BMW marks 50th anniversary of Sebring win with GTP pole for 12h race

50 years in the past, BMW’s win at Sebring changed the course of the brand and its future in racing. At the moment, it is in a position to get pleasure from a particular begin to its anniversary win as BMW’s fiftieth anniversary livery will lead the entrance of the sphere for the 73rd working of the 12 Hours of Sebring.

In his first-ever weekend racing at Sebring, BMW M Workforce RLL’s Dries Vanthoor clinched the pole within the #24 BMW M Hybrid in a restricted GTP qualifying session that was red-flagged mid-way after Jack Aitken with the #31 Cadillac Whelen automotive got here to a cease in Flip 1 initially of the session.

BMW, utilized the pink flag to alter into its deliberate second set of tires, which proved helpful for the shortened session. Vanthoor informed Motorsport.com, “It was anyway our aim to go for 2 units, regardless of if it was going to go pink flag or not. It made it a bit tougher as a result of we had the shorter time to get the tires in.

“It labored out high-quality. It is sizzling sufficient right this moment, so the tires got here in fairly properly on the second lap. The primary lap was a bit too early, nevertheless it labored out.”

Vanthoor set a 1:47.091 lap time for BMW — solely .025 forward of  Tom Blomqvist within the #60 Acura Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian Acura.

In LMP2, Steven Thomas, bronze driver for the #11 TDS Racing earned pole for the class at 1:51.804, narrowly beating PJ Hyett within the #99 AO Racing “Spike” automotive. He briefly thanked his spouse for the “permission” to drive over the weekend, and was appreciative of his Professional drivers, Hunter McElrea and Mikkel Jensen, who coached him via the pole-winning laps. 

Lastly, it’s going to be “pink” on the entrance of the GTD and GTD Professional fields Sunday as a Ferrari earned pole for every class, with Alessandro Pier Guidi the #21 Af Corse Ferrari on the entrance for GTD, and Albert Costa with the #81 Dragonspeed Ferrari for GTD Professional. 

The inexperienced flag waves for the 73rd Twelve Hours of Sebring at 10:10am EDT in Florida. You possibly can watch within the states on NBC and Peacock, and worldwide viewers can watch the stream on IMSA’s YouTube.