of attention-grabbing storylines for the opening round of the 2013 American Le Mans Series presented by Tequila Patrón:
• A hybrid-powered race car will race at Sebring for the first time. Audi brings two of its factory R18 e-tron quattro prototypes that feature reigning Le Mans 24 Hours winners Marcel Fassler and Benoit Treluyer in one car, and Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish – with 12 Sebring victories between them – in the other.
• The revolutionary DeltaWing will compete in P1 class. With half the weight, half the fuel and half the horsepower of a traditional prototype, the radical race car competes for the first time at the 12 Hours. The DeltaWing finished fifth overall at Petit Le Mans as an unclassified entry to close the 2012 season.
• The first tussle between Muscle Milk Pickett Racing, Dyson Racing and Rebellion Racing in P1. The three teams will vie for the 2013 class championship.
• Extreme Speed Motorsports’ debut in P2 with a pair of Honda Performance Development ARX-03b prototypes. Level 5 Motorsports is the defending class and race champion, and is back at Sebring. Greaves Motorsport visits from Europe to challenge the American teams.
• A battle-royale in GT. Twelve entries from six manufacturers dot the class entry including the racing debut of BMW Team RLL’s two BMW Z4 GTE sports cars. SRT Motorsports marks Viper’s Sebring return with two SRT Viper GTS-Rs – the first Viper factory entry at the 12 Hours since 2000.
• The first ALMS race for Tristan Nunez, the highly touted rookie for Performance Tech Motorsports in Prototype Challenge. Nunez won the 2012 Cooper Tires Prototype Lights L1 championship, was part of the Team USA Scholarship program, and won the Walter Hayes Trophy grand finale in November.
• Two high-profile entries into GT Challenge with Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars – Flying Lizard Motorsports and Dempsey Del Piero Racing. Flying Lizard moves into the class with a championship-winning history in the ALMS’ GT class. Dempsey Del Piero Racing – featuring team co-owner Patrick Dempsey – makes its debut at Sebring with a two-car lineup.
The 61st Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida is set for 10:45 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 16 from Sebring International Raceway. SPEED’s live coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. ET.
The Series’ website offers additional content such as live in-car cameras, and timing and scoring for all users around the world. Viewers outside the U.S. can watch the Sebring 12 Hours and all ALMS races live on ALMS.com.
From Ed Triolo / ALMS
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