Acura Wins Sebring!
Sebring International RacewayLouis Delétraz charges to victory in the final hour to win the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
After 12 hours of hard-fought IMSA endurance racing it was Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global on top, with the #40 Acura ARX-06 taking the honors in the 2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring.
Starting third, the #40 crew of Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta led just 18 laps enroute to victory, but a thrilling late-race pass in GT traffic with just four laps to go was all they needed to catapult themselves to the win. On the way to said victory, Deletraz also set the fastest lap time in the IMSA GTP class of 1:49.497. With tonight’s win, Acura moves into an early-season three-way tie for the IMSA GTP Manufacturers’ Championship; while drivers Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Herta are tied for first in the drivers’ title chase.
The sister #10 Acura ARX-06 driven by Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley led 55 laps on the day before losing a lap in pitlane after the team noticed smoke trailing from the rear of the car. Thankfully, it was a quick fix and the #10 crew was able to continue to the end where they would wind up fifth.
“I can’t believe it. It was a long [final] hour, to be honest. I caught Sebastien [Bourdais, race leader], but we all know he is a hard racer and I didn’t want to take too much of a risk initially. But at the end I had to send it because it was now or never. I saw a gap and went for it. We had a few contacts, but we won, and that’s what matters. We really wanted to win this. It means a
lot to the team. Colton [Herta, co-driver] and Jordan [Taylor, co-driver] both were amazing. The car was perfect, our pit stops were excellent, everything was perfect.”
“To win this race, and to win it overall, is just incredible. I’m really fortunate to be a part of this [WTRAndretti] group, and Louis [Delétraz] did everything tonight. He got us in position to win with his moves. You wouldn’t want anyone else in the car in that situation.”
“We were up and down throughout the day, but Louis was awesome. You could tell even back when we were testing here last month that he was the guy for the job. It was an unbelievably respectful battle for the lead. They both kept it clean, and it is a great night for the team, for the Dex Imaging Acura and for HRC.”
